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Lambs To The Slaughter
Inside the depraved mind of child killer, Derek Ernest Percy.
Young. White. High IQ. Middle-class family. Naval rating. A portrait of a yuppie success story? No. A portrait of child killer, Derek Ernest Percy. In this definitive, graphically chilling account of Percy's life, a man dubbed by a prison officer as 'Australia's answer to Hannibal Lecter', award-winning true-crime author Debi Marshall applies her investigative journalism skills to a forensic examination of the crimes, the man and his modus operandi. Informed by exclusive material never before seen - poignant and insightful interviews with Percy's mother, victims' families, psychiatrists, police officers and former colleagues - Marshall also takes us on her personal journey as she seeks to unravel the truth about the monster whose lonely, idiosyncratic character has deceived the best psychiatric minds for 40 years.
Is Derek Percy responsible for Australia's worst unsolved child abductions and murders? Is he mad - or just bad?
Young. White. High IQ. Middle-class family. Naval rating. A portrait of a yuppie success story? No. A portrait of child killer, Derek Ernest Percy. In this definitive, graphically chilling account of Percy's life, a man dubbed by a prison officer as 'Australia's answer to Hannibal Lecter', award-winning true-crime author Debi Marshall applies her investigative journalism skills to a forensic examination of the crimes, the man and his modus operandi. Informed by exclusive material never before seen - poignant and insightful interviews with Percy's mother, victims' families, psychiatrists, police officers and former colleagues - Marshall also takes us on her personal journey as she seeks to unravel the truth about the monster whose lonely, idiosyncratic character has deceived the best psychiatric minds for 40 years.
Is Derek Percy responsible for Australia's worst unsolved child abductions and murders? Is he mad - or just bad?
384 pages
First published January 1, 2009
18 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 29, 2019
Derek is another killer that totally fits the cliche of 'cold-blooded killer'. As the blurb says, he killed a 12 yr old girl, and did horrific things to her.
Detectives find his handwritten notes. ".... so utterly foul that the detectives need to take breaks from reading them every few minutes. .... The notes, secreted in his locker, detail abduction, torture, murder, mutilation. .... His fetishes for urine and faeces and for cross-dressing; of the cunning way he will entice his prey with promises and threats."
As to the other murders he is suspected of doing, it must be such torment to the many people who had a loved one murdered ... to know he's in custody ... keeping his secrets.
4 Stars = Outstanding. It definitely held my interest.
Detectives find his handwritten notes. ".... so utterly foul that the detectives need to take breaks from reading them every few minutes. .... The notes, secreted in his locker, detail abduction, torture, murder, mutilation. .... His fetishes for urine and faeces and for cross-dressing; of the cunning way he will entice his prey with promises and threats."
As to the other murders he is suspected of doing, it must be such torment to the many people who had a loved one murdered ... to know he's in custody ... keeping his secrets.
4 Stars = Outstanding. It definitely held my interest.
June 1, 2011
The strange thing about starting out reading a book like LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER was a vague feeling of uncertainty. Mostly because the man at the centre of this book - Derek Ernest Percy - has one of those names that instantly rings very loud bells. Uncertainty because despite knowing that he's the man that so many law-enforcement agencies in Australia are convinced is a multiple child-killer, I found I didn't really know much about him at all. At the end of LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER, the disturbing thing is that you still aren't going to know a lot about what makes the man tick. No fault of the author mind you, Derek Ernest Percy is one of our world's strangest, most disturbing, worrying individuals.
Marshall uses her investigative background to inform the way that she's approached this book - going through a detailed examination of the crime that the man is definitely known to have committed, his modus operandi and, as much as is possible, his personality, character and background. What is slightly unexpected is the way that the tone quickly moves from that of a dispassionate investigator to something that's obviously become very much a personal journey. Partially this is because Percy has been tried for one child killing (which was horrendous, leaving behind a lot of devastated people), but also because Percy is the chief suspect in so many other child disappearances and murders. Obviously Marshall feels a considerable debt to the families and friends of all the people who have been unwittingly affected by Derek Percy. There's also a personal consideration which she touches on in the narrative. Those aspects might explain why the tone of the book isn't completely dispassionate. The subject matter is emotive, and dire and sobering, and somehow the tone wrongfooted this particular reader - making the informative aspects seem to lack a little informed gravitas. Undoubtedly that reaction's very much a personal thing and I wouldn't be at all surprised for it not to be a shared experience.
Percy has baffled psychiatrists for many many years, he was found not guilty of murder once on the grounds of insanity, and he is effectively held indefinitely, considered too dangerous to be released. One of the interesting parts of this book is Percy's current legal status - which is unique. Part of the difficulty in understanding Percy is that he will not engage with anyone, has always refused all offers of treatment. Marshall therefore uses interviews with Percy's own mother, his victim's families, police officers, former Armed Forces colleagues, and a number of psychiatrists as fodder for her investigations and propositions. What is, and seemingly will always be missing, is any personal insights from Percy himself who resolutely refuses to discuss, acknowledge, or even engage with anyone around him.
The downside to a book such as this is as a direct result of the subject matter - as long as there are so many suspicions swirling around Percy, there's always going to be speculation. Justifiable speculation undoubtedly, but it appears that without changes to the current law or his personal testimony, the truth may never be known - hence conclusions are drawn, possibilities discussed. I don't know what it must feel like to be a parent, or sibling of any of his suspected victims, and know that probably you'll never know for sure what really happened.
The question behind the book, as declared in the blurb - "is Derek Percy responsible for Australia's worst unsolved child abductions and murders? Is he mad - or just bad?" seemingly cannot be answered. What the book really does is give an indication of how frustrating and painful it must be for so many people to know that he's there - held in custody. Keeping his secrets.
Marshall uses her investigative background to inform the way that she's approached this book - going through a detailed examination of the crime that the man is definitely known to have committed, his modus operandi and, as much as is possible, his personality, character and background. What is slightly unexpected is the way that the tone quickly moves from that of a dispassionate investigator to something that's obviously become very much a personal journey. Partially this is because Percy has been tried for one child killing (which was horrendous, leaving behind a lot of devastated people), but also because Percy is the chief suspect in so many other child disappearances and murders. Obviously Marshall feels a considerable debt to the families and friends of all the people who have been unwittingly affected by Derek Percy. There's also a personal consideration which she touches on in the narrative. Those aspects might explain why the tone of the book isn't completely dispassionate. The subject matter is emotive, and dire and sobering, and somehow the tone wrongfooted this particular reader - making the informative aspects seem to lack a little informed gravitas. Undoubtedly that reaction's very much a personal thing and I wouldn't be at all surprised for it not to be a shared experience.
Percy has baffled psychiatrists for many many years, he was found not guilty of murder once on the grounds of insanity, and he is effectively held indefinitely, considered too dangerous to be released. One of the interesting parts of this book is Percy's current legal status - which is unique. Part of the difficulty in understanding Percy is that he will not engage with anyone, has always refused all offers of treatment. Marshall therefore uses interviews with Percy's own mother, his victim's families, police officers, former Armed Forces colleagues, and a number of psychiatrists as fodder for her investigations and propositions. What is, and seemingly will always be missing, is any personal insights from Percy himself who resolutely refuses to discuss, acknowledge, or even engage with anyone around him.
The downside to a book such as this is as a direct result of the subject matter - as long as there are so many suspicions swirling around Percy, there's always going to be speculation. Justifiable speculation undoubtedly, but it appears that without changes to the current law or his personal testimony, the truth may never be known - hence conclusions are drawn, possibilities discussed. I don't know what it must feel like to be a parent, or sibling of any of his suspected victims, and know that probably you'll never know for sure what really happened.
The question behind the book, as declared in the blurb - "is Derek Percy responsible for Australia's worst unsolved child abductions and murders? Is he mad - or just bad?" seemingly cannot be answered. What the book really does is give an indication of how frustrating and painful it must be for so many people to know that he's there - held in custody. Keeping his secrets.
November 14, 2015
This book is about one of the most enigmatic and horrifying of Australian killers. Derek Percy was incarcerated for years, despite being found "not guilty by reason of insanity" for the torture-murder and mutilation of 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy in 1969. He was simply regarded as too dangerous to be released and was kept "at the Governor's pleasure". He was a major suspect in the murder of two girls on Wanda Beach in 1965 and the disappearance of the Beaumont children in 1966, in addition to other crimes, but he never admitted any of it, pleading that, while he could recall being in a certain location, he could not remember killing anyone.
The brutality of the Tuohy murder shocked investigators. He was nailed for this killing due to Yvonne Tuohy's companion, Shane Spiller, escaping and reporting to police. For years afterwards, Spiller lived in fear of Percy being released into the community and coming after him.
Much of the book tries to answer the question: was Percy insane? I found it interesting that the word "insane" was used at all: it may have a meaning in law, but it is not a word used by doctors and psychiatrists. Yet none of the psychiatrists Marshall talked to questioned the use of the word and even, according to her, used it themselves.
The closest anyone came to defining Percy's malady was to say he had "Schizoid Personality Disorder". This is said to be a rare disorder, characterised by the person having almost no social presence, or personality; being isolated, or living in their own world, with no relationships or close friends and living a fantasy life. This does not, however, explain Percy's depravity, or his impulse to kill Tuohy and possibly, other children. Marshall trawls his background as much as she can, but it remains a mystery why his brother Lachlan turned out a perfectly ordinary, well-adjusted youth and Percy, from the same family, did not.
One of the books's strengths is Marshall's account of the impact of these kinds of crimes on the affected families. Percy killed well before the era of "victim impact statements". Marshall's research shows the devastation wreaked on victims of horror crimes.
Derek Percy died in 2013, taking to the grave any admission or information about the other crimes he may have committed.
The brutality of the Tuohy murder shocked investigators. He was nailed for this killing due to Yvonne Tuohy's companion, Shane Spiller, escaping and reporting to police. For years afterwards, Spiller lived in fear of Percy being released into the community and coming after him.
Much of the book tries to answer the question: was Percy insane? I found it interesting that the word "insane" was used at all: it may have a meaning in law, but it is not a word used by doctors and psychiatrists. Yet none of the psychiatrists Marshall talked to questioned the use of the word and even, according to her, used it themselves.
The closest anyone came to defining Percy's malady was to say he had "Schizoid Personality Disorder". This is said to be a rare disorder, characterised by the person having almost no social presence, or personality; being isolated, or living in their own world, with no relationships or close friends and living a fantasy life. This does not, however, explain Percy's depravity, or his impulse to kill Tuohy and possibly, other children. Marshall trawls his background as much as she can, but it remains a mystery why his brother Lachlan turned out a perfectly ordinary, well-adjusted youth and Percy, from the same family, did not.
One of the books's strengths is Marshall's account of the impact of these kinds of crimes on the affected families. Percy killed well before the era of "victim impact statements". Marshall's research shows the devastation wreaked on victims of horror crimes.
Derek Percy died in 2013, taking to the grave any admission or information about the other crimes he may have committed.
April 17, 2016
I started this book, couldn't put it down and read it in four days.
Although I've heard about these murders, reading about each victims carefree life before their horrible deaths and that of their families before and after their deaths humanises them more than them just being another statistic labelled as "the Wanda Beach murders" or "the abduction and murder in Warneet the day man landed on the moon" or "the Beaumont children". Seeing how each crime can and may be connected to Percy is interesting, whether or not he was responsible. One thing is for sure - he was a sick depraved individual who lacked the emotional connection from an early age from an absent father and a domineering mother.
I find Percy's childhood somewhat sad. Do I feel sorry for him?For the adult Percy, no; but for the child Percy? Somewhat, yes. He very acutely displays signs of abuse somewhere in his childhood. Something so significant to rewrite his destiny in sick fantasies he craved, wrote in diaries and sought a private gratification from. Whatever lead Percy down this depraved emotionless path stemmed from somewhere subconsciously deep in his childhood that prevented him from making the transition from child to adolescent to adult. His sick and twisted fantasies were a monstrous albatross that prevented him from leaving curiosity behind and transitioning into adulthood. Instead he played on them, dwelled on them, lived and breathed them until he acted on them. In a time when mental health was not even an understood concept, the warning signs Percy very probably displayed would have either been laughed off or ignored. Had he received treatment for his "urges", how many crimes would have been prevented? We will never know. Derek Percy took those secrets, his secrets, to his grave on 23rd July 2013.
Although I've heard about these murders, reading about each victims carefree life before their horrible deaths and that of their families before and after their deaths humanises them more than them just being another statistic labelled as "the Wanda Beach murders" or "the abduction and murder in Warneet the day man landed on the moon" or "the Beaumont children". Seeing how each crime can and may be connected to Percy is interesting, whether or not he was responsible. One thing is for sure - he was a sick depraved individual who lacked the emotional connection from an early age from an absent father and a domineering mother.
I find Percy's childhood somewhat sad. Do I feel sorry for him?For the adult Percy, no; but for the child Percy? Somewhat, yes. He very acutely displays signs of abuse somewhere in his childhood. Something so significant to rewrite his destiny in sick fantasies he craved, wrote in diaries and sought a private gratification from. Whatever lead Percy down this depraved emotionless path stemmed from somewhere subconsciously deep in his childhood that prevented him from making the transition from child to adolescent to adult. His sick and twisted fantasies were a monstrous albatross that prevented him from leaving curiosity behind and transitioning into adulthood. Instead he played on them, dwelled on them, lived and breathed them until he acted on them. In a time when mental health was not even an understood concept, the warning signs Percy very probably displayed would have either been laughed off or ignored. Had he received treatment for his "urges", how many crimes would have been prevented? We will never know. Derek Percy took those secrets, his secrets, to his grave on 23rd July 2013.
September 30, 2014
I found Debi Marshall's book to be a bit tedious and long winded, and at times I found myself skimming rather than reading. To be honest I think she could have cut a third of the text without disturbing the flow of her narrative. Having said that, there were some engrossing chapters, and the book does what it's supposed to by giving us a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a serial killer.
January 19, 2016
5 stars
This book was a fascinating,interesting and disturbing read. Debi Marshall has a great talent for writing true crimes and it you like true crime you should definitely pick up one of her books although maybe not this one if you can't stomach reading about a peodaphile and his crimes.
This book was a fascinating,interesting and disturbing read. Debi Marshall has a great talent for writing true crimes and it you like true crime you should definitely pick up one of her books although maybe not this one if you can't stomach reading about a peodaphile and his crimes.
March 18, 2012
Why on earth did I insist on reading this alone, in my apartment, at night? So frigging terrifying. And sad. And depraved.
June 6, 2015
Some people will love this and others won't. A great read on a very depraved criminal.
May 23, 2012
This was a hard book to read for me as Christine Sharrock is a distant cousin and the thought of what she and the other victims went through at the hands of this man is truly terrifying. But it is a story that needed to be told to ensure this man is never ever released. Congratulations Debi on a well written and researched book.
June 29, 2014
This is quite a well written book.
I knew nothing of the case before I read it, it is a tragically sad story with so many unanswered questions.
It truly is the story of a monster, but the author keeps you intrigued and informed.
This is the second book of hers I've read and I'm sure it won't be the last..
I knew nothing of the case before I read it, it is a tragically sad story with so many unanswered questions.
It truly is the story of a monster, but the author keeps you intrigued and informed.
This is the second book of hers I've read and I'm sure it won't be the last..
December 28, 2011
Chilling....it all adds up, but proving it all is another thing. I believe he killed them all.
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September 27, 2017I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14738187
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14738187
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews