Biographies

[Artie Fufkin]

I really want to read Mark Volman's book ASAP.

Yes! Good call.
And, yes. Frank always comes across as a bit of a dick.
But I'll let him off.

[non capisco]

Absolutely that. It's pure evil, it really is, but by god you can't put it down.

It's probably the only book to actually cause me nightmares but there is at least the bit where Fred West eats an onion like it's an apple for a spot of light relief.

[Doomy Dwyer]

It's probably the only book to actually cause me nightmares but there is at least the bit where Fred West eats an onion like it's an apple for a spot of light relief.

There's also the bit where Fred 'accidentally' runs over and kills a little boy in an ice cream van which isn't funny per se, but offers a touch of much needed levity when placed in context of the every other grim aspect of Fred's utterly depraved and sadistic life. Particularly when you imagine the incident happening accompanied by a slightly off kilter chime version of the Match of the Day theme tune.

It's a horrific and haunting book that. The psychological stuff: his fascination with excavation, holes, burrowing has stayed with me and causes me to shudder whenever I'm near a building site or roadworks. His bumpkin cunning, idiot savant talent for brutality, his execrable skill as a builder - even at a piss poor cowboy standard. Fred West was a one in a million monster. And then he met another one in a different million.  It's a brilliant and horrible book.