Criminal Masterminds

by Anne Williams, Vivian Head, Sebastian C. Prooth

Book by Williams, Anne, Head, Vivian, Prooth, Sebastian C.

576 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 2007

Reviews

[Nick Davies]

A quick and easy read (easy in terms of clear simple style - some of the brutality described was not so easy to stomach), this was moderately interesting - though may serve better as 'an introduction to..' as opposed to a full and complete authority on the criminals included. Certainly a prompt for further reading on some of the more interesting subjects.

However, I'm pretty sure I have read at least some of the chapters previously, packaged in another book or even two other books I've read. This, the lack of depth, and a strange sense that (due to the grouping together of mass murderers, spies, fictional villains and fraudsters - how many other books feature Attila the Hun, Al Capone and the Baader Meinhof Gang alongside Mata Hari, Nick Leeson and Raffles the Amateur Cracksman?) meant I felt this was a cobbled-together and slightly messy affair overall.

[Barbara]

This nonfiction book covers criminals in a number of categories. It was interesting reading, but I wish there had been a picture of each person with the information. It did refresh my memory on some of the "bad guys" in my lifetime.

[Sami Said]

An eye opening insight in the criminal world and how individuals became criminals through the way of life's escapades. I choose to understand either than judge.

[Yasmin Barker]

Far too many errors in it for me to actually enjoy it

[Emily Hassell]

For anyone interested in criminology this is a great book. It contains short biographies of the lives of many criminals - ranging from Al Capone to Attila the Hun, from Charles Manson to bank robber Butch Cassidy. In fact, it even features a section on fictional masterminds, such as Sherlock Holmes' nemesis, Moriarty and Silence of the Lambs' Hannibal Lecter.

The only downsides I have found to this book filled with criminal knowledge is that there are often misprintings: for example, the contents for Part 5: Murderers, Outlaws and Theives has all the page numbers as 000 which is highly unuseful when you are wanting to search for specific a specific person(s).

Overall, it is an entertaining read and highly interesting to those with a preferance of true stories.

[John Cadaver]

The succinct biographies on some of the most infamous people of our time and those before it. While it's a good read on the whole, the spelling errors that perfuse the text are extremely off-putting.

Furthermore, I think the writers could have been more objective; one would assume an individual willing to read a tome as huge as this one, and with such specialized interest, can make up her own mind as to the ethical/moral debates.

[Greg]

This is definitely my kind of book, lots and lots of murderers to learn about.