Beyond Belief

This book is in my top ten list of books from any genre. It is an atmospheric and detailed portrait of the social landscape that spawned the likes Hindley and Brady. Through his lilting prose, that resonates with the musical dialect of Northern England, Emlyn Williams hypnotically recreates an almost aerial view of the cities, towns, streets and bleak interiors where these horrific events took place and then systematically moves in to locate the perpetrators and the victims within this grey tapestry. His research and unstinting provision of detail of such a dark but important subject matter is meticulous, his weaving into this factual account of the fictionalised private moments and primitive motivations of the killers' mundane but deadly, secret world is masterful and only adds to our insight of the psychology of evil. I consider this a masterwork written in a unique voice by a genius mind.

I have always been interested in crime, and have read so many true-crime tomes that often i will be partway through a book and realize, "wait, i have read this one before". its easy to write a rag about a sensational crime- it isn't easy to create a masterpiece. this book is a masterpiece. when i first began it, i had to stop myself from reading it too quickly, because it was so well-written and absorbing and such a change from the usual crime-tripe that i didn't want it to end. it must be said here that i am a normal, healthy female who is also a pacifist and a vegetarian- therien lies the fascination with these types. the only other true-crime book i have ever read that came close in quality was "helter skelter". as far as sheer knowledge, "hs" wins over this one. i have never learned so much about law as i have from that book. but in terms of sheer creepiness, hauntingness, this book surpasses most novels and 99.9 true crime books ever written. emyln williams does a brilliant job of "being there", putting himself in shoes of the victims as they are whistling their way home and that fateful moment when they hear a van pulling up behind them. most all of it is told in first-person, and most often in a manchurian patois that is endlessly fascinating for anglophiles like myself. but again, i have to underline this books sheer eerieness. it reminds me of "virgin suicides"- ephemeral, almost otherworldly, in the midst of the swinging sixties and northern england industry. if you don't read this book and are a fan of true crime, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Here's the thing: Once you read this book, you'll never forget it. It will give you such a case of the creeps you may conveniently leave it behind when you move house; donate it to the library; but it will stick with you and you'll be drawn to it, because to this day, there is really no explanation for these crimes. And no resolution for the emotions you will be left with after reading about them. Caveat emptor. Williams' has aptly titled his book "Beyond Belief". He has reconstructed his narrative from research, interviews, and police and trial materials (now sealed until 2027). He's tried to make a kind of map to try and find the answer, the motives for these killings. What it turns out to be is more of a maze. He takes everything into account about the killers; he knows their backgrounds, their upbringings, the era; he knows how they spent their time, what they read, ate and drank, what they talked about. He's seen (and heard) the evidence of their crimes. What shocks him and the reader the most is the complete banality of these murders. The cruelty in the choice of victim; the almost bad-fairy-tale-like concept of the innocent child beguiled into the gingerbread house, which turns out to be inhabited by witches and monsters. Probably the most disturbing thing about this couple is they did not fit the profile of the usual type of killer. Nobody saw it coming; and it is this element that shows such extreme cruelty. That this was the part they deliberately enjoyed is the irredeemable aspect, which has made them unworthy of anything but contempt. Williams leaves the actual crimes in the ether, where they haunt us. He leaves description till the last one - where he has an eyewitness account. The rest of the book is the incredible story of how the killers were caught and brought to trial. The way they were arrested was pure karma; but the way the bulk of the evidence of other crimes was found turned on a coincidence so tiny that, had it not been discovered, the results don't bear thinking about. Trials are over quickly in England; there was no longer a death penalty, and the judge regretted this and stated publicly that they should be "put down". Ian Brady has since been diagnosed as insane; Myra Hindley is dead. These days, we know more about "predators"; we still can't find them early enough to stop them, but we are apprehending them more quickly. Yet psychiatrists still can't discover quite what it is, apart from some genetic aberration, a throwback. All we really know is that they're out there. And the more knowledge we have, the more protected our kids will be.