BOOK AND PODCAST REVIEWS - NON-FICTION

Human Sacrifice: A Shocking Expose of Ritual Killings Worldwide (2008) Jimmy Lee Shreeve It is always difficult to review a friend's book, especially when it is a signed gift - a bad review might offend and a good review be distrusted. Fortunately, Jimmy Lee Shreeve is one of the least 'precious' of litterateurs, a man who consciously models his style on American 'gonzo' journalism, a man for whom criticism is like water off a duck's back. So it is with some pleasure that I can say that this book really is worth reading, assuming that you have a strong stomach and that you take it for what it is and not for what you might like to be. The book is published by Barricade whose list includes quite a large number of more conventional true crime books that concentrate on one of America's greatest gifts to the world - the 'romance' of organised crime. From this perspective, 'Human Sacrifice' is definitely a bit offbeat because it is look...

Billy Hill: Godfather of London (2008) Wensley Clarkson   Notorious: The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins (2010) John George Pearson Peaky Blinders: The Aftermath - The Real Story Behind the Next Generation of Gangsters (2021) Carl Chinn   I have a reasonable library on crime, organised crime rather than the individual evil-doer though I have a few of those as well. These three books give us a general picture of the history of organised crime in Britain, largely but not exclusively in London. I will start in the middle of the story with the weakest book just to set the scene. Clarkson's Billy Hill is a pot boiler but anything that helps us understand the nature of the human condition has some value. This story of one of London's major gang lords does just this - despite itself. It is a weakly written book for the true crime market which seems to take villains' own tales at face value, over-relies on secondary evidence, fails to maintain continuity and gives little so...