- Paperback: 360 pages
- Publisher: Faber And Faber Ltd.; New edition edition (Sep 1 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0571197205
- ISBN-13: 978-0571197200
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11.2 x 4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 259 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #797,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In February 1994 the bodies of seven women were excavated at an innocuous-looking house; 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester. As the true horror of what happened there unfolded, it became clear that this was the most infamous series of murders in Britain this century. This is the story of two people - Fred and Rose West - who lived together, raised (and killed) children, provided sexual services for anyone interested, and pretended to provide social services for single women. It is the story of two people who made the world a darker, more dangerous place.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
An exhaustive and exhausting book.,
By
This review is from: Happy Like Murderers (Hardcover)
This review is for the hardcover edition measuring 9 1/2 X 6 1/4 having 390 pages and sadly.......NO PHOTOS AT ALL!!!Good lord...no photo section?...They are definitely in public domain now so why none...except the almighty $$$. This is an exhaustive study of 2 unbelievably dysfunctional people who, to the world's misfortune found each other and fed off of each others misery and fantasies. The problem with this book is that it is like watching a 2 hour movie from a set of 2 second clips taken every 10 minutes and then again...only this time from a series of 3 second clips taken at random, and again a group of 3 second clips taken every 7 1/2 seconds. What we see is essentially the SAME information over and over again...page after page with some minor details added and enhancing it slightly. At a quick glance ( being unwilling to spend MORE time on this book, I found some examples of MANY there are throughout the book....so many in fact i wondered if the publisher had mistakenly printed the same page or if the author had experienced memory loss and failed to remember he had told us those particular details 3 times already or was it me...having a 'senior' moment? Here is an example...one of hundreds..from page 135.." It was a small hole. Two and a half feet by a foot and a half across,and not quite four feet deep. Vertical rather than horizontal. A small deep well dug hole. A vertical shaft. He pressed what remained of Rena into the ground, and fitted her legs in around her."...now page 146....."It was a small hole. Two and a half feet by a foot and a half......(you get the idea ) until the end...and fitted her legs around her." But it occurs everywhere...if not EXACTLY the same then overkill..page 162..."They had been a couple for under six months at this point and she never saw him. The children never saw their father. She never saw him."...or page 164...Heather was fractious, crabby,whatever you wanted to call it. Fractious." I can only assume there was absolutely NO EDITOR at all and believe me....this book BADLY NEEDED ONE! It COULD have been great....it SHOULD HAVE BEEN SHORTER but it DIDN'T cut it for me...at all. If you're titillated by the lurid details of their life then this will satisfy you but if you want to learn more of the crime, aside from the morbid and sad details of their life together then look elsewhere....there is little of the crime itself in here that will satisfy your curiosity. NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Life and Times of a Grotesque kind of "family",
By Kali "bengaligirl" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happy Like Murderers (Paperback)
This is one of the most grotesquely fascinating books I have ever read in my life. It is about a grotesque man, Fred West and his equally grotesque wife Rosemary West, two serial killers born and bred in the UK.Fred and Rosemary West will long be remembered for their systematic abuse (and murder) of their own children (and others) and how, for many years they evaded being discovered because of the indifferent society they lived in. Gordon Burn takes his readers into a modern day Heart of Darkness in which there is no happy ending, only survivors who will never be the same again. This is not an easy book to read, it starts in a peculiar way, far removed from the West family themselves, in a way it is quite detached from Fred and Rosemary, and I think the author did this on purpose. This is a horror story that turns your stomach because it is a true horror story, of how a man and a woman could get away with cold blooded and totally calculated murder for years. This book is not for the faint hearted or squeamish; it is brutal, and explicit in its search for truth and understanding. It is well written, savagely analytical and totally mesmerising from beginning to end. It is a book that I can recommend but only if you have the stomach to read it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent account,
By Katrina Csanadi (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Happy Like Murderers (Paperback)
If you are at all interested in the appalling crimes of Fred and Rosemary West, this is a must have for your library. Books about Fred and Rose are rare (I have only counted 6 titles). Others include: "Fred and Rose", "She Must Have Known", "The Corpse Garden", and "Out of the Shadows". "Happy Like Murderers" gives a rich look into the lives of these sick individuals.
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