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218 reviews for:
Talking with Psychopaths and Savages Mass Murderers and Spree Killers
Christopher Berry-Dee, Christopher Berry-Dee
2.71 AVERAGE
218 reviews for:
Talking with Psychopaths and Savages Mass Murderers and Spree Killers
Christopher Berry-Dee, Christopher Berry-Dee
2.71 AVERAGE
Read the negative reviews, they are not wrong.
End of review.
End of review.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Very well written.
Would recommend for those who enjoy true crime. 10/10
Would recommend for those who enjoy true crime. 10/10
It seems as if the writer has set himself up as "the person serial killers talk to", dismissing psychiatrists as people they won't talk to because the killers are allegedly too bright. Yet when he does talk to them, they reveal themselves as shallow narcissists with no remorse. And we wouldn't expect anything more. It seems a bit hollow to dismiss the medical experts. They don't all rush into print, for a start.
I have problems with his labels, psychopath or savage. The latter is a killer who hasn't had a diagnosis.
There's a lot of grandstanding by Berry-Dee. He has a coat of arms and deploys it on letters to killers, along with a squirt of Chanel, to get them to write to him.
The lengthy explanations about the nature of psychopathy, where physical causes are outlined, is more interesting than the interviews with the killers.
The writing is tabloid-esque and grandiose.
Disappointing.
I have problems with his labels, psychopath or savage. The latter is a killer who hasn't had a diagnosis.
There's a lot of grandstanding by Berry-Dee. He has a coat of arms and deploys it on letters to killers, along with a squirt of Chanel, to get them to write to him.
The lengthy explanations about the nature of psychopathy, where physical causes are outlined, is more interesting than the interviews with the killers.
The writing is tabloid-esque and grandiose.
Disappointing.
dark
informative
dark
informative
slow-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Very disjointed and very surface level. He barely touches upon the tragedies that happened. He just skims and gives the basics. He talks more about gun control than the killers and their victims. We never got into their heads. He said he has personally talked to a few of them, yet you'll never know what happened in those meetings so it's not really talking with psychopaths is it? To do that, you actually have to have a conversation with them. You won't learn anything at all. He barely goes into the crimes, nor the killer themselves nor the victims, so what is the point if you're not going to focus on atleast one of these?
Also, the writer can be very grating at times. He seems to think he's god like in understanding psychopaths. Unless you have telepathy, you cannot know what goes on in someones mind. A lot of the time, psychology is just an educated guess based on behaviour but even then, bias can play a huge role and just because someone throws a label on you, it doesn't mean it's true. (e.g. Autistic women getting a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder when really, they were actually autistic.) Let's dial down the ego when we have the power to put life changing labels on people.
I don't get the point of this book. He constantly references his other books and this book doesn't add anything new to the conversation. It says very little and is repetitive. He talks a lotta smack, but he is all talk, no walk.
Also, the writer can be very grating at times. He seems to think he's god like in understanding psychopaths. Unless you have telepathy, you cannot know what goes on in someones mind. A lot of the time, psychology is just an educated guess based on behaviour but even then, bias can play a huge role and just because someone throws a label on you, it doesn't mean it's true. (e.g. Autistic women getting a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder when really, they were actually autistic.) Let's dial down the ego when we have the power to put life changing labels on people.
I don't get the point of this book. He constantly references his other books and this book doesn't add anything new to the conversation. It says very little and is repetitive. He talks a lotta smack, but he is all talk, no walk.
I started to read this book and got about a third of the way through. Unfortunately, a lot of the reviews on this site are true. This book might have been readable with a fine-tooth edit, but it did not have the luxury. It is confusing, untruthful, and full of arrogance. There are some interesting pieces, but they are amongst pages of words that make no sense. I've never read a book before that mentions its word count and continuously talks about how people begged the author to write the book. I have also purchased Berry-Dee's book about serial killers, so I hope that will be better.