This factual account of the lives of Fred and Rose West, begins before either of them were born. It begins with their families and the awful conditions they were born into and leads to their subsequent meeting, and the sharing of their proclivities for depravity and debauchery.

I would agree with the description that it was a fascinating tale, however it left me with more questions than answers. I found some of it very difficult to believe. I am not saying I don't believe they were perverted and twisted child molesters and murderers, I just can not understand the actions of some of their adult victims. I don't understand, nor was it explained why Fred's former wife would show up to claim her children but then leave without them.

While I can understand the ease with which they manipulated young girls who had no where else to turn I don't understand how they could have gotten away with murder and torture for so long, or why for instance borders in their home would hear screams and never look into it. Rose is described as fat and dim witted. Fred is described as fat, ugly, vulgar, crude, having the features of a monkey, a smile which showcases his obvious lack of hygiene, and yet he is also described as able to charm people, particularly women. That makes no sense to me. There was at one point a friendly relationship with a neighbor woman who would watch their children while they went out looking to pick up young girls. When they told this woman their young child was not a virgin, when they tried to get this woman to have sex with the both of them, and she was supposedly not interested in such a relationship so I do not understand why she returned to their home almost daily to "have tea" with them even after the point of one time being attacked and handcuffed by Fred. Why did she continue to return to their home and ultimately become another of their victims? It is said they carried on some semblance of normal life and yet they thought nothing of keeping their daughter out of school many times due to her injuries from their physical and sexual torture. There was several hospital visits but nobody ever looked into it further. People in the neighborhood seemed to know the family was not normal yet nobody including police did anything for years even though Fred already had a criminal record.
Rose and Fred both were terrible liars but it seems no matter how far fetched an excuse they would give, nobody dug any further for years.
This book left me unsettled, with more questions than answers. ( )

Three things stand out to me in this book, (1) the utter depravity of Fred and Rose West; (2) the horrible failure of the Gloucestershire Social Services; and (3) the amazing tenacity of one Detective Constable Hazel Norma Savage, without her involvement, the bodies might never have been found.

Fred and Rose were married for about 25 years, but the killing had started before, both had killed on their own, and then together, they knew each others secrets and covered up for each other. In the end, Fred tried to protect Rose, who when she felt he had failed her turned from him. He took his life and there are now questions that will never be answered. Such as, why were finger and toe bones missing, are there more victims and if so where are they buried? Rose maintains her innocence. These are things we may never find out.

Howard Sounes is a journalist, he covered the story when it broke and the trial of Rosemary West, much of the information in this book is from that. There is also extensive background information and he includes speculation on what caused Fred and Rose to become such twisted individuals. He delivers accounts of what probably happened to the victims, based on the condition of the bodies and accounts from other victims that survived. One of the victims that lived is Fred and Rose’s daughters. Two of the victims that were killed were also their daughters.

The facts are laid out explicitly but not sensationally making this an informative, well written, interesting account. I recommend this book. ( )

I started reading this after watching the first part of "Appropriate Adult" on TV the other week. I found it easy to read, and it went into quite a lot of detail about both Fred and Rose's family life and attempted to explain how they both evolved to become sadistic murderers.

It was an interesting read which was, at times, quite harrowing. The victims all suffered immensely and it was therefore not pleasant reading. ( )