I felt bad not recommending this on the librarian side but I think it is just too dark for many people. I loved it to be honest, but it will be hard to read for many people because it is pretty in depth.

I love true crime reads. This one was especially gruesome. What a bad twist of fate that these two demented souls found each other. Had these crimes happened today the outcome may have been different. You cannot help but feel compassion for the innocent children raised in this household. I am sure we will never know the truth of all the horrors this couple was involved in.

This is a book I just did not finish. I couldn't get past the first 100 pages or so. There was nothing wrong with the book itself, it was just the evilness and depravity of the villains. There are just some details of evil I don't need to know and I just decided I didn't need to know more about Fred and Rose. I barely got into their true depravity and decided I didn't need to darken my soul by digging deeper into their world. I was hesitant when I requested this book and should have gone with that first feeling. Their story is just one I don't care to know better. Too sickening for me to stomach I guess.

I very much enjoyed this book. I thought it was very interesting and of course very sad. I couldn't believe these two people were responsible for so much awfulness. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes true crime novels.

Fred & Rose is incredibly creepy. Howard Sounes creates a narrative that is both intense and distressing for the reader, which I like in my true crime.

I thought I'd try a true crime book, but I really didn't care about all of the details and got lost in the names. The story was fascinating, just confusing with all of the data.

When I received this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was really intrigued by a husband-wife murder duo. I live in the States and have never heard of Fred and Rose West or their brutal escapades of extremely sadistic sex and the eventual murder of at least twelve women and children. I really found it fascinating that the two were extremely in love and would do anything for their sex games and making sure they're the only ones together. I also found the ending portion discussing the psychology and possible reasons for the two doing such heinous crimes from their childhood to their home life together, even though at the end of the day, we will never know why they did what they did other than being sadistic murderers. Likewise, I enjoyed how the book actually focused on the victims and their lives as opposed to just focusing on how deranged the Wests were, although the motif of every time a woman was about to be killed, the phrase without fail said "and this was the last time anyone ever saw [insert name here] alive" which became extremely repetitive after awhile. Overall, I'd recommend the book if you're interested in an extremely violent case of two horrible people doing the worst of the worst.

This factual account of the lives of Fred and Rose West, begins before either of them were born. It begins with their families and the awful conditions they were born into and leads to their subsequent meeting, and the sharing of their proclivities for depravity and debauchery.

I would agree with the description that it was a fascinating tale, however it left me with more questions than answers. I found some of it very difficult to believe. I am not saying I don't believe they were perverted and twisted child molesters and murderers, I just can not understand the actions of some of their adult victims. I don't understand, nor was it explained why Fred's former wife would show up to claim her children but then leave without them.

While I can understand the ease with which they manipulated young girls who had no where else to turn I don't understand how they could have gotten away with murder and torture for so long, or why for instance borders in their home would hear screams and never look into it. Rose is described as fat and dim witted. Fred is described as fat, ugly, vulgar, crude, having the features of a monkey, a smile which showcases his obvious lack of hygiene, and yet he is also described as able to charm people, particularly women. That makes no sense to me. There was at one point a friendly relationship with a neighbor woman who would watch their children while they went out looking to pick up young girls. When they told this woman their young child was not a virgin, when they tried to get this woman to have sex with the both of them, and she was supposedly not interested in such a relationship so I do not understand why she returned to their home almost daily to "have tea" with them even after the point of one time being attacked and handcuffed by Fred. Why did she continue to return to their home and ultimately become another of their victims? It is said they carried on some semblance of normal life and yet they thought nothing of keeping their daughter out of school many times due to her injuries from their physical and sexual torture. There was several hospital visits but nobody ever looked into it further. People in the neighborhood seemed to know the family was not normal yet nobody including police did anything for years even though Fred already had a criminal record.
Rose and Fred both were terrible liars but it seems no matter how far fetched an excuse they would give, nobody dug any further for years.
This book left me unsettled, with more questions than answers.

Fred and Rose West. What can you say? They are 2 of the most evil persons that have ever walked the face of the earth. They raped and killed several young women, including their own daughter Heather. Yes, their own daughter. They did not care. They each committed murder, both together and separately. When they got arrested, Fred hung himself in the jail, leaving Rose to face the music. She will never get out of prison alive. It must have been hard to research and write this book, but the author did a great job. Very well written and researched. If you are into true crime, you have probably heard of them, maybe even watched one of the documentaries on them. Read this book. This book will tell you more than you wanted to know.

True crime story about a married psycho couple. Good book even with the subject matter being dark. Sad how the various agencies let these women down. Thank goodness for the stubbornness of the cop. I do wonder how the children faired. Good true crime book. Very good read. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Review of FRED & ROSE by Howard Sounes

A couple of weeks ago, prisoner-for-life Rose West was assaulted by another female inmate, who later stated that as a mother herself she could not tolerate Rose's crimes, nor the attention and approbation she believes Rose receives. So I found it apropos that this superb recounting of the killer couple, Fred West and Rose Leets West, their crimes and personalities, history and ancestry, be published this week (March 14, 2017 release). The author, Howard Sounes, is a journalist and biographer, who actually “broke” some of the news surrounding the discoveries in February-March 1994 of the numerous, even extensive, killings committed by one or both of this evil pair. Yes, I use the term “evil,” because I think any lesser disapprobation applies. Fred and Rose, singularly and coupled, acted far beyond the accepted bounds of human behaviour. Indeed, for these two, no taboos existed. What they desired, they acted upon, no matter how horrendous. Like two infants, they insisted on immediate gratification; they had no code of moral conduct, indeed no morality whatsoever; and their planning extended only to disposing of victims in order to leave no witnesses. Of course, if they had thought in advance, and had not responded to their every passing whim, many young women would not have died agonizingly.

FRED & ROSE is a difficult read for a human who has any emotions or empathy, but it is superbly written and very revealing of how, why, where, and what of the crimes committed by this couple (individually and in concert). It is not reading for the faint of heart; but for readers like myself, who are impelled to read true crime and crime fiction to learn “Why? How could such have happened? Who could act this way?” it's essential reading, offering also the questions “Where were the authorities (law enforcement, medical, social services) when these victims—young adults, adolescents, and children—fell prey to these two “human” monsters?