#BookReview ‘A Special Place In Hell’ by Christopher Berry-Dee

About the book…

Christopher Berry-Dee is the man who talks to serial killers. A world-renowned investigative criminologist, he has gained the trust of murderers across the world, entered their high security prisons, and discussed in detail their shocking crimes.

The killers’ pursuit of horror and violence is described through the unique audiotape and videotape interviews which Berry-Dee conducted, deep inside the bowels of some of the world’s toughest prisons.

Christopher Berry-Dee has collated these interviews into this astounding, disturbing book.

Not only does he describe his meetings with some of the world’s most evil men and women, he also reproduces, verbatim, their very words as they describe their crimes, allowing the reader a glimpse into the inner workings of the people who have committed the worst crime possible—to mercilessly take the life of another human being.

Many thanks to Mel Sambells , of Ad Lib/Palazzo editions, who kindly reached out to me and asked if I would like to read and review ‘A Special Place In Hell’ published on June 1st 2021.

It’s a very readable book in that it appears chatty, almost informal in its execution, but overall, I noted a lack of objectivity in the sense that you learn just as much about the author as you do about the subject he writes about.

It feels, in essence, like a ‘Killers Top Ten’ from someone who has interviewed some of the most dangerous people on the planet, which, in places, undermines the seriousness of the crimes that they have committed and the effect on those left behind.

The figures he chooses to resign in hell, are those chosen to match his publishers brief, but, as he states in his foreword, it only works if you believe not only in the concept of hell, but also the concept of divine retribution and justice. Which, if any of these people had done, would have stopped them doing the evil things that they did. But it it didn’t, thereby making their consignment to a fictional hell scape a paradoxical punishment. The notion of hell is therefore only of comfort to those who believe the killers are bound in that direction.

The lurid cover and headline are there to bring the reader in, there are no misconceptions that you are about to meet anyone whose actions are excusable. But, in a world where true crime scholars and psychologists have become as well known as those whom they study, what sets this book apart?

The people which Christopher has included are-

Each chapter runs through the crimes for which each figure became, and remains, infamous. Christopher refers to his other books, and his loyal readers (this is definitely not me, it’s the first book by him that I have read, and I am far from being a true crime buff) quite a bit, and meanders a lot, the book has the overall feel of asking a seasoned pro down the pub about his experiences in the field.

He talks about politics, covid, imagined testimony, religious fervour and a little anti-German is subtly woven through the chapter on Fritz Haarmann. To be clear, Christopher hasn’t interviewed all of these people-having been predeceased by at least 2!-and forms his opinions based on police reports. It is more than halfway through the book before he references his own interviews, that with Kenneth Bianchi-or ‘Ken’ as he calls him-in the context of bashing his massive ego down to size.

How did Christopher manage to trick one of the Hillside Stranglers, using what is referred to as the Reid technique?

By pulling out his own whopping ego and smashing Ken’s! He managed to befriend Bianchi, write to him to the point where he was allowed to interview him twice, and pulled the rug from under him by pointing out the inconsistencies within his statements of innocence. To be fair, you’d have to have a massive set of balls to go in the same room as one of the most notorious serial killers known to 20th century history.

The names may be familiar, but the stories, and the way that they are told, brings new information to the fore. It is clear that Christopher pours scorn on the notion of how handsome Ted Bundy is alleged to be -I myself cannot see the fascination with this reprehensible individual-and holds no truck with the women throwing themselves at him.

The style of writing is very conversational, and this means that the odd revelation pops up out of nowhere and really shocks the reader.

I finished this book by a)reading it in instalments and b) having multiple showers between chapters.

And I am still none the wiser about Christopher Berry-Dee’s qualifications to have done what he has in his life. However, I am sure he is on the right side of the bars, is a ruthless promoter of transparency in the reporting of crimes as well as a self promoter of his experiences in the world of crime.

About the author…

A noted writer and criminologist, Christopher Berry-Dee’s recent books include ‘Talking With Psychopaths and Savages’, the UK’s bestselling true-crime title of 2017, and ‘Talking With Female Serial Killers’