To begin with I felt like ‘Talking with Psychopaths and Savages’ was going to take me, the reader deep inside the minds of some of the most dangerous people known to us. But what drove me to pick this book up was that rather than just focusing on their crimes, it would pick up on what drove them to that violent point and their thinking behind it. Unfortunately that was only a little of what we got.
The author Christopher Berry - Dee appeared more concerned about massaging his ego, wasting time and pages repeating stories, discussing word count and selling his other books than he did focusing on the content of this book. Rather than doing the thing that would sell more books, writing a great book.
Christopher Berry - Dee is a criminologist who has spent years interviewing imprisoned criminals and serial killers, whose lack of remorse was as terrifying as the crimes they committed. Through the course of these conversations he also got to interview some of their psychiatrists, or gained access to their psychiatrist reports and through both of these he began to uncover the evils that can behind a friendly face.
As much as this focus was included it was always interjected with too much of the author as if he was trying to taunt those he had interviewed. But what also added disappointment to ‘Talking with Psychopaths and Savages’ is its lack of editing. Poor proofreading and editing meant their were countless mistakes, an unusual amount of repetition and constant reference to the word count, as if Berry - Dee was just trying to make it to his goal rather than create an outstanding book, which he had the ability and resources to do.
In a book that could show us how little we could know about someone who is so close to us I feel I know a lot more about Christopher Berry - Dee than I should. I feel like everything I learnt from this book cannot be trusted, like there must be a better source out there.
So if you have some recommendations give me a shout or if you fancy finding out for yourself, buy 'Talking with Psychopaths and Savages' here
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