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A Shrink in the Clink
From the author of the extraordinary memoir, Dancing with DemonsDRUG LORDS. DEVIANTS. BLACK WIDOWS. HIT MEN. RIOT GIRLS. MASS MURDERERS. PSYCHOS.No one gets closer to Australia's craziest characters than 'Doc' Tim Watson-Munro, a criminal psychologist with 40 years' experience assessing the mad, bad and dangerous.In a riveting series of weird, funny and terrifying tales sure to thrill and chill true-crime readers, Tim reveals the warped minds behind crimes that shocked and intrigued Australia. Go with Tim to an underworld funeral of a master jewel thief who terrorised London. Meet 'Chooka' who was caught kissing the chicken of a shotgun-toting Mafia boss. Read a poem slipped to Tim by the Hoddle Street gunman after the massacre. Get up close with evil geniuses, terrorists, nuns on the run and natural born killers.Along the way Tim explains what triggers acts of madness in ordinary folks like you. Often confronting but always entertaining, A Shrink in the Clink is an extraordinary journey into the shadows and a brilliant insight into the shifting realities of the criminal mind.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 31, 2018
22 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 24, 2019
This is the second book by Tim Watson Munro, the first being his autobiography. I was surprised by the struggle to get into this book, it’s my genre, my field of employment and what I enjoy the most; yet I found Tim’s writing style and language at times offensive (and I work with criminals so that’s surprising...!) I’ve worked along side Tim and know most of the people he has written about in this book, yet it didn’t gel with me... Overall I rate it a 3/5.
December 5, 2019
Too "blokey" & too much swearing.
The author blurs the lines between professional relationships and friendship with some of his clients. Also very little insight into the psychology of the various criminals and too much focus on telling stories involving drinking & 'rooting'
If you want a book that gives you some insight into the mind of criminals - this isn't it.
The author blurs the lines between professional relationships and friendship with some of his clients. Also very little insight into the psychology of the various criminals and too much focus on telling stories involving drinking & 'rooting'
If you want a book that gives you some insight into the mind of criminals - this isn't it.
January 17, 2019
I thought I'd enjoy this book more than I did. Tim Watson-Munro's earlier book, Dancing With Demons, included harrowing autobiographical detail, which gave it a real sense of drama and kept me reading – his downward spiral into cocaine addiction, depression, marriage breakdown, brought on largely by his own chosen form of work. You can't look into the abyss and expect it not to look deeply into you.
This book missed that extra dimension, at least for me. Each chapter covers a topic: street crime; "black widows"; bikies; drug dealers, etc. There is also a chapter on the impact of crime on first responders, including ambulance workers and police, which certainly leaves you in no doubt as to why so many officers suffer PTSD and even commit suicide. But the chapters became a sort of catalogue of case by case depravity. I would have preferred him to select a few criminals of various types and show some insight into their motivation – the circumstances and life experiences that drove them to crime. Disappointingly, too, he seems to believe that some people are "bad": ie born that way. Perhaps he is right, but in so many cases family trauma, violence and sexual abuse must be implicated.
However, why I gave it four stars is that, at least this is a book from the inside of the criminal justice system from one who knows and it is clearly intended to shock, to some extent, to wake us up to what is going on around us. Despite at times leaning toward a tabloid-style presentation, it is a sobering survey.
This book missed that extra dimension, at least for me. Each chapter covers a topic: street crime; "black widows"; bikies; drug dealers, etc. There is also a chapter on the impact of crime on first responders, including ambulance workers and police, which certainly leaves you in no doubt as to why so many officers suffer PTSD and even commit suicide. But the chapters became a sort of catalogue of case by case depravity. I would have preferred him to select a few criminals of various types and show some insight into their motivation – the circumstances and life experiences that drove them to crime. Disappointingly, too, he seems to believe that some people are "bad": ie born that way. Perhaps he is right, but in so many cases family trauma, violence and sexual abuse must be implicated.
However, why I gave it four stars is that, at least this is a book from the inside of the criminal justice system from one who knows and it is clearly intended to shock, to some extent, to wake us up to what is going on around us. Despite at times leaning toward a tabloid-style presentation, it is a sobering survey.
July 23, 2020
What a great true crime read. Written by a criminal psychologist with over 40 years experience in the field he tells some amusing, terrifying and disturbing stories from some of the criminals he has had the 'pleasure ' of meeting and getting to know. A must read for anyone with an interest in true crime and the workings of the criminal mind. #ashrinkintheclink #timwatson-munro #tea_sipping_bookworm #litsy #goodreads #amazon#kindle #bookqueen #greatreads #truecrime
November 22, 2022
The Doc is a bit boring to listen too ( sorry ) lol..very blunt, and has some great and surprising stats!! Well worth a listen..
January 24, 2019
I was so looking forward to reading this after hearing the author speak at a Festival of Crime writing, but I was sorely disappointed. I really can't understand he calls himself a "shrink" and "doc" because these titles are usually reserved for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists with doctorates. Watson-Munro has not found his writer's voice: he has difficulty between writing with professional authority and in a Raymond Chandler detective-noir style . The use of small silhouettes of corpses as chapter breaks reinforces the latter. The leap from one style to another is grating and does nothing for the author's credibility - and I think he is trying to convince us of that. By the end, I thought I would scream if I read any more platitudes, incomplete sentences, or that someone had "opined"!
True crime will always hold a morbid fascination for most of us, but it takes more than a gumshoe approach to entertain a reader.
True crime will always hold a morbid fascination for most of us, but it takes more than a gumshoe approach to entertain a reader.
December 21, 2018
Found this book boring
Found this book boring,had to look up what a lot of the words used meant,found it very difficult to keep interested.Very disappointing,as I read a lot of true crime.
Found this book boring,had to look up what a lot of the words used meant,found it very difficult to keep interested.Very disappointing,as I read a lot of true crime.
May 6, 2019
One of the worst books I have ever read, in fact didn’t finish it, load of rubbish. People want to learn about psychology and your dealings with individuals not stories and facts about crime in general or bikies etc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2018
What a great read! The author manages to convey the horror of his work without exposing you to all the grisly details. I'll be looking for more books by this author to enjoy.
did-not-finish
October 16, 2019some authors should not think because they can write a book they can also read it out. This author's voice and reading style bored me to tears and I stopped listening.
October 30, 2020
Listened to the audio.
It was ok. Some interesting stories and some stories which have been told a million times before.
It was ok. Some interesting stories and some stories which have been told a million times before.
October 22, 2018
This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.
Tim Watson-Munro was one of the first psychologists to enter Australian prisons and offer insights into prisoner minds and motivations. Drawn into the dark criminal world, Tim himself fell into cocaine addition before finding his way back out. This non-fiction work provides another exposé of bad minds.
Well, I started off reading this book with avid fascination, and ended up not finishing it due to a sense of reading about exactly the same wrongdoings over and over again. The chapters are titled by the offenses detailed within them, yet the ‘characters’ have so much in common. I feel as if Tim tries to make them appear different, yet so many offenders have the same personality types (psychopath / narcissus) and the same upbringing (low socioeconomic status / abuse).
The writing style of this book is engaging, and an effort has been made to include different formats of text. For example, the Hoddle Street killer started to write poetry that conveyed his feelings while he was performing mass murder. I wonder what the Copyright is on these sort of things! For some reason, reading about some of these murders makes me wish the death penalty was still in place.
I first reviewed Dancing with Demons a year ago, and I haven’t revisited it. I think I’m going to pass these books onto another reader, and see what they make of them. I just feel like these two books do not really offer anything different – read one, but perhaps not both.
Tim Watson-Munro was one of the first psychologists to enter Australian prisons and offer insights into prisoner minds and motivations. Drawn into the dark criminal world, Tim himself fell into cocaine addition before finding his way back out. This non-fiction work provides another exposé of bad minds.
Well, I started off reading this book with avid fascination, and ended up not finishing it due to a sense of reading about exactly the same wrongdoings over and over again. The chapters are titled by the offenses detailed within them, yet the ‘characters’ have so much in common. I feel as if Tim tries to make them appear different, yet so many offenders have the same personality types (psychopath / narcissus) and the same upbringing (low socioeconomic status / abuse).
The writing style of this book is engaging, and an effort has been made to include different formats of text. For example, the Hoddle Street killer started to write poetry that conveyed his feelings while he was performing mass murder. I wonder what the Copyright is on these sort of things! For some reason, reading about some of these murders makes me wish the death penalty was still in place.
I first reviewed Dancing with Demons a year ago, and I haven’t revisited it. I think I’m going to pass these books onto another reader, and see what they make of them. I just feel like these two books do not really offer anything different – read one, but perhaps not both.
August 13, 2024
I listened to this on audiobook format. I found the authors narration a bit too laconic… a bit too blokey. There was also no real need for the swear words and reliance on colloquialisms. I also felt the eulogy he wrote of some old bogan gangster he was friends with, could have been left out. It didn’t really fit with the gist of the book.
Despite all this, there were some really interesting parts to this book, with a lot of references to Australian specific crimes and criminals. Some of it was certainly not for the feint of heart.
Despite all this, there were some really interesting parts to this book, with a lot of references to Australian specific crimes and criminals. Some of it was certainly not for the feint of heart.
November 30, 2018
I liked this book but I felt Watson-Munro employed an inconsistent style in which he seemed to one moment be trying to appeal to perhaps prisoner readers and the next using vocabulary normally reserved for medical journals. Bit of a mish mash bordering on a sensational journalistic style. Some good statistics. I think his heart is in the right place and his final wrap up is on the mark.
November 12, 2021
A very interesting book that explores life as a forensic psychologist. It was good to get an insider's perspective on criminals and their behavior, but I wish it had gone into a little more depth, as the book seemed to only dip into different issues before jumping to the next one.
Despite this, if you have an interest in criminal behavior and true crime, give this a go
Despite this, if you have an interest in criminal behavior and true crime, give this a go
January 1, 2019
After getting over the shock of chapter one, I enjoyed this book; it is funny and enlightening. All up, a cracker of a read. All kudos to Tim Watdon-Munro for his compassion and humor whilst working with a very troubled and difficult clientele.
March 26, 2019
A unique insight into the psychology of crime. Fascinating!
February 28, 2022
Great insight from a psych working in Australia's criminal justice system. Some parts were shocking, others confronting, and some made my belly hurt from laughing.
May 7, 2023
I liked it but you'd have to really be interested in this sort of work to read this book.
September 19, 2025
As exciting as a wet paper bag.
Two stars because I did actually learn some things.
Two stars because I did actually learn some things.
January 11, 2026
Healthy dose of dark humour moving from beastiality to mass murder and the psychologies behind the perpetrators.
December 21, 2023
"A Shrink in the Clink" by Tim Watson-Munro is a delightful and entertaining journey into the intriguing world of forensic psychiatry. The author, with his extensive experience in the field, brings a unique blend of humor, compassion, and professional insight to this memoir. While the book has its quirks, it succeeds in providing a compelling glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of working with some of society's most complex individuals.
Watson-Munro's writing style is engaging and accessible, making the complex world of forensic psychiatry approachable to readers with varying levels of familiarity with the subject. The author's anecdotes, often laced with humor, add a refreshing touch to the narrative, making it a captivating read for both professionals and lay readers interested in the field.
The strength of the memoir lies in its ability to balance the serious and often somber aspects of forensic psychiatry with moments of levity. Watson-Munro navigates the fine line between maintaining the gravity of his work and sharing amusing anecdotes that provide readers with a well-rounded understanding of his experiences.
However, at times, the book could benefit from a more structured narrative. The chronological flow occasionally feels disjointed, with anecdotes jumping from one time period to another. This may pose a challenge for readers trying to follow the author's professional evolution and the broader arc of his career.
Despite this minor critique, "A Shrink in the Clink" succeeds in offering a valuable and entertaining perspective on the world of forensic psychiatry. Watson-Munro's genuine passion for his work shines through, and his ability to convey complex psychological concepts in an accessible manner is commendable. If you're looking for an insightful yet lighthearted exploration of the human psyche within the criminal justice system, this book is a worthy pick. Solid four stars.
Watson-Munro's writing style is engaging and accessible, making the complex world of forensic psychiatry approachable to readers with varying levels of familiarity with the subject. The author's anecdotes, often laced with humor, add a refreshing touch to the narrative, making it a captivating read for both professionals and lay readers interested in the field.
The strength of the memoir lies in its ability to balance the serious and often somber aspects of forensic psychiatry with moments of levity. Watson-Munro navigates the fine line between maintaining the gravity of his work and sharing amusing anecdotes that provide readers with a well-rounded understanding of his experiences.
However, at times, the book could benefit from a more structured narrative. The chronological flow occasionally feels disjointed, with anecdotes jumping from one time period to another. This may pose a challenge for readers trying to follow the author's professional evolution and the broader arc of his career.
Despite this minor critique, "A Shrink in the Clink" succeeds in offering a valuable and entertaining perspective on the world of forensic psychiatry. Watson-Munro's genuine passion for his work shines through, and his ability to convey complex psychological concepts in an accessible manner is commendable. If you're looking for an insightful yet lighthearted exploration of the human psyche within the criminal justice system, this book is a worthy pick. Solid four stars.
June 8, 2021
First half of the book was better than the second half
Read
March 5, 2024It was ok - didn't finish it
February 3, 2023
Real eye opener…. Horrific
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews