Thought provoking book on mental health and how we judge based on not knowing hardly any of the back story. A wrong is a wrong but giving chance to understand and help heal from the Mind is more powerful than we realise.
This has made me re-evaluate how I initially judge and rely on my preconceptions.
A tough insightful read learning invaluable lessons, listening is under rated.
It takes special people to work in the field of mental health even more so in the criminal field under funded and essential work.

The Devil You Know is an incredibly thought provoking and sometimes emotional read. Dr Gwen Adshead discusses various people that she has worked with and treated during her time in Forensic Psychiatry. Whilst their crimes are explained, this book is more about the person who committed the crime. We get to delve into the complex issues regarding mental state and responsibility. Adshead uses empathy and understanding to really delve into the factors that can lead to a person committing a crime, including but not limited to neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. It can be hard for people in general to have a more rational mindset in this area, especially when it comes to horrific crimes like child abuse and murder, but this book takes steps to help us to look at the whole situation rather than just the crime.
I particularly liked how the book was split into case examples where Adshead would focus on one individual that she had worked with and how they came to commit the crimes they did, the possible reasons why, and how they dealt with things afterwards. After each section I would stop reading and take time to absorb and think about what I had just read. The commentary on how many times the crimes could have been prevented from happening way back down the line if the correct help and support was in place for these people was particularly hard hitting. These horrendous results of the system failing is heartbreaking and something MUST be done about it.

Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has worked in Broadmoor. She writes with empathy and intelligence in order to show that those who commit monstrous acts are not always monsters. Case histories are reconstructed and merged together, telling us about serial killers, murderers and stalkers. Some of the stories are harrowing, but the intelligence of the writings ensure that it is worthwhile to read and never sensationalist. Highly recommended.

This book is intriguing. Written by a forensic psychiatrist, it expolores the thinking behind some of the worst crimes known. She explores links between child abuse and neglect and mental health issues with some of the crimes committed - not that she is making excuses for the criminals, but instead suggesting that we can help and change the person before the crime is committed, if we are more aware of the abuse/neglect/mental health issues and the consequences of not tackling it.

Very interesting read that is, as you would expect, dark and disturbing in parts.

The Devil You Know is an interesting and gripping read that keeps you hooked as the authors use their years of experience to impart their knowledge and things they have learnt and witnessed over the years when dealing with people who have committed some of the most serious criminals.

Written by a forensic psychiatrist with years of experience in prison mental health wards, this is a fascinating glimpse inside the minds of people who’ve committed horrific crimes. The book is divided into a number of case studies, featuring a range of criminals, and is a must read for anyone interested learning more about the mind of a criminal. The author makes a causal link between mental illness (or childhood neglect) and crime, and it is striking how many of the crimes could have been prevented if earlier interventions had been in place. In an era where we’re seeing an increase in the number of people being incarcerated, this book makes an important case for increasing funding in social and mental health care. Heavy-going but an insightful, compassionate, reminder to recognise others’ humanity before branding them an ‘evil monster’.

This was a brilliant read!

Very informative and really provided a perspective into criminals that you don't normally get. They're brushed aside as being evil monsters, but we never really get an insight as to what might have happened in a person's past to have led them to the point where they end up committing a horrific crime.

You get to see this through the case studies Dr Gwen Adshead shares with us and in some of these cases you might be surprised to find yourself feeling compassion for these criminals, especially in instances where these people were sadly let down by the people who were supposed to have been looking after them. Sadly this was mainly due to funding cuts rather than the people themselves, which does make you wonder how different some of these criminals lives might have turned out had they had the necessary help available to them?

I have to give a big shout out to Dr Gwen for the amazing work she's done over the years, with such dedication, bravery and courage, despite on occasion finding herself in some scary situations.

Thank you to PH, NetGalley, Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne for the chance to read this book.

I would definitely recommend this book.

A fascinating insight. Cases professionally presented and informative, not salacious or headline grabbing.

Not a book that one could say one enjoyed, but definitely a book that gripped and held my attention to the end.

Well worth reading.

Highly recommend.

I highly recommend this book. The insight that Dr Gwen Adshead gives into the people she works with is fascinating. The cases are told from a professional perspective as her work as a forensic psychotherapist, but also with so much empathy and compassion. The case studies are of people who have committed horrific crimes, and Dr Adshead is not asking the reader to overlook this. But to get a glimpse into the human beings and why people act in the way they do. I wasn't expecting it to be so compelling to read, but I was hooked once I started reading.

Forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Gwen Adshead has worked for the NHS, in varied therapeutic settings, including working with patients at Broadmoor. She writes with sensitivity, empathy and freely admits her own triggers and feelings which is a fascinating insight. Working with people who have been violent and abusive is challenging, but Dr Adshead strongly believes that understanding and empathy are much more effective for the perpetrators and for society at large, than mere condemnation.

The case studies included are varied and include both male and female patients. Some details may potentially be triggering for some readers, but for anyone interested in what makes humans tick, this is a must read.

It also highlights the shocking lack of resources and understanding of mental illness that has led to so many tragedies that could in all likelihood have been averted.

** ARC provided by Netgalley via the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ***

This book was so interesting, I just couldn't put it down the whole time I was reading. This book is Incredibly thought provoking and really shines a light on 'accepted truths' about individuals in prisons and secure hospitals. I doubt any one, after reading, would doubt the possibility of therapy being an effective way in which to help people overcome their past as well as potentially look to the future. Would recommend highly.

I thought this book was incredible! I'm not sure I've read a book that shines quite so much of a lens onto the darker side of human nature as this one does. The case studies were compelling, shown in an often sad and always compassionate light. The author never makes light of their crimes, but she does show with real elegance the wider factors around what might make someone into a 'devil', how society and mental-health-care provisions play such a key role. I learnt so much reading this book, and the writing style was beautiful.

This is an important, informative and also, morally, a very beautiful book.

Dr Gwen Adshead (a forensic psychotherapist, Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at Gresham College, Jochelson visiting professor at the Yale School of Law and Psychiatry, and consultant forensic psychiatrist at Ravenswood House), seeks to determine no more and no less what causes people to behave in a violent and criminal manner. This is not a search for justification she makes very clear, but a search for explanation, meaning, with the aim of preventing such behaviour in the future and thus, make a significant contribution to human happiness, both in terms of the criminals themselves and their potential victims.




In a similar manner to the books of Oliver Sacks it is structured around a series of case histories. These are composites and they are used both to conceal the identities of the patient or patients concerned and to solidify the type of criminal conduct on which Dr Adshed is seeking to shed light.
We are introduced to the notion of the "bicycle lock" a sort of five figure number that triggers the crime. The first two numbers of the pin are pre-existing, socio-political and unalterable, such as poverty, genetics or violence in the family home, the second two numbers are factored in to the person's life as they grow up, particular events, education, drugtaking et cetera, and the last number is the particular occurrence that triggers the crime, the last penny to drop, the unleashing.

The crimes covered are carefully selected: serial murder, gang violence, child abuse etc.

Dr Adhead's aim is to get her patients to recognise the reasons for their behaviour and gently coax them towards empathy, towards an understanding of the pain they have inflicted on their victims. She makes clear that for many this will not be a clement process, that if she is successful they will suffer more, at least in the short term, but she deems it necessary so they may eventually truly forgive themselves and heal. Thus, we are offered a complete biography of most of perpetrators this helps to contextualise and understand their crimes, which is the main thrust of the book, and then we witness, for most anyway, their slow plodding progress towards enlightenment.

Ironically, there are actually only two offenders that Dr Adshead believes may be unredeemable, uncomfortably, they are both middle-class, well educated and white; privileged, in other words. The first, a solicitor, no less because she seems to meet the classic definition of mad, since a deep part of her, seemingly beyond the aid of either therapy or drugs, seems to be entirely out of touch with reality, although her presentation outside of this kernel of irrationality is highly organised and effective and therefore, deceptive. The second, a man and a former doctor, is because he is protected by his unassailable privileged position in society, is addicted to sadistic child pornography. Limited kudos to him, unlike the solicitor, at least he recognises he may actually have a problem, but ultimately he refuses to seek effective help for it, and cannot be persuaded to do so. One of the few comic moments of this book occurs when Dr Adshead confesses that she would rather be counselling one of her former criminal patients in Broadmoor, Britain's main high security mental asylum, then this apparently urbane GP, in her comfortable private practice.

This book is priceless one of the best endeavours I have encountered, I do not hesitate to recommend it, even for lovers (I confess I belong to that number myself) of true crime because it is invaluable in helping understand what makes those who have committed crimes tick, indeed, what makes us all, tick...

I have read a few of these types of books so not much of it was a surprise. Humans who have committed the most horrific of crimes really are fascinating because it's just such an abnormal way to behave. The way Dr Adshead approaches therapy with her patients is interesting but the chapters are just too long for my liking and not always interesting to read.

Wow, this book definitely shows a different side into the minds of offenders. Most leading forensic psychiatrist who write about true crime will pick the worse crimes, the ones that keep the reader reading, this book does things a little different it, it is packed with compassion and very through provoking while still covering violent crimes. The only part that I didnt enjoy as much was the reference to other literary reads throughout the book, I was intrigued but Dr Adshead thoughts and not so much of her need to add quotes from other books.

Fascinating insight into the minds of people who have committed terrible acts. It was revealing to read how progress towards accepting responsibility can be made through tiny steps sometimes but with the right treatment, a sort of healing can occur. Mental health services are underfunded and misunderstood and this book helps to show the good that can be done if resources can be found.

This book features the work of Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist. During what sounds like a very varied and interesting career she worked for several years at Broadmoor Hospital. The book details sessions with male and female patients she treated while working there and attempts to show the inner workings of the criminal mind. Some patients did benefit from her sessions but not always. Some criminals, it seems, do not want to be helped. It was interesting /scary to see that even experts can be fooled since one patient Gwen thought rehabilitated went straight back to reoffending at the first opportunity.
Once I got past the book’s rather lengthy introduction describing Gwen’s career path I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt this could be off putting to some readers and wondered if it couldn’t have been condensed into a shorter piece.
The case histories were very interesting . While I sympathised with some patients and could see that their early life experiences could have affected later life choices, I instantly disliked others due their arrogance and refusal to gain insight into their actions. Human nature I suppose.
Can definitely recommend this book to someone interested in criminal behaviour and the psychology associated with it.

An utterly fascinating and compassionate book and a must-read for crime writers. A leading forensic psychiatrist takes us on a tour of the minds of violent offenders, both male and female, and makes us consider how we as a society treat those deemed dangerous

From the opening page I found The Devil You Know to be thoroughly gripping.

The mix of true crime and psychological study might sound lurid or exploitative but Adshead and Horne write with sensitivity. The importance of empathy is at the heart of book. While the book does not go into gory details it is unflinching in the way it approaches the crimes that been committed. Adshead does not seek to make excuses only to understand how she can help those who are in her care.

Each chapter is dedicated to one patient. The conversations Adshead has with her patients are fascinating. I found the chapters about David and Charlotte to be especially memorable. The writing style is somewhat economical but is full if humanity and insight. While it is easy to read in the way that it is written some of the content is harrowing.

I found it to be one of those books where you think to yourself I’ll read just a few more pages before I go to bed and those pages end up being entire chapters.

Much of the book is about perceptions. Ones we hold go ourselves and those of other people. If you're interested in understanding why people do terrible things and what we can do to help them then this is essential reading. An enlightening and entertaining read that is among the best books I have read this year.

The Devil You Know Stories of Human Cruelty and Compassion is a profoundly moving book. There’s no doubt a certain ghoulish voyeurism that attracts people to books about true crime and criminal psychology. This is not catering to that audience.

I’m not knocking ghoulish voyeurism per se! I have an eclectic taste in books and have no doubt been guilty of said ghoulish voyeurism myself, so I’m not judging.

At the same time, I’m not the most empathic or compassionate person around and I may well harbor more than my fair share of anger at people who hurt others. I therefore opened this book with both curiosity and strong misgivings, quite ready to be filled with disgust and indignation at what promised to be stories of people who have done truly terrible things.

Instead, the more I read the more I felt compassion for the people Dr Adshead described. (She does say early on that these portraits are composites of different clients and situations. One would expect no less, for the sake of patient confidentiality and clarity of narrative, so I read each story as if it were an actual account of a real person’s life.)

The Devil You Know presents a series of case histories, viewed through the lens of consultation sessions, mostly one-to-one, but a few in group therapy settings. The individuals are gradually revealed, in their own words and through Dr Adshead’s observations. We learn about their childhood and background and see how they found themselves committing crimes.

Insights into psychology theories, notably attachment theory, are threaded into the narrative. It’s a fascinating (albeit incomplete; it’s not trying to be a textbook) introduction to attachment theory.

The Devil You Know is written for the general public and is very accessible. It’s also beautifully written, by Eileen Horne.

My thanks to Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.