Reviews

Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn

mtmarriott's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced
The definitive book on the Wests as far as I’m concerned and maybe one of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. The way it conveys the mindsets of its intensely disturbed family is truly unsettling, I was aware of a lot of the details of what occurred but some truly caught me be horrified surprise and the almost familial way in which they’ve been conveyed is heartbreaking. Star ratings seem a bit irrelevant here.

izz_mh's review

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challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

2.5

katiej's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.5

An incredibly difficult read. The Wests were an extremely twisted sick pair who utterly destroyed lives. A well researched study of the family and the horrors they inflicted. Repetitive at times and about 100 pages too long with information that seemed completely irrelevant.

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estherbismarck's review against another edition

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2.0

Muy decepcionada con este libro. El tema que trata me fascina y la historia empieza muy bien, pero a medida que avanza la información se va repitiendo una y otra vez (hay frases que se repiten literalmente varias veces). Además está escrito como a trompicones, apenas hay organización cronológica, de manera que es muy difícil seguir los acontecimientos, y no hay ningún tipo de estructuración temática; en definitiva, parece que ni el mismo autor sabe muy bien qué quiere contarnos ni cómo hacerlo, más allá de unos cuantos datos aleatorios.
No lo he abandonado porque de verdad la historia de Fred y Rosemary West me parece de las más fascinantes de la crónica criminal de la historia, y se salva de tener una estrella porque el principio y el final del libro son bastante potentes pero todo lo demás se podría haber resuelto en apenas cien páginas de forma más clara y concisa y no en trescientas con tantos circunloquios.

ugla's review

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

2.0

spelingexpirt13's review

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1.0

Repetitive, jumps around too much, terribly written.

emzreads's review

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challenging dark informative fast-paced

5.0

dannireadsallthetime's review against another edition

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3.0

It was ok, a bit long winded, I mean the tale of these two people is disgusting

onejordo's review

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challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.5

Must love true crime to read this book. This is, perhaps, the most disturbing book I've ever read. An exhaustive account of the crimes of Fred and Rose West, this was a very well researched book. I liked the writing style, but it's a dense book.

ksturgess's review

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3.0

While very detailed, the editing and structure needed work. More of a collection of events than a real investigation.