Sixty years ago, the discovery of bodies at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London, led to one of the most sensational, shocking and controversial serial murder cases in British criminal history the case of John Christie.
Much has been written about the Christie killings and the fate of Timothy Evans who was executed for murders Christie later confessed to the story still provokes strong feeling and speculation.
However, most the books on the case have been compiled without the benefit of all the sources that are open to researchers, and they tend to focus on Evans in an attempt to clear him of guilt. In addition, many simply repeat what has been said before.
Therefore, a painstaking, scholarly reassessment of the evidence – and of Christie’s life – is overdue, and that is what Jonathan Oates provides in this gripping biography of a serial killer.
MY REVIEW
I thought that this was a great book and it gave a great overview of John Christie and his crimes at 10 Rillington Place, a place made infamous due to his activities at the location.
I thought that the book was well researched and you could see the attention to detail that the author put in to the work. They had clearly done a lot of background work.
I thought it was an easy book to read and the later chapters for me were the most interesting. It has a great layout and flow with the chapters being broken down to keep the biography concise too.
The trial and execution of Timothy Evans who took the rap for one, if not two, of Christie’s crimes was one of the main catalysts for changing the legislation on capital punishments in the UK so that was an interesting angle in the book too.
It is 4 stars from me for this one, I thought it was a well written book, it had plenty of detail and even though the subject matter is not an easy in places I did enjoy the book and I thought it was a great true crime biography – highly recommended
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