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Devil's disciples
About Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
- GenresTrue Crime
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1986
41 people want to read
About the author
Robert Wilson
243 books4 followersLibrarian note:
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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 9, 2020
Devil's disciples
Never been into the Ian Brady and Myra Hindley aka The moors case.
I've known of it for a long while like Son of Sam, but I never really went out looking for further information. But in 2019 I decided to buy this book just to fullfill some true crime knowledge. I sometimes do that. I consider my self a true crime purest and amatuer expert. So I sometimes buy a book on a case I don't find too interesting just to learn more about it and add it into my knowledge of the subject.
This book was written by a journalist who wrote for the tabloid The star. A tabloid magazine that was sued for fake stories. My favorite is the story they did about Peter Criss "The drummer for Kiss, Peter Criss is a hopeless alcoholic living in skidrow of L.A." They basically got a really bad look alike to tell them about his life of homeless drunkeness and claim he was Peter Criss. Turns out they KNEW he wasn't the real Peter Criss and of course were sued by Criss for libel. A Kiss fan said he and a few of his fellow Kiss fans looked at the article and "we automatically knew it wasn't Peter Criss. Yeah, I know what alcohol can do to your face. But we knew 'that's not Peter' and we threw the magazine away." Part of the over all article was "this is what happens to your face when you drink too much." using alcohol abuse to try and explain away why his face looked so different. Peter Criss was totally sober, living in another state, and was attending his mother's funeral. Not a "hopeless drunk living on skidrow in L.A"
Despite that, I can look past that for this book/story.
The book starts off okay. Nothing special. Certaintly not brilliantly and colorfully written. Just decent.
Starts right off with Myra Hindley. Of course she eventually meets Ian when she gets a job where he had a job. What I find very different about this case of murderous duo is that it was Myra who was into Ian and was the one who asked Ian out on a date. Ian doesn't seem to have been really interested in Myra at all. The book early on gives a transcript of an audio tape they made of a child they kidnapped. The book details the backgrounds of Myra and Ian, but not greatly. When the book details their final murder, that is when the book got really interesting. Before that we learn some background info and details about their daily lives. The trial is boring and I did not enjoy how the author wrote about the trial. At several parts of the book the author doesn't do a very good job at writing. This is why I am gonna say this book isn't very well written. I don't know if it's because of some english accent put into the book or what but I didn't like the writing style. At one point during the trial I was reading it and it took me a few sentences to realize who was talking and why.
After the trial we get a look into their lives in prison. How each of them handled their sentences. I actually really enjoyed this part of the book. After that we get a few pages on how the families of the victims are doing all those years later and another victim, the man who turned them in. His life had been a total mess. He also took the author on a bit of a trip in his vehicle and shared his theories of where possibly more bodies were buried.
Over all. Pretty basic, nothing special. No confessions, although they later gave detailed confessions. Not only that, but another body was found.
Helped get me interested in the Moors murder case. Piqued my interest a little bit. Plan on buying another book about the case. Want more detail.
Never been into the Ian Brady and Myra Hindley aka The moors case.
I've known of it for a long while like Son of Sam, but I never really went out looking for further information. But in 2019 I decided to buy this book just to fullfill some true crime knowledge. I sometimes do that. I consider my self a true crime purest and amatuer expert. So I sometimes buy a book on a case I don't find too interesting just to learn more about it and add it into my knowledge of the subject.
This book was written by a journalist who wrote for the tabloid The star. A tabloid magazine that was sued for fake stories. My favorite is the story they did about Peter Criss "The drummer for Kiss, Peter Criss is a hopeless alcoholic living in skidrow of L.A." They basically got a really bad look alike to tell them about his life of homeless drunkeness and claim he was Peter Criss. Turns out they KNEW he wasn't the real Peter Criss and of course were sued by Criss for libel. A Kiss fan said he and a few of his fellow Kiss fans looked at the article and "we automatically knew it wasn't Peter Criss. Yeah, I know what alcohol can do to your face. But we knew 'that's not Peter' and we threw the magazine away." Part of the over all article was "this is what happens to your face when you drink too much." using alcohol abuse to try and explain away why his face looked so different. Peter Criss was totally sober, living in another state, and was attending his mother's funeral. Not a "hopeless drunk living on skidrow in L.A"
Despite that, I can look past that for this book/story.
The book starts off okay. Nothing special. Certaintly not brilliantly and colorfully written. Just decent.
Starts right off with Myra Hindley. Of course she eventually meets Ian when she gets a job where he had a job. What I find very different about this case of murderous duo is that it was Myra who was into Ian and was the one who asked Ian out on a date. Ian doesn't seem to have been really interested in Myra at all. The book early on gives a transcript of an audio tape they made of a child they kidnapped. The book details the backgrounds of Myra and Ian, but not greatly. When the book details their final murder, that is when the book got really interesting. Before that we learn some background info and details about their daily lives. The trial is boring and I did not enjoy how the author wrote about the trial. At several parts of the book the author doesn't do a very good job at writing. This is why I am gonna say this book isn't very well written. I don't know if it's because of some english accent put into the book or what but I didn't like the writing style. At one point during the trial I was reading it and it took me a few sentences to realize who was talking and why.
After the trial we get a look into their lives in prison. How each of them handled their sentences. I actually really enjoyed this part of the book. After that we get a few pages on how the families of the victims are doing all those years later and another victim, the man who turned them in. His life had been a total mess. He also took the author on a bit of a trip in his vehicle and shared his theories of where possibly more bodies were buried.
Over all. Pretty basic, nothing special. No confessions, although they later gave detailed confessions. Not only that, but another body was found.
Helped get me interested in the Moors murder case. Piqued my interest a little bit. Plan on buying another book about the case. Want more detail.
March 4, 2024
This book tells the story of the Moors Murders, a series of murders that took place in the 1960s in the U.K. The perpetrators were Ian Grady and Myra Hindley, a seemingly normal, childless couple who secretly preyed on tweens and teens.
Their crimes were uncovered after they tried to involve Myra's brother-in-law, David Smith, in their final murder, and he went to the police.
This seems to have been one of those big stories, like Madeline McCann, Elizabeth Smart, etc. where the locals were extremely involved in trying to find the missing children. Unfortunately, what they all have in common is that they were all about children/teenagers. What makes this case unique is that it was a couple, not an individual as the perpetrators, and that they chose to bury two of the victims on the nearby moors.
I'm not going to say it was enjoyable to read, given the subject matter, but the author does a good job in setting the scene, discussing what we do know, and the aftermath of the perps' time in prison. It was a really interesting read. RIP to their victims, those both known and unfortunately unknown.
Their crimes were uncovered after they tried to involve Myra's brother-in-law, David Smith, in their final murder, and he went to the police.
This seems to have been one of those big stories, like Madeline McCann, Elizabeth Smart, etc. where the locals were extremely involved in trying to find the missing children. Unfortunately, what they all have in common is that they were all about children/teenagers. What makes this case unique is that it was a couple, not an individual as the perpetrators, and that they chose to bury two of the victims on the nearby moors.
I'm not going to say it was enjoyable to read, given the subject matter, but the author does a good job in setting the scene, discussing what we do know, and the aftermath of the perps' time in prison. It was a really interesting read. RIP to their victims, those both known and unfortunately unknown.
August 24, 2025
Aside from the trial transcript in 1973, there hadn't been a new book about the Moors Murders case since 1967 until journalist Robert Wilson published 'Devil's Disciples' in 1986. It was a job worth doing, as at the time, Myra Hindley had long-since been campaigning for her release, and there would have been a whole new generation unaware of the horrible acts she and her former lover Ian Brady had committed.
Wilson, now a journalist on 'The Star,' did the job well. Though, as one might expect considering his paper, he did write it in a sensationalist manner, as even the front cover alludes to. Still, to write it in the style of 'True Detective' magazine makes for a page turner.
At the start of the book, Wilson printed the full transcript of the killers' last victim, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, begging for her life. I find that to be in bad taste. It was a horrific piece that they recorded on that tape, and one I think might have been better to have included in a later chapter (like other books have). While it does generate a 'shock factor,' I do think that including it at the beginning just smacks of too much sensationalism.
That said, the first chapter and its storytelling style draws the reader in from the start. The book runs at a fast pace, starting from when Hindley met Brady before taking a brief flashback to their childhoods. From there, everything is told in chronological order. Even at the time of the book's publication, the trial of Brady and Hindley had been documented extensively. But Wilson, who was there, peppers his text with his own memories, as he does in other parts of the book, which offer a unique perspective. What I found particularly interesting was the story of Brady and Hindley's life behind bars, which any reader of one of the 1960s books, which ended before then, probably would too.
I have to say I do think it was very good of Robert Wilson, a father himself, to give a voice to the families of the dead children. He spoke to them all and let them have their say in his pages. Likewise, David Smith, who was Hindley's brother-in-law and the man responsible for turning the couple in to the police. Because of his one-time friendship with them, as a young teenager, and the lies they told about him after their arrest, many people believed that he was as guilty as they. He suffered a lot, and it always saddens me to read.
As Brady had confessed to the murders of more children, who are briefly mentioned in the book, it's possible that Wilson knew the case was about to dominate the media for a second time, so he felt the time was right to get his book out. 'Devil's Disciples' is certainly one of the better ones, and has a large section of black-and-white photographs. It also reminded people of the atrocities that Brady and Hindley committed and what happened after the 1960s, making it a worthwhile account.
Wilson, now a journalist on 'The Star,' did the job well. Though, as one might expect considering his paper, he did write it in a sensationalist manner, as even the front cover alludes to. Still, to write it in the style of 'True Detective' magazine makes for a page turner.
At the start of the book, Wilson printed the full transcript of the killers' last victim, 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, begging for her life. I find that to be in bad taste. It was a horrific piece that they recorded on that tape, and one I think might have been better to have included in a later chapter (like other books have). While it does generate a 'shock factor,' I do think that including it at the beginning just smacks of too much sensationalism.
That said, the first chapter and its storytelling style draws the reader in from the start. The book runs at a fast pace, starting from when Hindley met Brady before taking a brief flashback to their childhoods. From there, everything is told in chronological order. Even at the time of the book's publication, the trial of Brady and Hindley had been documented extensively. But Wilson, who was there, peppers his text with his own memories, as he does in other parts of the book, which offer a unique perspective. What I found particularly interesting was the story of Brady and Hindley's life behind bars, which any reader of one of the 1960s books, which ended before then, probably would too.
I have to say I do think it was very good of Robert Wilson, a father himself, to give a voice to the families of the dead children. He spoke to them all and let them have their say in his pages. Likewise, David Smith, who was Hindley's brother-in-law and the man responsible for turning the couple in to the police. Because of his one-time friendship with them, as a young teenager, and the lies they told about him after their arrest, many people believed that he was as guilty as they. He suffered a lot, and it always saddens me to read.
As Brady had confessed to the murders of more children, who are briefly mentioned in the book, it's possible that Wilson knew the case was about to dominate the media for a second time, so he felt the time was right to get his book out. 'Devil's Disciples' is certainly one of the better ones, and has a large section of black-and-white photographs. It also reminded people of the atrocities that Brady and Hindley committed and what happened after the 1960s, making it a worthwhile account.
March 16, 2022
I could never ever imagine enjoy reading a true story that is so gruesome. But I did, this story written 20 years after the events of the Moors Murders pulls you in right there to that moment in time of what exactly these two characters are exactly like. I totally didn't agree with any of the belief sets these two had. But it was interesting to read and figure out exactly what made these two tick. Yet to read another version of this story to get a full 360 degree picture. I will endeavour to update when I do...
January 8, 2016
Chilling. Spine tingling. Harrowing. Within the first two pages I was mortified and had to put it down and take a breather. I highly recommend that you read this book yesterday! If you have the stomach.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews