Ian Brady is one of the most notorious and reviled serial killers in Britain. With his co-conspirator, Myra Hindley, he perpetrated the Moors Murders in which five children were abducted, assaulted and murdered. Dr Chris Cowley is a forensic psychologist who is in the unique position of having exclusive access to Brady. For six years, he has been conducting groundbreaking research by corresponding with and visiting him in prison. By gaining his trust, Cowley has been able to take an unrivalled look inside the mind of a serial killer. This important study provides information that will prove essential in our understanding of the psychology of serial killers. By broadening our knowledge of these complex issues, we can increase the likelihood of catching murderers and perhaps evern prevent their terrible crimes from taking place.
Face to Face with Evil: Conversations with Ian Brady
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Amsterdamned
Format:Paperback
After reading the reviews here I was determined to try to find as much of value in this book as I could.
The author is clearly writing from an anti-capital punishment/pro-penal reform/humanitarian viewpoint, and that's fine by me. It is also not the task of books like this to declare antipathy towards the killer and empathy towards the victims - present the facts and let the reader decide.
But after this it's downhill all the way.
Is the title misleading? Yes. "Face to Face With Evil" - too sensationalist and the author never states that Brady is evil - when the question is asked in the book the author leaves it to the reader to decide, as it should be. "Conversations With Ian Brady" - this gives me the impression that most of the book will be transcripts of conversations, and it isn't. Conversations are referenced and there are many quotes from Brady, but most of the book is about the psychology and profiling of serial killing and the penal system of the UK, and the author and publisher missed a trick (as well as antagonising the readers) by the bad title choice.
The book seemed to me to be poorly structured, with sections injected into chapters where they just didn't seem to belong, possibly because no other place for them could be found. The writing style varies too much too - from the glib to the academic - with a smattering of sloppy grammar and repetition thrown in for good measure.
But worse, so much worse, is the plethora of unforgivable factual errors. Just taking references to Ted Bundy, for example, about 80% of what is written about him in this book is wide of the mark - from unsubstantiated or discredited hypotheses presented as fact right through to complete factual missers. There are too many to list, but just a couple of examples: Page 65: "... and on one occasion attacked five women in one night, three of them ending up dead.", Two, actually, Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy. Page 161: "He was convicted of 30 murders, ...". He was convicted of just three murders: Bowman, Levy and Diane Leach. And so on. Though these errors do not affect the thrust of the arguments, they are incredibly sloppy and have no place in a serious work like this. They set my teeth on edge and made me doubt every fact presented on every topic.
I tried to find the good in this book. It has some good, but it's not good enough.
The author is clearly writing from an anti-capital punishment/pro-penal reform/humanitarian viewpoint, and that's fine by me. It is also not the task of books like this to declare antipathy towards the killer and empathy towards the victims - present the facts and let the reader decide.
But after this it's downhill all the way.
Is the title misleading? Yes. "Face to Face With Evil" - too sensationalist and the author never states that Brady is evil - when the question is asked in the book the author leaves it to the reader to decide, as it should be. "Conversations With Ian Brady" - this gives me the impression that most of the book will be transcripts of conversations, and it isn't. Conversations are referenced and there are many quotes from Brady, but most of the book is about the psychology and profiling of serial killing and the penal system of the UK, and the author and publisher missed a trick (as well as antagonising the readers) by the bad title choice.
The book seemed to me to be poorly structured, with sections injected into chapters where they just didn't seem to belong, possibly because no other place for them could be found. The writing style varies too much too - from the glib to the academic - with a smattering of sloppy grammar and repetition thrown in for good measure.
But worse, so much worse, is the plethora of unforgivable factual errors. Just taking references to Ted Bundy, for example, about 80% of what is written about him in this book is wide of the mark - from unsubstantiated or discredited hypotheses presented as fact right through to complete factual missers. There are too many to list, but just a couple of examples: Page 65: "... and on one occasion attacked five women in one night, three of them ending up dead.", Two, actually, Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy. Page 161: "He was convicted of 30 murders, ...". He was convicted of just three murders: Bowman, Levy and Diane Leach. And so on. Though these errors do not affect the thrust of the arguments, they are incredibly sloppy and have no place in a serious work like this. They set my teeth on edge and made me doubt every fact presented on every topic.
I tried to find the good in this book. It has some good, but it's not good enough.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By teepeegb
Format:Paperback
I picked this book up cheap and still felt cheated. As others have said the book boils down to a few very limited meetings with Brady. He gives nothing away and never will. The good doctor pads the rest out with random bits of American drivel and rants about the Police and the authorities that keep Brady locked up. His arguments are flawed and even worse, the book lacks structure and is badly written.
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This has to be the most misleading book title ever.
As every other reviewer has said, it is not the inside story of Ian Brady, gleaned from extensive insider interviews. Rather, it is a few quotes from him presented in a sycophantic way by the author who, for some bizarre reason, seems to revere the monster.
The vast majority of the book is pseudo psychological babble about American serial killers, almost all of which is well known by anyone interested in true crime.
At one point in the book, Cowley talks about American killers Ted Bundy and Gerard Schaefer and says that because they're both dead, anyone examining their crimes has "only scraps to work with". This should be the title of Cowley's book because scraps are clearly all he's had to base it on. To be honest, part of me admires the guy for managing to get 290 pages out of what must be only a few sides of A4 worth of new material from Brady.
Another part of the book that particularly jarred with me - there are many - was when he suggested that if Brady was willing to admit to being a serial killer, it meant anything he said about his dreadful treatment at Ashworth secure hospital must be true. Of course, anyone who knows anything about Brady knows that he'll say what he can to undermine the authorities that keep him behind bars. Cowley acknowledges that Brady plays the system yet he contradicts himself. This kind of contradiction is a theme that runs throughout the book.
I'd also like to agree with an earlier reviewer who was appalled that the author refers to Lesley Ann Downey by her surname. Terribly disrespectful. If you write another book, Dr Cowley, please have the good grace to call victims by either their full name or first name.
There are too many things wrong, irritating, annoying and upsetting about this book to list. All I can say is that whoever edited it must care little for their trade.
The publisher will no doubt make a few quid from us mugs who bought it on account of the title and cover blurb. But they'll get no sales from word of mouth because anyone who's read it will tell all their friends that it's rubbish.
As every other reviewer has said, it is not the inside story of Ian Brady, gleaned from extensive insider interviews. Rather, it is a few quotes from him presented in a sycophantic way by the author who, for some bizarre reason, seems to revere the monster.
The vast majority of the book is pseudo psychological babble about American serial killers, almost all of which is well known by anyone interested in true crime.
At one point in the book, Cowley talks about American killers Ted Bundy and Gerard Schaefer and says that because they're both dead, anyone examining their crimes has "only scraps to work with". This should be the title of Cowley's book because scraps are clearly all he's had to base it on. To be honest, part of me admires the guy for managing to get 290 pages out of what must be only a few sides of A4 worth of new material from Brady.
Another part of the book that particularly jarred with me - there are many - was when he suggested that if Brady was willing to admit to being a serial killer, it meant anything he said about his dreadful treatment at Ashworth secure hospital must be true. Of course, anyone who knows anything about Brady knows that he'll say what he can to undermine the authorities that keep him behind bars. Cowley acknowledges that Brady plays the system yet he contradicts himself. This kind of contradiction is a theme that runs throughout the book.
I'd also like to agree with an earlier reviewer who was appalled that the author refers to Lesley Ann Downey by her surname. Terribly disrespectful. If you write another book, Dr Cowley, please have the good grace to call victims by either their full name or first name.
There are too many things wrong, irritating, annoying and upsetting about this book to list. All I can say is that whoever edited it must care little for their trade.
The publisher will no doubt make a few quid from us mugs who bought it on account of the title and cover blurb. But they'll get no sales from word of mouth because anyone who's read it will tell all their friends that it's rubbish.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deff
Deffanatly one to go alongside Myra beyond saddleworth they are both amazing books that tell you te real things that happend on the moors. in one of the most henious crimes ever!
Published 28 days ago by Megan Roddis
5.0 out of 5 stars
A impressive read
A incredible talk of what the moors murders came about. Dr Chris Cowley has made it clear that Ian Brady and Myra Hindley developed tragic relationship and how Brady describes the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sally J Armitt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I enjoyed this and found it easy to read. The author refers to many different serial killers throughout so it's not just concentrated on Brady. Read more
Published 3 months ago by joanne davies
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read
Instresting book what a evil man he was worth a read but it might not be some people's choice cheap to buy have read quite a few book about the moor murders worth a read
Published 4 months ago by flower
1.0 out of 5 stars
Such a misleading title!!!
I won't waste your time repeating what so many others have said except to say how extremely disappointed I was that so little of this book is conversations with Brady. Read more
Published 5 months ago by J Sheppard
5.0 out of 5 stars
a great read
i thought this book was very informative and well written
i read alot of books and i would say this is one of my favorites
reads . Read more
i read alot of books and i would say this is one of my favorites
reads . Read more
Published 8 months ago by tommyy
4.0 out of 5 stars
annoying marketing
When you buy this book, you are lead to believe that your going to get a fair chunk of Ian Brady. Not quite true. Read more
Published 9 months ago by skywalker
4.0 out of 5 stars
I don't get these negative reviews
This is a thought-provoking, intellectual exploration of serial killing. It strikes just the right balance between being easily accessible and being academic. Read more
Published 10 months ago by SAP
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but I felt parts could of been cut out
The author had more access to Ian Brady than most forensic psychologists and students would crave. I was hoping for a lot more information about Brady in this book than what was... Read more
Published 11 months ago by D. L. Masterman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Face To Face With Evil
I thought this might be a learned tome which would lend insight into the psyche of Ian Brady. Instead, it's a shallow, peurile and extremely poorly written 'biog'. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Casandra
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