Rebecca Reviews | The Nilsen File by Douglas Bence & Brian McConnell

I was kindly sent a copy by Netgalley for the purpose of review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

If you know me, you will know that I read a lot of true crime and I watch a lot of true crime documentaries too. After seeing this book on Netgalley, I was intrigued to find out a little bit about a man I’d heard a lot about but didn’t know much about.

This book was originally released many years ago but was edited and re-released recently due to the popularity of the ITV dramatisation ‘Des’.

You can pick up a copy here {affiliate link}.

Synopsis

The Standard, May 12, 1983 — a fresh twist in the most astonishing gory case of mass murder since the Moors Murders.

In the unlikely setting of the staid London suburbs of Cricklewood and Muswell Hill, police began in February 1983 to unearth a tangled mass of human bones. Some dated back to 1979, many were unidentifiable, most belonged to transients of no fixed address and doubtful identity, all were victims of brutal killings on a systematic scale. And so began a full-scale investigation into a horrifying outrage.

This is the first full account of a bizarre series of crimes, put together by two Daily Mirror journalists. Brutal, eccentric, unsettling — a tortured parable of our future, The Nilsen File Re-Opened adds further insight and analysis into the inner workings of Dennis Nilsen the man. Drawing also on a range of hitherto neglected material and criticism to offer a 21st-century perspective on the case in its entirety, this updated edition scrutinises the actions of the police and questions whether Nilsen could have been caught much earlier.

My Review

This was a book that I couldn’t quite decide on. Some of the book I really enjoyed, other parts not so much.

I, of course, knew of Nilsen before requesting this book and knew a little about him and his murder victims but this offered an in depth look into the man himself and a little more into the victims.

The book was originally published in 1983 but was recently re-released by one of the authors after the others death in the wake of the popular ITV dramatisation, Des. In my opinion, some of the language and terminology could have been updated in order to appeal to today’s audience. I especially felt uncomfortable with some of the language regarding gay people.

Overall this was an interesting read but it is very much of its time.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.