My Brother the Killer

‘A hugely impressive achievement.’ – Hadley Freeman, author of House of Glass

At 8.00am on Monday 18th June 2001, Danielle Jones left home dressed in her school uniform – and promptly vanished.

The 15-year old’s body was never recovered, but Danielle’s parents soon learned that her ‘Uncle Stuart’, a close family friend, had concealed a decades-long history of sexual violence against teenage girls. Despite the absence of a body, Stuart Campbell was sentenced to life in prison for Danielle’s abduction and murder. But what set him on his path as a violent sexual predator? And how do you come to terms with his actions if he’s your own flesh and blood?

In My Brother the Killer, Stuart’s older brother Alix Sharkey chronicles the violent childhood and troubled teens that helped shape a bright and handsome little boy into one of Britain’s most notorious killers, and led to one of the UK’s most unusual murder trials. Sharkey also poses several terrifying questions: what happens when you discover a deadly sexual predator in your family? Is it possible to trace the root of his heinous crimes? And with the clock ticking towards his possible parole, can Stuart Campbell be convinced to reveal the location of Danielle’s remains?

A devastating hybrid of true crime and family memoir, My Brother the Killer examines the true cost of keeping dark family secrets.

Reviews

‘An incredibly heart breaking and affecting book – I gulped it down in one sitting. So powerful about childhoods destroyed by violence, so beady eyed about adults trying to escape the past. A hugely impressive achievement.’ – Hadley Freeman, author of House of Glass

‘An unflinching account… a devastating look at the violent childhood that bound brothers together and from which only one of them was able to escape.’ – Sunday Times

About the author

Alix Sharkey began his writing career at i-D magazine, eventually becoming co-editor. Over more than three decades in journalism he has filed hundreds of features on crime, popular culture and fashion for the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph, as well as various UK and international magazines. Alix has worked as news editor of MTV Europe, written a weekly column for the Independent and more recently studied creative writing at UCLA. He is presently working towards his MFA at Goddard College, and lives in Koreatown, Los Angeles.