An Evil Love cover art

An Evil Love

The Life and Crimes of Fred West

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An Evil Love

By: Geoffrey Wansell
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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About this listen

The reverberations from Fred West's crimes continue to this day. The story never dies.

West was perhaps one of Britain's most evil, feared serial killers. His horrifying compulsion to kidnap, rape and torture his victims before murdering them showed a savagery and cruelty that can barely be believed. His 'House of Horrors' at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, became a burial ground for the women who fell into his hands.

This new publication of Geoffrey Wansell's iconic, best-selling true-crime masterpiece comes 30 years after West was arrested, in 1992. Dead by suicide by 1994, he never truly faced justice for the 12 murders he was charged with.

Wansell, chosen as West's official biographer, gained exclusive access to all West's police interviews, prison diaries, papers, solicitor interviews—and his private collection of video tapes, as well as all the interviews given by his wife, Rose West.

Once and for all, he reveals the full story of Fred and Rose West's lives and crimes, in a chilling book that sets the standard for exploring the minds of our most feared serial killers—up close and personal.

©2022 Geoffrey Wansell (P)2022 Bonnier Books UK Murder True Crime Crime Scary Thought-Provoking

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All stars
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Really feel for the wests bairns growing up in that environment and that they had their childhood stole. And just goes to show that these horrible people can get away with such horrible things for such along time. Really made me thoughtful for all the victims.

Real insight

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The reader was great and made it easy to listen to the tone, although the content is harsh it’s true and doesn’t hold back in facts

Harrowing but insightful

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Fred and rose were very sick people, if you can call them that. A few times I were disgusted by what I was hearing and thought you sick b’stards!

Sick people with no heart and soul

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i really enjoyed this delve into the mind and crimes of Fred west, well written, well paced and well narrated.

A real insight into West's psyche.

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Superb! I’ve read almost everything written about the Wests and this was full of (abhorrent) revelations.
Great performance from the narrator.

So Much More to This Story…

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graphic in parts. had to put it down on occasions but brilliant otherwise. if you like true crime it's a good listen

Brilliant insight into an evil man

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the narration is good but voices that are done to differ characters often blur

great book very in depth not lacking details no matter how shocking. it's a bare all look

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Excellent narration of an awful story. Brilliant writing and an important historical record. This is highly recommended.

An absolutely brilliant reading.

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This book is very insightful as to how a chain of dysfunction, toxic atmosphere, the lack of training in schools, social services and other authority bodies at the time can create a deadly combination that leads to the loss of so many lives. Even the lives of those who did not die at the hands of Fred and Rosemary West lost so much and their lives had been touched by evil. I don't often cry when listening to a book but hearing the suffering of their victims, especially the children was difficult to hear. I hope with all my heart their victims rest in peace now.
Not everyone is how they appear to be. The Wests had the skill of pulling people into their web of evil by putting up a front that was socially acceptable and even admired. The loving family helping others out. It's terrifying to think of how many vulnerable people fell into this trap and the majority because of a lack of love in their own lives.
Love and peace wished for all affected by this sad and evil time.


Insightful

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I’ve read a number of books about Fred and Rose West in an effort to understand how and why two people could behave in such a monstrous way for decades. This book by Geoffrey Wansell provides what I believe is the definitive account. I understand he had access to police and other records not previously considered in other books. Many of the explanations are verbatim from those records.

Make no mistake. This book is truly chilling. It’s detailed and although I can usually deal with true crime ( I was once involved in law enforcement so I’ve encountered real life crime), I had to tackle it in a few separate sittings. The book gives the background to both Fred and Rose; their early years and upbringing which stamped their future in ways beyond imagination. Their ‘norm’ was a life of violence, abuse and boundaries pushed way over extreme. There are details here which were new to me and they’re stomach churning. It’s difficult to understand how, in 20th century Britain, two individuals escaped the attention of the authorities. Fred was adept at grooming. Not only young women, but social workers, police, work colleagues and more. Complex and deeply flawed by any moral standards, he was able to abuse and murder for decades. For me, this book clarifies the extent to which Rise was involved. I’ve wondered how far she was involved and manipulated; now I understand she was a driving force.

There are racial terms; in my view to remove or change them is wrong. They reflect the way West spoke and are a verbatim account. It’s disturbing to think that opportunities to curtail his/their activities were missed on numerous occasions. It’s clear that there’s good reason to believe other young women met their end at hands if these two truly evil individuals. It’s dark and sobering, well narrated and I’ve had to read a number of much lighter texts since listening to this. It’s haunting but true.

Evil beyond belief

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