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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Well written but at times slightly too granular when analysing his actions. Very interesting overall
"The corpse is the dirty platter after the feast." Or how Nilsen vehemently denies he ever engaged in necrophilia or cannibalism.
Dennis Nilsen is a less intense version of Jeffery Dahmer. He murdered 15 young men over the span of four years, and he doesn't express remorse and doesn't even really know why he murdered these men. He isn't an insane men. He is articulate, intelligent, and introverted. His love for death started as a child and escalated into cold blooded murder. This is a short little piece about what this book contains, but it really much deeper.
This isn't a true crime thriller at all. Instead it is a deep psychoanalysis of Dennis Nilsen, complied by the author from letters and interviews with Nilsen himself. The book is very dark and doesn't skip on details. In fact, there are very explicit details of the murders told by Nilsen in letters and from other firsthand sources. The reader is given a chance to delve deep into who the murder is, spanning from his beginning life all the way up to his being caught and incarceration. This book provides a lot of details about his life and his stages of emotions and changing over time.
At times it can be a lot to take in, sometimes you can be easily overwhelmed with details. Often, I was wondering why I needed to know every little piece of his life, but I think it did well to build upon who he was and why he committed such heinous murders for no explicable reason.
The author breaks down the book into 10 chapters. From his arrest to his childhood all the way to Victims, Disposal, and Answers. Masters expounds the importance of the death of his grandfather to childhood and how Nilsen became sexually aroused by death and corpses during adolescence to who his victims were and his methodology to disposing of the bodies. Answers tries to explain why Nilsen acted so horribly by going through various psychological reasoning such as schizophrenic tendencies, sexual aberrations, and even if there was some aspect of necrophilia involved.
Building upon the letters from Nilsen and interviews, Masters provides a full account of why this happened and how the answers can never be fully clear. The courts found Nilsen wasn't insane by any means, but there's still no reasoning for why. Nielsen would say at times he didn't remember all of the details but yet he could also give explicit details about the method of murder along with the rituals and disposal. He was fansicated by death so he was enamored with the bodies. He, as the murderer, had all of the power and possessed the ability to control each of his victims' fates. So he would strangle them, wash their bodies, sometimes mastrubate on the bodies, and then shove them under the floor until he could find a way to get rid of the bodies. At times getting rid of the bodies would mean burning or his super genius idea of flushing them down the toilet... which led to his demise because plumbing became backed up at his house and the flesh chunks were traced back to his house. I mean... it should have been obvious it was a bad choice to literally dump pieces of a body down pipes and expect them to just go away.
The postscript of the book is very insightful as well. It shares how drinking may have played a larger role in the murders than the author of the book thought... which makes sense when one thinks about other murderers as well. Pretty sure Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundy were also major alcoholics. Perhaps the drinking numbed them enough to allow them to carry out the murders. Also it shares about how Nilsen made very detailed drawings of victims proved he saw the corpses as "beautiful ." He also wrote "Real and beautiful- and dead." Nielsen seemed to see himself dying in each victim and found beauty in that, like the only way he could ever be loved was by these dead men who he later just burned or shoved into bags like it meant nothing. He had a strange love for death and found a twisted sense of romance at looking at what he had done to these innocent men. Nilsen was a man who wanted company. But only found it worthwhile once they were dead.
One of my favorite parts of this book was how Masters mentioned other serial killers. He mentions John Wayne Gacy, Peter Sutcliffe, Norman Collins, and even Edmund Kemper. The author included this piece about Kemper stating, "....burying the head in his garden facing the house, so that he could imagine the victim looking at him." This reminds me of how Nilsen took one of his victims from the closet and would have inane conversations with him and also placed him on the couch so they could watch tv together. The author even talks about how serial killers are becoming less rare and may represent a "motiveless" criminal who is an accepted part of society.
Overall, this book provides great insight into how Nilsen killed men he liked so they wouldn't be able to leave him. However, the real reason for why Nilsen did what he did is still elusive. This book is gripping and chilling... it gives the reader great knowledge of how even despite what Nilsen did... he is still human. A sad, lonely human who just wanted some company and would do anything necessary to receive it.
Dennis Nilsen is a less intense version of Jeffery Dahmer. He murdered 15 young men over the span of four years, and he doesn't express remorse and doesn't even really know why he murdered these men. He isn't an insane men. He is articulate, intelligent, and introverted. His love for death started as a child and escalated into cold blooded murder. This is a short little piece about what this book contains, but it really much deeper.
This isn't a true crime thriller at all. Instead it is a deep psychoanalysis of Dennis Nilsen, complied by the author from letters and interviews with Nilsen himself. The book is very dark and doesn't skip on details. In fact, there are very explicit details of the murders told by Nilsen in letters and from other firsthand sources. The reader is given a chance to delve deep into who the murder is, spanning from his beginning life all the way up to his being caught and incarceration. This book provides a lot of details about his life and his stages of emotions and changing over time.
At times it can be a lot to take in, sometimes you can be easily overwhelmed with details. Often, I was wondering why I needed to know every little piece of his life, but I think it did well to build upon who he was and why he committed such heinous murders for no explicable reason.
The author breaks down the book into 10 chapters. From his arrest to his childhood all the way to Victims, Disposal, and Answers. Masters expounds the importance of the death of his grandfather to childhood and how Nilsen became sexually aroused by death and corpses during adolescence to who his victims were and his methodology to disposing of the bodies. Answers tries to explain why Nilsen acted so horribly by going through various psychological reasoning such as schizophrenic tendencies, sexual aberrations, and even if there was some aspect of necrophilia involved.
Building upon the letters from Nilsen and interviews, Masters provides a full account of why this happened and how the answers can never be fully clear. The courts found Nilsen wasn't insane by any means, but there's still no reasoning for why. Nielsen would say at times he didn't remember all of the details but yet he could also give explicit details about the method of murder along with the rituals and disposal. He was fansicated by death so he was enamored with the bodies. He, as the murderer, had all of the power and possessed the ability to control each of his victims' fates. So he would strangle them, wash their bodies, sometimes mastrubate on the bodies, and then shove them under the floor until he could find a way to get rid of the bodies. At times getting rid of the bodies would mean burning or his super genius idea of flushing them down the toilet... which led to his demise because plumbing became backed up at his house and the flesh chunks were traced back to his house. I mean... it should have been obvious it was a bad choice to literally dump pieces of a body down pipes and expect them to just go away.
The postscript of the book is very insightful as well. It shares how drinking may have played a larger role in the murders than the author of the book thought... which makes sense when one thinks about other murderers as well. Pretty sure Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundy were also major alcoholics. Perhaps the drinking numbed them enough to allow them to carry out the murders. Also it shares about how Nilsen made very detailed drawings of victims proved he saw the corpses as "beautiful ." He also wrote "Real and beautiful- and dead." Nielsen seemed to see himself dying in each victim and found beauty in that, like the only way he could ever be loved was by these dead men who he later just burned or shoved into bags like it meant nothing. He had a strange love for death and found a twisted sense of romance at looking at what he had done to these innocent men. Nilsen was a man who wanted company. But only found it worthwhile once they were dead.
One of my favorite parts of this book was how Masters mentioned other serial killers. He mentions John Wayne Gacy, Peter Sutcliffe, Norman Collins, and even Edmund Kemper. The author included this piece about Kemper stating, "....burying the head in his garden facing the house, so that he could imagine the victim looking at him." This reminds me of how Nilsen took one of his victims from the closet and would have inane conversations with him and also placed him on the couch so they could watch tv together. The author even talks about how serial killers are becoming less rare and may represent a "motiveless" criminal who is an accepted part of society.
Overall, this book provides great insight into how Nilsen killed men he liked so they wouldn't be able to leave him. However, the real reason for why Nilsen did what he did is still elusive. This book is gripping and chilling... it gives the reader great knowledge of how even despite what Nilsen did... he is still human. A sad, lonely human who just wanted some company and would do anything necessary to receive it.
Interesting psychological and legal analysis of the mind of a murderer without a clear motive. It was fascinating and gruesome at the same time, at some points i had to put it down and clear my head, but i kept coming back for it. Learnt a lot about human psychology.
2.5*
I tried to read this back in 2020 after seeing the show Des with my fave human David Tennant playing Dennis Nielsen, but after around 50 pages I stopped. As some of you are aware I don’t DNF books but I “pause“ them. This was one of them. I’m so glad I picked it back up. It’s a tough read & really challenging at times due to the nature of the topic, but I would advise people who want to read it to go in completely open-minded & to have a strong stomach. What Brian achieved is quite astonishing considering how brutal the facts were. He tried to stay neutral & only gave the facts. It must’ve been so hard to stay away from giving his own opinion on the matter. He wouldn’t judge him or use certain terminology to describe the actions that Des did, but this made it hard to read because of just how much emotionless information were included, which I’m not sure is necessarily a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. I had to listen to the audiobook alongside reading the physical book because I just struggled with the writing & how wordy it was. Overall I don’t know exactly how to review this book because my head just hurts if I’m honest. If I were to sum up how I feel in a few words it would be: Challenging, intense, tough, eye-opening & thought-provoking. Even though I’ve given it quite a low-ish rating, & I haven’t exactly praised the book, I’m glad I’ve read it because before I didn’t even know much about him & now I feel like I know everything. Somethings will shock you but I suppose that’s the nature of the game with a book like this.
“
I tried to read this back in 2020 after seeing the show Des with my fave human David Tennant playing Dennis Nielsen, but after around 50 pages I stopped. As some of you are aware I don’t DNF books but I “pause“ them. This was one of them. I’m so glad I picked it back up. It’s a tough read & really challenging at times due to the nature of the topic, but I would advise people who want to read it to go in completely open-minded & to have a strong stomach. What Brian achieved is quite astonishing considering how brutal the facts were. He tried to stay neutral & only gave the facts. It must’ve been so hard to stay away from giving his own opinion on the matter. He wouldn’t judge him or use certain terminology to describe the actions that Des did, but this made it hard to read because of just how much emotionless information were included, which I’m not sure is necessarily a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. I had to listen to the audiobook alongside reading the physical book because I just struggled with the writing & how wordy it was. Overall I don’t know exactly how to review this book because my head just hurts if I’m honest. If I were to sum up how I feel in a few words it would be: Challenging, intense, tough, eye-opening & thought-provoking. Even though I’ve given it quite a low-ish rating, & I haven’t exactly praised the book, I’m glad I’ve read it because before I didn’t even know much about him & now I feel like I know everything. Somethings will shock you but I suppose that’s the nature of the game with a book like this.
“
This book is a fascinating but slow burn book which talks about Dennis Nilsen a profllific killer who murdered men. In the book we look at his origins, his childhood, his life in the army, his policing career, the victims, the disposal of the victims. As well as the arrest, remand and trial of the killer.
It covers lots of things on the book it is a bit of a slow book and some chapters were a tad boring (I do like to hear the backstories of the killers). Obviously the most interesting parts were his crimes, disposal, trial etc. Although I did find his childhood chapter as well as the army life chapter very interesting. I do think the author is trying to give Dennis reasons to commit his crimes, where as to be honest Dennis couldn't give two s**ts about what he has done. He is just like "yes I did it", as well as referring to his victims as "young youths". He's a vile man who did disgusting and disturbing things to his victims. Those who got away are lucky but I think they are mentally unwell due to the trauma.
Overall Dennis Nilsen reminds me of the wish version of Jeffrey Dahmer, minus the cannibalism. They did start the same year one in the UK one I'm the US. They both didn't want to be alone but they didn't like talking to people, they both killed men, cut of heads and limbs etc. It is a good book and I would recommend it to those who would like to learn more about his crimes and punishment, as well as those who love true crime like myself.
Oh but the text is awful in this book it's so small and hurts your eyes (even with glasses on). Maybe get the Kindle version.
It covers lots of things on the book it is a bit of a slow book and some chapters were a tad boring (I do like to hear the backstories of the killers). Obviously the most interesting parts were his crimes, disposal, trial etc. Although I did find his childhood chapter as well as the army life chapter very interesting. I do think the author is trying to give Dennis reasons to commit his crimes, where as to be honest Dennis couldn't give two s**ts about what he has done. He is just like "yes I did it", as well as referring to his victims as "young youths". He's a vile man who did disgusting and disturbing things to his victims. Those who got away are lucky but I think they are mentally unwell due to the trauma.
Overall Dennis Nilsen reminds me of the wish version of Jeffrey Dahmer, minus the cannibalism. They did start the same year one in the UK one I'm the US. They both didn't want to be alone but they didn't like talking to people, they both killed men, cut of heads and limbs etc. It is a good book and I would recommend it to those who would like to learn more about his crimes and punishment, as well as those who love true crime like myself.
Oh but the text is awful in this book it's so small and hurts your eyes (even with glasses on). Maybe get the Kindle version.
Unrated out of 5
I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” reading this in the typical way people “enjoy” books—reading about the murders and dismemberment of other human beings isn’t something I find particularly fun. I do, however, find it interesting.
In this book Masters attempts to delve into the psyche of Dennis ‘Des’ Nilsen in an attempt to uncover why multiple murderers commit their crimes. It’s clear from the outset that this is Masters’s first foray into writing true crime and that his experience as a writer lies elsewhere, but Masters mostly succeeds at articulating the engaging and tragic tale of Nilson’s life, upbringing and crimes.
Personally, I found the beginning and middle of the text to be the most interesting. The sections on dismemberment being the most fascinating and simultaneously disturbing for me personally. The book unfortunately falls flat when we reach the “answers” section of the text. Masters isn’t a criminal psychologist, nor does he have a background in forensics or law so it’s here where he seems to struggle somewhat to come to a conclusion of sorts on what drove Nilson to murder.
The book succeeds wonderfully in the description of Nilsen as a man and murderer, but stumbles around philosophical and spiritual ponderings.
Nevertheless, Killing for Company is still an interesting look at one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers and I would recommend this to those who are interested in true crime.
I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” reading this in the typical way people “enjoy” books—reading about the murders and dismemberment of other human beings isn’t something I find particularly fun. I do, however, find it interesting.
In this book Masters attempts to delve into the psyche of Dennis ‘Des’ Nilsen in an attempt to uncover why multiple murderers commit their crimes. It’s clear from the outset that this is Masters’s first foray into writing true crime and that his experience as a writer lies elsewhere, but Masters mostly succeeds at articulating the engaging and tragic tale of Nilson’s life, upbringing and crimes.
Personally, I found the beginning and middle of the text to be the most interesting. The sections on dismemberment being the most fascinating and simultaneously disturbing for me personally. The book unfortunately falls flat when we reach the “answers” section of the text. Masters isn’t a criminal psychologist, nor does he have a background in forensics or law so it’s here where he seems to struggle somewhat to come to a conclusion of sorts on what drove Nilson to murder.
The book succeeds wonderfully in the description of Nilsen as a man and murderer, but stumbles around philosophical and spiritual ponderings.
Nevertheless, Killing for Company is still an interesting look at one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers and I would recommend this to those who are interested in true crime.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Unrated out of 5
I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” reading this in the typical way people “enjoy” books—reading about the murders and dismemberment of other human beings isn’t something I find particularly fun. I do, however, find it interesting.
In this book Masters attempts to delve into the psyche of Dennis ‘Des’ Nilsen in an attempt to uncover why multiple murderers commit their crimes. It’s clear from the outset that this is Masters’s first foray into writing true crime and that his experience as a writer lies elsewhere, but Masters mostly succeeds at articulating the engaging and tragic tale of Nilson’s life, upbringing and crimes.
Personally, I found the beginning and middle of the text to be the most interesting. The sections on dismemberment being the most fascinating and simultaneously disturbing for me personally. The book unfortunately falls flat when we reach the “answers” section of the text. Masters isn’t a criminal psychologist, nor does he have a background in forensics or law so it’s here where he seems to struggle somewhat to come to a conclusion of sorts on what drove Nilson to murder.
The book succeeds wonderfully in the description of Nilsen as a man and murderer, but stumbles around philosophical and spiritual ponderings.
Nevertheless, Killing for Company is still an interesting look at one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers and I would recommend this to those who are interested in true crime.
I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” reading this in the typical way people “enjoy” books—reading about the murders and dismemberment of other human beings isn’t something I find particularly fun. I do, however, find it interesting.
In this book Masters attempts to delve into the psyche of Dennis ‘Des’ Nilsen in an attempt to uncover why multiple murderers commit their crimes. It’s clear from the outset that this is Masters’s first foray into writing true crime and that his experience as a writer lies elsewhere, but Masters mostly succeeds at articulating the engaging and tragic tale of Nilson’s life, upbringing and crimes.
Personally, I found the beginning and middle of the text to be the most interesting. The sections on dismemberment being the most fascinating and simultaneously disturbing for me personally. The book unfortunately falls flat when we reach the “answers” section of the text. Masters isn’t a criminal psychologist, nor does he have a background in forensics or law so it’s here where he seems to struggle somewhat to come to a conclusion of sorts on what drove Nilson to murder.
The book succeeds wonderfully in the description of Nilsen as a man and murderer, but stumbles around philosophical and spiritual ponderings.
Nevertheless, Killing for Company is still an interesting look at one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers and I would recommend this to those who are interested in true crime.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free audiobook of this in exchange for an honest review.
This is a bit of a weird one to rate and review but I’ve given it 4 stars to reflect my appreciation of the research done in creating this book.
If you watched the ITV programme ‘Des’ and, like me, were intrigued by Nilsen’s actions and personality, this book is definitely for you. I listened to the audiobook and loved that the narrator was the actor who played the author in the tv programme!
There is a lot of analysis of Nilsen’s actions and some gory details, so if that isn’t for you, please don’t read this book. It does, however, show a really interesting insight into Nilsen as a person, and we learn a lot more about his life than you see in the programme.
Masters is clearly a very academic and intelligent author, and I can imagine reading this book physically would be quite difficult due to the lengthy words and sentences Masters uses. But the audiobook completely removed this difficulty.
If you’re interested in true crime, this is a very interesting read.
This is a bit of a weird one to rate and review but I’ve given it 4 stars to reflect my appreciation of the research done in creating this book.
If you watched the ITV programme ‘Des’ and, like me, were intrigued by Nilsen’s actions and personality, this book is definitely for you. I listened to the audiobook and loved that the narrator was the actor who played the author in the tv programme!
There is a lot of analysis of Nilsen’s actions and some gory details, so if that isn’t for you, please don’t read this book. It does, however, show a really interesting insight into Nilsen as a person, and we learn a lot more about his life than you see in the programme.
Masters is clearly a very academic and intelligent author, and I can imagine reading this book physically would be quite difficult due to the lengthy words and sentences Masters uses. But the audiobook completely removed this difficulty.
If you’re interested in true crime, this is a very interesting read.