lastlookback's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

4.0

molliew03's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

peargirl23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

4.75

stephkp's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

4.75

piedwarbler's review against another edition

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4.0

A wide-ranging and engrossing study of the author’s career in forensic psychiatry. Lots of insights into narcissism, psychopathy, alcoholism and drugs, terrorism, misogyny, and jealousy as motivators to violent crime and murder.
Just occasionally I felt there was too much extraneous detail, and too much going off at a tangent. For example, a half page of writing about Maxine Carr didn’t really go anywhere, and I couldn’t see the reason for including it in the book. However, what I found most interesting was the author’s views on the multiple risk factors for murder and the impact of poor parental attachment in the first 18 months of life.
An important book in aiding our understanding of the impact of government policy in trying to tackle high murder rates.
I was particularly struck by the author’s comment: “If you aren’t a feminist, you will be by the time you finish this book”. Dr Richard Taylor seems a very humane and empathic person; exactly the sort of doctor we need.


dead_ean's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

zosia_poleca's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

4.0

tyneath's review against another edition

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4.0

✨ 3,75

b00kworm25's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious fast-paced

5.0

Perfekcyjnie napisana, ciekawa i merytoryczną. Super szybko się czytało. 

boandr's review against another edition

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4.75

Balanced, informative, and interesting. An objective view on Forensic Psychology, something I deeply appreciated and honestly was tempted to award 5 stars to just on the basis of. 

Hooked from page one, this read left me feeling much better educated than I had been going in- and refreshingly so. Seldom do you read about forensic-psychology-involved instances outside of serial murder or assaults, but in this book you also learn about how domestic violence, terrorism, and other offences such as maternal homicide may come about, why, and how it’s treated.

I appreciated how there were different chapters for different variants of offences, with multiple examples given for each. Exploring everything from behaviour, to treatment, and everything in between- including the criminal process and pre-offender influences- it was informative and balanced in the best way, with healthy injections of vulnerability from the author themselves, reminding you that yes, we must remember that offenders are still human and deserve to be treat as such, but the practitioners treating them are just as human too. 

Reading this refreshed my interest in Forensic Psychology, further fueled the vital objectivity and humanity with which we must consider offenders, and explained everything in such a thorough way- supported by stats and examples. Perfect for any reader even remotely interested in this field, from professional to layperson.

Brilliantly written, with healthy injections of humour and relevant commentary of social affairs, all accompanied by a wealth of information. Loved it!