In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile Paperback – July 17, 2014

This is a powerful and disturbing biography that can be recommended. Journalist Dan Davies aims to bring into view the life of the British celebrity Sir James (Jimmy) Savile, OBE. During his life Savile managed to mask his persona from close scrutiny and only after his death in old age has a horrific accounting been made of sexually abusive behavior over a career that spanned six decades. The book covers the period before and after his death.

Prior to Savile's death and when his reputation was still intact, Davies set out to capture what lay behind the public Jimmy Savile. Over time his interviews with Savile and those who knew him, bolstered by historical analysis, became this book. Savile seems to have had narcissistic and psychopathic traits, a man who disliked ordinary people but sought their adulation, a man who liked the powerful and sought their favour, and most tellingly of all, a serial sexual abuser whose victims numbered in the hundreds. Savile was a man with much to hide and he comes over at times as a hostile interviewee, not at all interested in openly exploring his own past. It is to Davies credit that what he reveals about Savile is in the interstices – in re-contextualising what Savile says as compared to what he did – that lets us catch a glimpse of how Savile died at 84 a lauded and revered figure (and for that to all collapse within a year with revelations of abuse). In some ways, this is a biography undertaken without the reasonable cooperation of the subject and this needs to be kept in mind when reading it.

Throughout the book Davies discusses his struggle in trying to understand the complexities of Savile, his sense the man had a personality that was far more challenging than even his then public persona (with its sub-current of violence) suggested and which eventually became apparent after his death. Further, how he was being tested by the nature of his relationship with Savile in advancing Savile’s public persona. It is these tensions that draw the reader in and leads Davies to state at one point, and making a play of words on Savile's incessant cigar smoking, that he was like "a plume of acrid smoke that billowed and dispersed before any sense could be made of [him]".

As the story advances the book becomes less a biography of Savile and more about the society that nurtured him and facilitated his access to those he then abused. Davies success lies in his contextualising the tensions in Savile's mythology against the fuller history of his life and post-death revelations in such a way that the book reveals aspects of broader British society that are unsettling.

'In Plain Sight', a very apt title, stands as an indictment of cultural, organisational and individual failures in Britain that worked to let Savile continue a cycle of abuse. Savile was never held to account through trial. Davies holds a reasonably consistent tone across the bulk of the book, of a kind of detached scepticism, before he positions himself with a strong denouement that tackles the above issues forcefully.

Reading the book serves as a witnessing, in reflection to all those abused and silenced for so long and as a way to understand the challenge in future efforts to strengthen institutions towards dealing with troubled or dangerous people.

I gave this book five stars, as witnessing the deliberately hidden is important and Davies has captured something ineffable about Savile. Having said this, some of the structure within the book is problematic, especially around the complexity of the chronologies. The book may have been published early, with ongoing investigations incomplete, but as Savile is likely to remain an elusive figure then Davies book as social analysis is topical and needed, no matter the timing. Also, as a caution, there is material that is distressing to read in regards the suffering of those abused.

Davies has written an important book, all the more evident in his scathing and forthright conclusion reminding us that trust in people and institutions is something that must be earned and not just given.

This is a fast paced read that left me as a researcher wanting more. The story of Jimmy Savile is told with a passion that's infectious. The way Davies intertwines old and new narratives was enjoyable, if at times unbelievable.
Now for the bad. As a researcher I found much of what was put forth to be conjecture. Hearsay abounds from all sources. Many times I found myself wondering why, if as many people who claimed to know these things were happening actually did, how is it that nothing made it to print or the courts? I understand he was a revered individual but from the way Mr. Davies makes it sound, hundreds if not thousands of people knew about what was going on as it was happening. While I've no doubt that Savile was a pedophile, I find it very hard to believe he could have opporated at such a massive scale for so long. More so given how public his life was.
Having read the Dane Smith report in conjunction with this, the tale presented herein seems to me to be caused more by panic than reality. The glaring errors in the manuscript suggest a work that was rushed to capitalize on the furore created by the reports (and as such earn as much money as was possible,) rather than actual facts.

It took me a while to read this book. I always had another book on the go and went back and forth between the two. Like many others, I grew up watching Jimmy Saville on television. I thought he was a philanthropist who did a lot of good in the world although I also thought he was odd and slightly sleazy. Now we learn he was a very active pedophile. Interesting to read this account of someone who met and interviewed him many times. I wonder if the evil Jimmy Saville did cancels out the good he did in his life.

Quite a shocking story...while reading this book, I kept asking myself how could he pull this off without someone discovering the abusive personality he was. He pulled the wool over the entire country's eyes...powerful goverment officials, religous leaders, even the royal family. Then I realized that this story has many paralles to the Bill Cosby news all over the media today. Public preception trumps common sense every time.

...but oddly cathartic. I'm an expat who grew up in the UK of the 60s/70s.After reading so much of Saville's sudden death,funeral and the subsequent mayhem after the allegations broke,this book helped to crystalise much of what had happened.
It's going to be a long time,if ever,before people can process how oddly this man presented,contrasted with how ubiquitous he was in British public life-with all the dirt concealed in the mirage.
You couldn't make it up.

A chilling and informative account of a truly dreadful, sleazy man.
I found this book a compulsive read, all the more so as it appears to adhere to the facts and does not introduce salacious or sensational detail.

First book I have read non stop in years what a trip! if you have watched the documentary's on Savile they barely scratch the surface this goes much deeper into his twisted world. The book was used, but was in top shape.

Excellent. Good narrative structure.