Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

After recently reading a news story about the auction of the West household, I was compelled to read as much as I could about this travesty. Sounes' book is the definitive volume of the 20 years of terror that occurred in Gloucester. I found it strange that I had never heard of this case before, but the events sounded somewhat familiar (almost like the films Natural Born Killers or People Under the Stairs).

The gruesome goings on nevertheless make for an engrossing read, where this couple (who eventually had eight children - some of which were killed, most were abused), lured people into their home, murdered, dismembered, and buried them either in the cellar or back yard.

The way it captivated me was similar to Bugliosi's Helter Skelter. I'm not a fan of serial killers, but the story just holds you and scares the hell out of you - especially since it really happened.

This is an account of the true life multiple murder and bizarre sex perpetrated by an ordinary looking man named Fred and his frumpy wife Rose. Together they raped, murdered, dismembered and buried at least ten (but likely many more) innocent women who fell into their clutches. Together. {{{shudders}}} Can you imagine finding (and keeping) your soul mate when your obsession is violent, murderous sex? Can you imagine raising a family and keeping up a facade of normalcy while doing so? Well these two managed it. It's much worse than any horror novel could every try to be because, sadly enough, it's all true.

The author states the story matter of factly, never getting preachy but just stating the facts ma'am. He starts things off with their childhoods which were a bloody mess of dysfunction. Both suffered their share of trauma, physical and sexual, before the fateful day they found each other, fell into a twisted version of love and began their spree of sexual abuse and murder. They both seem to be barely functioning people and never really had a chance what with their horrid pasts and all. But still it is very difficult to find any sympathy for either of them as their tale unfolds.

This book made me stop and wonder just what the heck is wrong with me. Why on earth did I want to continue reading about these horrible people? Why couldn't I put it down? Why did I have to keep reading "just one more page"? I guess it's my terrible curiosity but these stories have some sort of pull on me and once I start them I have to see them through to the awful end even if means wishing I could scrub myself from the inside out to get some of the images out of my mind when I'm done.

It amazed, saddened and sickened me how loyal Fred remained to Rose until the very end. Despite all of the hell the two created together, the countless sex partners and the sick secrets they kept, Fred loved Rose in his twisted way and couldn't live without her and still thought himself "a nice man". That's about the sickest and scariest thing I've ever read.

I only recommend this to those with an interest in real life crime sprees and with an iron clad stomach. The content is extremely rough and hard to forget once read.

Fred & Rose West.. This book is one of the scariest books I've ever read ever!! It made it even more scary because its a true story and there are photograps in the book too. No matter how scary the book was I was unable to put it down, I had to make sure that justice was served to these people.

I would definately read it if you like true crime and a good read, you may need some tissues as it is a little heart breaking.

This book read's like fiction. So hard to believe that all of it really happened.
If you like true crime then you must read this book.

this is a real page turner its very detailed and sad if u cant handle reading about torture do not get it my stomach turned the hair on my body raised and i had a lump in my thoat you wont believe that there can be such evil in human beings this is about a bunch of sick individuals who only have themselves to blame for raising serial killers my heart goes out to the famlies of the victims and the killers children who also endured torture the title house of horrors suits this book well i would like to thank the author and the dedication of the detectives who helped bring these monsters down

This was a deep look into the lives of one of the worlds most twisted couples. I wonder how any of their children survived their childhoods.
If people would have conacted child protective services or reported what they had seen to the police so many lives could have been saved.
This couple were definantly out of touch with reality and living in some fantasy world full of sadomasochism.

what a sick family, I have read many true crime books but this is one that will stay with me forever. Not for the faint of heart.
Good writing on a very sick subject.