Into The Darklands

by Nigel Latta

Would you recognise a child molester standing in a supermarket queue? And if you did, would you understand what went on in his - or her - mind?Nigel Latta is a forensic psychologist. He spends his working life with the sort of people most of us would prefer to pretend didn't exist. In this ground-breaking book, Nigel takes us inside the minds of some of the most chilling characters to walk our streets. the journey is challenging, and though Nigel has trodden the path many times, he offers no sense of familiarity or contempt. Rather, there is a palpable sense of danger as he treads carefully through the present and past psychological mines strewn through the lives of his clients. His challenge is to make these people confront and admit the damage their actions have caused, and so minimise the risk of them reoffending. It is not an easy task. the case studies in this book, all based on reality, will shock, unnerve and disturb. Yet it is compulsive reading - once you have visited the Darklands, you will never be able to leave.

Genres: Crime, Nonfiction

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 12, 2003

About the author

Nigel Raymond Latta ONZM was a New Zealand clinical psychologist, author and broadcaster. He has been described as "New Zealand's best-known psychologist".

Nigel Raymond Latta was born and raised in Oamaru, New Zealand. He attended Waitaki Boys' High School & he studied Marine Science and Zoology at the University of Otago, and completed a Master of Philosophy with First Class Honours in Psychology at the University of Auckland, along with a postgraduate diploma in clinical psychology.

Latta worked as a consultant in his field for private companies and government social service agencies, including Department of Corrections, the New Zealand Police and Child Youth and Family.

In the 2010s, he became known for his true crime documentaries and psychology-based television series, as the host of Beyond The Darklands, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Teenagers and The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show, and a science show called Nigel Latta Blows Stuff Up, among others. In 2016, Latta co-found Ruckus Films, a production company which produced several feature documentaries including Born This Way: Awa’s Story and Stan. He also began presenting general interest television shows, such as The Hard Stuff with Nigel Latta, which approached social and political issues,and You've Been Scammed by Nigel Latta which examines common types of scams.

Latta was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, for services to psychology.

In September 2024, Latta revealed that he had been diagnosed with "inoperable and incurable" terminal stomach cancer, and that he was undergoing chemotherapy that had shrunk the tumour by about 60 percent. Latta was told that he had 6 to 12 months to live. In February 2025, the prognosis was reduced to four weeks after a scan indicated that the cancer had spread to his lungs. However, Latta later said that, because of the treatment he was receiving, he believed he would continue to live for "years and years". In March 2025, he stated that he was no longer terminally ill. Latta died on 30 September 2025, at the age of 58 at the Mercy Hospice in Ponsonby, Auckland.

Abridged from Wikipedia, information about his death from the Stuff website.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a calling a spade what it really is, a shit shovel, type of book. Nigel Latta, a forensic psychologist, specialising in the treatment of the most disgusting criminals imaginable - fathers who rape their daughters, teenagers who kill other children, rapists, murderers and pederasts.

Latta despises the technical and evasive language of other professionals in his field. His only aim is to try and stop these criminals from reoffending and to that end he seeks to form a relationship with them that is between people, not a psychologist in an authorative position treating a patient. He seeks to get the perpetrator to confront the appalling consequences for the victims of his crimes by exposing the reasons they commit them at all and to replace the criminal activity with one, or a lifestyle, that would more satisfyingly fill the needs of the perpetrator and be more acceptable to society. This is tremendously interesting to read, the book is quite unique in this respect.

However, the book's in-your-face style might work well for a psychologist, but for a reader, it gets a bit annoying. The lecturing of the reader in several chapters got 1 star removed from a 5 star book.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a grim read. Nigel Latta works as a forensic psychologist, talking to the people most of us would like to believe don't exist. He talks to the rapists and the murderers and mostly to the kids who are going to grow up to be rapists and murderers. And there's very little he can do to stop nature from taking its course, but he's doing everything he can to help.

Latta isn't a bleeding heart liberal. He believes criminals are responsible for their own actions regardless of their terrible childhoods and life experiences. But he also believes that the present concept of a prison system isn't going to do anything to deter violent crime. Politicians talk about stiffer sentences and the public demands harsher treatment of prisoners, but potential harsh treatment in prison isn't going to deter a 14-year-old who's never been loved, who's been beaten all his life by a damaged mother who wishes he'd never been born, who's been turning tricks for food since he was little, and who has no frame of reference to realise he might be able to grasp a new life for himself. Or for a girl who's been treated like a sex toy by her father and brothers all her life, ends up pregnant by one of them, and subsequently hates the child she's been stuck with. Is the thought of a lengthy prison term really going to stop these kids from bashing a pizza delivery man with a baseball bat or beating their toddler to death?

These are the kinds of people who inhabit Nigel Latta's world. He looks them in the eye every day, tries not to recoil, and then does his best to help them exorcise their demons...because someday these people will get out of prison.

Unfortunately Latta doesn't offer many (if any) solutions. He points out very clearly how the present system doesn't work but then spends a few paragraphs at the end saying that the solution is for everyone to get involved and start caring. Which...is all well and good, but how?

I wouldn't recommend this book to most of my friends because of the coarse language (Latta doesn't pull any punches) and the subject matter. But some of you--you know who you are--will be more intrigued than disturbed.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells truths about the 'darkest' aspects of our society - and what it is like for a psychologist with decades of experience working with murderers, sex offenders, children to adults, and so on. So simply and honestly written, yet the issues that present as themes across the many different stories has somehow changed my thinking quite profoundly. I don't say this lightly: this is one of the few books that I wish everyone will read.

[Ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This type of book is right up my alley, psychology, human nature, and Nigel Latta's direct, honest and open thoughts.

Enjoyed this in every way..... *Trigger warning* there is talk about some pretty deep and horrible things people do to each other.

[Connie Iliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paradigm shifting

The author is now my personal hero, not because he has a potty mouth like me, but because he considers the highest good helping his patients and also society at large by proxy. Propriety, seeming "professional", covering one's arse, and any other number of goals put upon those who serve offenders by politicians and the public at large who elect them are at best motivated by ignorance and at worst are motivated by apathy and just wanting to keep problem people away from them. As long as the problem stays "over there", it's easy to ignore.

His writing is entertaining, disarming, accessible, and at times heart rending. He talks to you like he's talking to a good friend he likes and respects. He offers a glimpse into the world in which he lived for so long, and I'll never be the same again.

I'm about to start working in long term residential treatment center for teenagers, and this could not have come at a better time. I feel a little better equipped to help kids from reprehensible backgrounds and hopefully help them be descent people, not representative of their upbringing, but better than that. Not only for themselves, but for everyone else as well.

I hope more people read this book - not just therapists, but educators, politicians, the voting public at large, EVERYONE. His message is important, and I feel fortunate to have found it.

[Jenelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally well written but devastating book that draws on all emotions - anger, frustration, sorrow, humility and even laughter. Renowned NZ psychologist Nigel Latta takes you into his world to give you a disturbing glimpse on what it is like to deal with the country's worst criminals. His "tell it like it is" approach makes this book a real page turner. But beware.... you'll shed a lot of tears, and your stomach will churn with disgust, and even occasionally you'll laugh. So if you're okay with this, then it's well worth the read!

[Anna Claire]

this book isn't exactly restful. It made me want to get up and check the children, call my parents and thank God that I wasn't raised in the Darklands. It also made me understand more fully why offenders end up being who they are.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy is so over rated