The Devil You Know
Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry
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4.4 • 29 Ratings
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A SUNDAY TIMES, NEW STATESMAN & IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CRIME WRITERS ASSOCIATION GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
A perspective-shattering work into the minds of violent criminals that reveals profound consequences for human nature and society at large.
*INCLUDES A NEW CHAPTER*
'Brilliant . . . The book is a powerful myth buster. Name a sterotype about violent offenders and Adshead upends it.'
SUNDAY TIMES
'Deeply moving . . . the most overwhelming feeling I had on finishing this book was of hope . . . Compassionate and fascinating.'
GUARDIAN
Dr Gwen Adshead is one of Britain's leading forensic psychiatrists. She treats serial killers, arsonists, stalkers, gang members and other individuals who are usually labelled 'monsters'. Whatever their crime, she listens to their stories and helps them to better understand their terrible acts of violence. Here Adshead invites the reader to step with her into the room to meet twelve patients and discover how minds can change. These men and women are revealed in all their complexity and shared humanity. Their stories make a powerful case for rehabilitation over revenge, compassion over condemnation. The Devil You Know will challenge everything you thought you knew about human nature.
'An unmissable book.' OBSERVER
'Adshead's compassion is almost as shocking as the offences themselves . . . it gives her distance and extraordinary insight.'
THE TIMES, Books of the Year
'The Devil You Know has permanently recalibrated my empathy dial.'
NEW STATESMAN, Books of the Year
'Deeply humane.'
IRISH TIMES, Books of the Year
'Exceptional.' VAL McDERMID
'Extraodinary.' SEBASTIAN FAULKS
'Gripping . . . ultimately enlightening.' PHILIPPE SANDS
'Fascinating and beautifully written.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This is a bold and important inspection of mental health and its provisions in modern Britain. Forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead (assisted by Eileen Horne) delves into this incendiary subject with a part-memoir, part-case study approach, considering the spectre of violent crime, the reaches of human empathy and the demonisation and abandonment of convicted criminals. Adshead has personally treated a challenging roster of patients—murderers, serial killers and child sex offenders—whose case files make for uneasy reading. But she strives to delve deeper beyond “good” and “evil” in her probing of the people behind the crimes, appealing to our shared humanity in asking us to discover how these “monsters” are made and attempting to spark compassion, as well as a belief in considered treatment and ultimately, redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This heartfelt and nuanced memoir by Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, charts her decades-long career in Britain's National Health Service treating violent offenders. With the assistance of dramatist Horne, Adshead recounts 11 cases, each a composite to protect patient privacy. She treated her first serial killer, Tony, at England's high-security Broadmoor Hospital for criminals. Having confessed to three murders, he remembered a fourth victim during talk therapy treatment. Success often meant treating suicidal convicts so they could be returned to prison to serve out their sentences or helping ex-cons return to the outside world. Some cases are tragic, some sad, and some unredeemable, such as that of Ian, who sexually abused his two sons and later committed suicide, and of Lydia, who wound up back in a mental hospital after being released from prison and attacking her therapist's staff members in his office, but the author manages to humanize her subjects and make a case for devoting more resources to the treatment of all mentally ill in prisons. In addition, Adshead explains the British health-care system and offers a brief history of psychotherapy of inmates. For those interested in the inner workings of the criminal mind, this is must reading.
Customer Reviews
Wow! I didn’t want it to end
A very good reading for those who like physiology or are curious about the mind and it’s working.
The author shows several stories from a humane point of view not to justify or excuse the perpetrators but to help understand the way minds break and how broken minds can create chaos around them. Loved the narrative, the empathy of the author and their ability to separate themselves from the situations to look at the story behind the “monster”.