Killing for Company: The Story of a Man Addicted to Murder - Hardcover

Masters, Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679424253 ISBN 13: 9780679424253

Publisher: Random House, 1993

Synopsis

A portrayal of notorious serial killer Dennis Nilsen looks behind the facade of a seemingly innocent social worker and discovers the ruthless killer who murdered and dismembered fifteen young men. 15,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

About this title

Review:

This brilliant psychological study of British serial killer Dennis Nilsen was, writes the author, an "oddity," because its subject was so "outlandish," so unheard-of in the annals of psychiatry: "Until, that is, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested ... While in the immediate sense of personal impact Dahmer is unlike Nilsen, being diffident, quiet, polite, even a little dull, against Nilsen's extrovert loquacity and self-confidence, their crimes bear such close similarities of method, manner, and, yes, motive, as to ... mean that the Nilsen/Dahmer brand of florid necrophilia could at last be definable." Brian Masters, better known for his literary and historical works, has written a classic of true crime--a penetrating exploration of not just the crimes, but also the mind of a serial killer. Especially fascinating are excerpts from Nilsen's journals and a collection called "Sad Sketches: Monochrome Man" of drawings and handwritten prose and poetry about the victims. The book includes a postscript by a forensic psychiatrist and a bibliography.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Calling his February 1983 arrest ``the day help arrived,'' London civil-servant Dennis Nilsen, a former constable, readily confessed to the murder and dismemberment of 15 young men who'd visited his apartment. Here, Masters (The Life of E.F. Benson- -1992), with the full cooperation of Nilsen, tells the serial killer's story in shocking detail. Like Jeffrey Dahmer, Masters says, Nilsen has a penchant for ``florid necrophilia.'' But unlike Dahmer, Nilsen has proven extroverted and loquacious, with his prison journals, poetry, and letters to Masters thoroughly describing his crimes (complete with sketches). Nilsen was arrested after a plumber found bits of flesh clogging the piping at the killer's home. He confessed almost immediately, informing detectives that he'd strangled three youths at the current address and ``about thirteen'' at his previous one. While Nilsen had buried some remains in a nearby garden after chopping and burning them, he directed police to a bathroom cupboard and tea chest, where they found boiled skulls, as well as hands, legs, and odd portions of flesh he'd yet to dispose of. Masters writes perceptively and revealingly about Nilsen's early years in Scotland, his military service, and his adulthood; he also relates Nilsen's grisly description of December 30, 1978, ``the night things began to go terribly wrong'' in his search for companionship through London's ``soul-destroying pub scene'' and ``arid homosexual subculture.'' With disturbing matter-of-factness, Masters details the first killing--similar to all the rest--of an Irish youth: strangling the victim; bathing, dressing, and then undressing the body; attempting sex with the corpse; burying it; digging it up and dressing it again; and, finally, dismembering and disposing of the remains. Genuinely frightening--and not for weak stomachs. (Thirty b&w photos and line drawings--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0679424253
• ISBN 13: 9780679424253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 324