Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
I was interested having watched the David Tennant drama about the subject. I suppose I was also hoping to see what explanation there could possibly be for a murderer's acts. There were definitely horrible bits I skimmed over and sometimes I wanted to give up. The psychiatric bits were hard to understand and I also became suspicious of the author's motives when I realised he made a habit of writing about murderers and tried to engage with them. Ultimately there was no explanation.
dark
medium-paced
Wow, just wow.
When I said I wanted to learn about murderers and what motivates them to commit their crimes, this book is precisely what I meant.
There are small paragraphs of Nielsen's background, particularly the information about Scotland that I felt were unnecessary, but most of it added to the reader's understanding of Nielsen's upbringing.
Whilst I spent most of the book shaking my head in disbelief, this was a crazy read that I couldn't stop. Masters is clearly fascinated by Nielsen and his crimes, and does an excellent job of getting into his mind. This book will stay with me longer after finishing it. Terrifying stuff.
When I said I wanted to learn about murderers and what motivates them to commit their crimes, this book is precisely what I meant.
There are small paragraphs of Nielsen's background, particularly the information about Scotland that I felt were unnecessary, but most of it added to the reader's understanding of Nielsen's upbringing.
Whilst I spent most of the book shaking my head in disbelief, this was a crazy read that I couldn't stop. Masters is clearly fascinated by Nielsen and his crimes, and does an excellent job of getting into his mind. This book will stay with me longer after finishing it. Terrifying stuff.
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
this was my first true crime book, and it honestly wasn’t bad until that disgustingly long chapter at the end where Masters tries to delve into the psychology of the killer by quoting other authors and psychologists.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
dark
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
I've settled on a three star rating, because I found it so interesting, but Chapter 2 (Origins) and Chapter 10 (Answers) were DNF worthy! Overall I'm so glad I read it, but Brian Masters didn't impress me too much!
Originally posted to I Should Read That
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’m an enthusiastic listener of true crime podcasts, having been caught up in the My Favorite Murder craze back when it started, but have read very few true crime books. While I’ve moved on to better and more responsible podcasts, my interest in true crime remains. When the opportunity to read Killing for Company crossed my path, I decided to give it a go, despite some of my discomfort around true crime reporting and attitudes.
Before we dive in, I did (and still do) have some concerns with reading true crime — especially a book written in the 80’s like Killing for Company. Murder, especially when committed by the ‘heavy hitters’, has a tendency to be sensationalised, the victims forgotten, or the killers themselves turned into objects of fascination or worship. I have a huge issue with those true crime aficionados who treat it as pure entertainment — I’ve seen some awful things be said to and about victims and their families over the years — and have always been worried that true crime books will fall into this category of sensationalism and awfulness. One of the reasons I enjoyed The Five so much is that Rubenhold remembered the women who lost their lives and didn’t fall into the trap of seeing Jack the Ripper as some kind of fascinating and mysterious man.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way (sorry), I really felt like Masters did a great job of reporting on facts of the case in this book. A wealth of the information, as he explains in the opening pages, was provided by Neilson himself after his arrest and his his own words are often used in the book. Nilson filled dozens of notebooks with writings on his life and experiences (as well as questionable poetry) while in prison and gave the author access to everything. Of course, much of this means we have to rely on Nilson being truthful about his actions and state of mind, but I felt Masters did a good job of reminding the reader of this — just because it’s a first hand account doesn’t mean it’s an honest account.
The book acts as a biography for the murderer, starting from his childhood in Scotland to his lonely adulthood in London. Masters speculates on where this man’s fascination with death and instinct to kill may have come from, as well as why he’s held up as such a fascinating case for psychologists, as he doesn’t neatly fit the mould of any particular mental illness like psychopathy or narcissism. He lets Nilsen describe the acts of murder he committed in his own words — a little unsettling, to say the least — and speculates on why he killed some men, but let others go. It has an incredibly in-depth and detailed account of the trial and post-conviction reactions, and is generally a very well-written book.
The one issue I did have with Killing for Company is one that I think would have been hard for Masters to have completely avoided — it is far, far too sympathetic to Nilson. It’s understandable that Masters connected with this man through all of their years of correspondence and interviews, however I felt that there were several points in which Masters really tried to make Nilson seem like a kind of tragic figure — a victim of his circumstances. Sure, he was a lonely man living a sad life, however that doesn’t even remotely excuse his actions. Masters seemed to have lost sight of the fact that he was speaking about a mass murderer at times, and this really rubbed me the wrong way.
If you’re looking for an incredibly thorough investigation into one man’s mind and heinous actions, you should absolutely give this book a try, however I’d warn against falling into the same trap as the author himself and finding the subject sympathetic. I’d highly recommend the audiobook, which is how I read it, as the narrator is absolutely fantastic! It is a totally compelling listen and I binged it in two sittings.
I’d be very curious to see how this translates to TV, as it has been recently adapted with David Tennant starring as Neilson.
If you’re unaware of Neilson’s crimes, content warnings for: murder, sexual assault, dismemberment, homophobia, and discussion about necrophilia.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’m an enthusiastic listener of true crime podcasts, having been caught up in the My Favorite Murder craze back when it started, but have read very few true crime books. While I’ve moved on to better and more responsible podcasts, my interest in true crime remains. When the opportunity to read Killing for Company crossed my path, I decided to give it a go, despite some of my discomfort around true crime reporting and attitudes.
Before we dive in, I did (and still do) have some concerns with reading true crime — especially a book written in the 80’s like Killing for Company. Murder, especially when committed by the ‘heavy hitters’, has a tendency to be sensationalised, the victims forgotten, or the killers themselves turned into objects of fascination or worship. I have a huge issue with those true crime aficionados who treat it as pure entertainment — I’ve seen some awful things be said to and about victims and their families over the years — and have always been worried that true crime books will fall into this category of sensationalism and awfulness. One of the reasons I enjoyed The Five so much is that Rubenhold remembered the women who lost their lives and didn’t fall into the trap of seeing Jack the Ripper as some kind of fascinating and mysterious man.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way (sorry), I really felt like Masters did a great job of reporting on facts of the case in this book. A wealth of the information, as he explains in the opening pages, was provided by Neilson himself after his arrest and his his own words are often used in the book. Nilson filled dozens of notebooks with writings on his life and experiences (as well as questionable poetry) while in prison and gave the author access to everything. Of course, much of this means we have to rely on Nilson being truthful about his actions and state of mind, but I felt Masters did a good job of reminding the reader of this — just because it’s a first hand account doesn’t mean it’s an honest account.
The book acts as a biography for the murderer, starting from his childhood in Scotland to his lonely adulthood in London. Masters speculates on where this man’s fascination with death and instinct to kill may have come from, as well as why he’s held up as such a fascinating case for psychologists, as he doesn’t neatly fit the mould of any particular mental illness like psychopathy or narcissism. He lets Nilsen describe the acts of murder he committed in his own words — a little unsettling, to say the least — and speculates on why he killed some men, but let others go. It has an incredibly in-depth and detailed account of the trial and post-conviction reactions, and is generally a very well-written book.
The one issue I did have with Killing for Company is one that I think would have been hard for Masters to have completely avoided — it is far, far too sympathetic to Nilson. It’s understandable that Masters connected with this man through all of their years of correspondence and interviews, however I felt that there were several points in which Masters really tried to make Nilson seem like a kind of tragic figure — a victim of his circumstances. Sure, he was a lonely man living a sad life, however that doesn’t even remotely excuse his actions. Masters seemed to have lost sight of the fact that he was speaking about a mass murderer at times, and this really rubbed me the wrong way.
If you’re looking for an incredibly thorough investigation into one man’s mind and heinous actions, you should absolutely give this book a try, however I’d warn against falling into the same trap as the author himself and finding the subject sympathetic. I’d highly recommend the audiobook, which is how I read it, as the narrator is absolutely fantastic! It is a totally compelling listen and I binged it in two sittings.
I’d be very curious to see how this translates to TV, as it has been recently adapted with David Tennant starring as Neilson.
If you’re unaware of Neilson’s crimes, content warnings for: murder, sexual assault, dismemberment, homophobia, and discussion about necrophilia.