Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors [Paperback]

Howard Sounes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

This is an account of the serial murders at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, based on interviews with relatives and friends of Fred and Rose West. The author broke the story of the killings in an article in The Sunday Mirror in March 1994.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Howard Sounes was the journalist who broke the story of the Wests in the Daily Mirror in 1994. After writing Fred & Rose, he went on to write a number of books about the arts, sport and literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751513229
• ISBN-13: 978-0751513226
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > True Accounts > Serial Killers

More About the Author

My books are the stories of interesting lives - including biographies of Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and the writer Charles Bukowski.

More information at www.howardsounes.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very thoroughly written!, May 9, 2001

By 

A. Bouardi (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors (Paperback)

If you're here, you've either heard of them from a friend or you're a serial killer reader... With that in mind, this book is NOT for anyone who can't handle feeling a little queasy.

As a girl who's read a lot of serial killer books, this one tops the gruesomely discussed catagory. The book is so thorough, Howard Sounes gives background even on their parents...so you really get to know these two people. The book takes us through to when they meet and then in painstaking detail describes each of the girls they forced into sadomasochistic sex torture...including their little girls. As I said, the book is very creepy and could provide nightmares...so buyer beware. Of course, it offers more than you'd ever dream of knowing about any two serial killers...and the two in this book, while following patterns of organized serial killing, as described by Robert Ressler, they are dumb as bricks.

Happy reading.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic True Crime Title from Britain, July 1, 2004

By 

Snook (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors (Paperback)

This book is a classic true crime title. The case is extraordinary: an apparently ordinary and pleasant married couple, Fred and Rose West, molest, torture and murder a series of young women and girls -- including their own daughter -- bury the dismembered remains under their house, in the middle of the city of Gloucester, and continue living happily in said house for many years. The author, Sounes, broke the story as a reporter, and this is the big book on the case, which is very well known in England. Absolutely riveting and a big seller ever since published about ten years ago in the UK, though not so well known in the US. It will make your hair curl (if it doesn't already). A classic of the genre alongside Profession of Violence, Helter Skelter, and Killing for Company.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Terrifying but True!, July 25, 2006

By 

Sylviastel - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors (Paperback)

I like this book because it has a family tree, a diagram of the house and useful information regarding location of the bodies. I just started this book and I find the writing to be pretty good. The author stays clear of his personal views until the end of the book. The story is horrifying to believe but reading the backgrounds of this unusual couple helps understand the crimes behind their union. They were unspeakable to say the least to include the murder of their own teenage daughter who wanted to escape. I remember watching a documentary aired on A&E with other surviving children. They knew that this didn't go on in other families and they envied families who had discipline and kept the x-rated stuff to the couples themselves rather than including their own children, strangers, and regularl visitors. The Wests' open sexuality actually probably caused more disturbances to the children who were affected most of all. They weren't loved as they should have been. They were beaten and abused physically, sexually, and emotionally. I wish the West children found solace and comfort now more than ever. They really lived in a a house of horrors beyound our imagination.