Product Description

On February 9th 1983 Dennis Nilsen was arrested at his Muswell Hill home, after human remains had been identified as the cause of blocked drains. Within days he had confessed to fifteen gruesome murders over a period of four years. His victims, all young homosexual men, had never been missed. Brian Masters, with Nilsen's full cooperation, has produced a study of a murderer's mind which is unique of its kind. 'KILLING FOR COMPANY must stand as one of the most remarkable and accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society. Brian Masters, in the writing, has achieved the impossible. Though dealing with sensational and horrific matters he has managed to treat his material with such objectivity and restraint that what we have is not a penny dreadful from the Hammer House of Horror, but a bloody masterpiece' BERYL BAINBRIDGE Observer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14755 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From the Back Cover
Probably the best thing of its kind since In Cold Blood...a classic study in criminal mentality' -Colin Wilson, Yorkshire Post

On February 9th 1983 Dennis Nilsen was arrested at his Muswell Hill home, after human remains had been identified as the cause of blocked drains. Within days he had confessed to fifteen gruesome murders over a period of four years. His victims, all young homosexual men, had never been missed. Brian Masters, with Nilsen's full cooperation, has produced a study of a murderer's mind which is unique of its kind.
'Killing For Company must stand as one of the most remarkable and accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society. Brian Masters, in the writing, has achieved the impossible. Though dealing with sensational and horrific matters he has managed, God knows how, to treat his material with such objectivity and restraint that what we have is not a penny dreadful from the Hammer House of Horror, but a bloody masterpiece'. -Beryl Bainbridge, Observer

'A truly awesome tale, brilliantly told' -Literary Review

About the Author
Brian Masters has written over twenty books on subjects as diverse as French literature, the dukedoms in Great Britain, E.F. Benson and Marie Corelli. His groundbreaking study of mass murderer Dennis Nilsen, Killing for Company, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction in 1985. He is also highly regarded for his journalism.

Customer Reviews

One of Genre's Best
Now this is what a true crime book is supposed to be. It's my unfortunate conclusion that the majority of true crime books are a re-hash of newspaper reporting with a bit of old-fashioned moralizing thrown in and facile, superficial conclusions regarding some of the most troubling issues that beset us to wrap things up. The books written by Mr. Masters are exceptions to this seemingly universal rule. Granted, Mr. Masters was given an unusual amount of access to Dennis Nilsen, but even when writing about an already-dead murderer like Fred West, the quality of writing and analysis never wavers or loses its inherent fascination. His style is alternately cogent, harrowing, and, despite the subject matter, scrupulously fair. Unlike most true crime books, there are no boring stretches; the book remains compelling throughout. Mr. Masters never denies the criminals he writes about their complex, warped humanity (which, in turn, makes them even more terrifying and repellent) but he also never minimizes the monstrousness of their acts. This is an exceedingly difficult accomplishment, to make such perversity even marginally explicable, but Mr. Masters handles it adroitly. Still, even in the hands of as skilled a biographer as Mr. Masters so obviously is, the sordid mystery of Dennis Nilsen remains intact, which may or may not be gratifying to the incarcerated serial killer but should unsettle the rest of us. How did such malignancy and evil evolve from so uneventful a life? How long would this bland civil servant with his rigid personality have been able to go on killing gay men undetected if he hadn't grown so self-destructively careless? How many others like him are there out in the world now and to what new levels of atrocity will their pathologies extend in the future? That such questions can't really be adequately answered by anyone is probably the most haunting element one will take with them after a reading of this or Mr. Masters' other biographies of psychically-crippled murderers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Fred and Rosemary West.

Very moving
Brian Masters delivers a very interesting and detailed account of Dennis Andrew Nilsen, the almost alcoholic civil servant who could only find peace with the dead bodies of young, often vagrent, men. He details Nilsen's background and childhood very well and this provides a large insight into why he became what he is today.

I was constantly moved by Masters' portrayal of Nilsen's life, despite the crimes that he committed. Nilsen was someone who experienced no real love or affection in his life and because of this, he closed his emotions and became "cold". One can easily understand why he did what he did.

This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the psychology of serial killers and it presents a warning to society of what might become of the unloved.

Brian Masters at his best
This truly is one of the best True Crime books ever written - the reader is drawn into the world of Nilsen and his crimes - I have read and re-read this book time and time again and always find it well researched and definately food for thought - EXCELLENT