The Devil You Know

 The Devil You Know

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       August 3, 2021

 

Author  Gwen Adshead

Distributor:      Allen & Unwin
ISBN:                 9780571357604
Publisher:         Faber
Release Date:   August 2021  

Website:    https://www.allenandunwin.com 

Stories of Human Compassion and Cruelty

Sensational headlines in news reports and newspapers have conditioned readers to think of perpetrators of violent crimes as ‘monsters’; co-authors Dr Gwen Adshead, and Eileen Horne in their book “The Devil You Know” demonstrate that this isn’t always the case. Dr Gwen Adshead, uses her “bicycle lock release’ analogy to demonstrate that we all have the capacity for evil and are but one step away from that final fatal combination of stressors that discharges an act of cruelty.  

Her thirty years of experience as a leading forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist has allowed Dr Adshead to create the eleven composite case histories which she analyses in this book; they are based on the typical kinds of cases she sees in her working life. These cases include arson, sexual abuse, neglect, stalking and murder.

After being presented the facts of the case, the crime, and the background to the event, the reader then follows the progress of the patient through the therapy sessions.  The background information included by the author as the sessions progress, give the reader invaluable insight into the patients as people and not just perpetrators.

As each case progresses Dr Adshead analyses and documents her own ideas and practices; despite her wealth of experience, it is obvious to the reader that she changes her thinking, feelings and working, hopefully resulting in improved patients’ mental health and an ability to take responsibility for their action.

I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in the workings of the human mind; why we do what we do! Readers will find this a fascinating, thought provoking read which provides real insights into the minds of those who have committed unspeakable crimes. It will give them a different perspective on people who have done terrible things. By seeing the human side of those people and how trauma and pain has contributed to their crimes, readers will no longer see them as ‘monsters’. 

Crime, Fiction, Non Fiction