Villains by Dick KirbyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - dipped in and out over 1 week
Pages - 309
Publisher - Constable & Robinson
Blurb from Goodreads
'Villains' introduces the reader to the bad, the mad and the dangerous to know, recounted by those who had intimate dealings with, both criminal and copper, London's underworld.
My Review
Not too sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, a lot more of the Krays I think because they are on the front cover. There is one story about them and a brief mention of them in another. It is relatively short chapters and stories about real life gangsters and or criminals of that time period and shows how vastly different the police dealt with them compared to now.
Police corruption, some stomach churning acts of punishment from one criminal to others, bank robberies, murder, wheeling and dealing. Most names have been changed and the author talks about this at the beginning and the reason for it. If you are very clued up on your criminals of that era you may be able to work out who the real accounts are about, if like me you are not it still makes for very interesting reading.
True crime in bite sized chapters that you can dip in and out of as life allows. There are more out there by this author and I will read them as I come across them. Interesting if true crime is you thing, 3.5 stars for me this time.
In have not heard much about short stories in this genre. This format might be a good introduction for someone who has not read much of this kind of book before. I love the Goodreads Blurb.
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