Rats: Crooks Who Got Away With It

by John Silvester, Andrew Rule

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Sportyrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scumbags that got away with their crimes. That’s what the book’s about. The author’s weren’t shy to name and shame people suspected of the crimes.

The book covered a range a crimes, mostly murder. Some were gang-related, some for greed/money, some were serial killers, some were killers of spouses. The gory details of the crimes weren’t part of the narrative. Just the bits that might be useful in solving the crimes some day.

A recurring theme was the amount of people who “knew something” and took their secrets to the grave out of fear. I find that hard to understand. Couldn’t they provide the answers in a will or a secret place somewhere? Even encode it as, “I wish to be buried (then describe the location of the body)”.

Also, the shoddy police work has a lot to answer for. There was one case presumed a suicide even though the skull had two bullets in it as well as both hands. The gun had to be reloaded each time.

Overall, the content was good, it was tastefully written and easy to read.

[jengagonewrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

kept me entertained for a day on the couch
slayage

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of true crime stories, most of which are so shocking and horrible that they gave me nightmares. The worst part of all this crimes is that they are unsolved, and the people behind these crimes may never be brought to justice. In all cases, the stories are well written, and only occasionally does the writer give his opinion on the case and who he believes is behind it. I found out a lot about some of the worst crimes Australia has witnessed; disappearances, murders and rapes. The shocking nature of some of these crimes will stay with me forever.