Saturday, April 9, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: Australian True Crime: Women Who Kill

Title: Australian True Crime: Women Who Kill


Author: Lindy Cameron & Ruth Wykes

Publisher: Five Mile Press

RRP: $19.95

ISBN: 9781742486413

Release Date: February 2011

Description:

Women Who Kill investigates more than a dozen cases of murder in Australia and New Zealand where women have taken the lives of loved ones and total strangers for the thrill of it.

Review:

Women Who Kill is a book about 12 separate cases of female killers, with chapters headings such as "Truly, Madly, Deadly'; 'Vicious Young Things' and 'Overkill'. One thing common with each case detailed is that none could ever be remotely classified as an understandable or forced crime. None of these murder fall into the category of defence killings. The individual chapters look at a range of Australian and New Zealand murderers, all of who were female.

The range of perpetrator types is also here. Abused, powerless, desperate, cunning, stupid - the full range of how people get themselves into the position of killing another human being.

Most of the cases discussed in this book are chilling enough, add the idea of a female perpetrator, and some of the circumstances in which the victims were placed and you're left with a rather sinking feeling.

The section 'Vicious Young Things' starts off with the reminder that violent crime by young women is on the rise, making you think long and hard about what it was like to be a young woman all those years ago and wonder when the barriers shifted.

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