THE JIGSAW MAN by PAUL BRITTON
I am fascinated by true crime and bought The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton a while ago, after a friend recommended it. For some reason, it sat on my 'to be read' pile until about a week ago when I picked it up and began reading. Since then, I have read it in any ... Read review
Find "The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton" New and Used on Amazon. Free UK Delivery on orders over £25.
I am fascinated by true crime and bought The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton a while ago, after a friend recommended it. For some reason, it sat on my 'to be read' pile until about a week ago when I picked it up and began reading. Since then, I have read it in any spare minute, even in the ad breaks of Big Brother!
Paul Britton is a criminal psychologist and the book is about his work with ... ...gets much attention. He explains the way he has used his psychological expertise to help the police solve the crimes.
Britton is one of the first to be asked to help the police in this way and he shows how some people were skeptical about any help he could offer, until he proved himself. By studying the evidence available, finding out about the victim and attacker and visiting the crime scene, Britton can suggest the thinking behind ... more
THE JIGSAW MAN by PAUL BRITTON
I am fascinated by true crime and bought The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton a while ago, after a friend recommended it. For some reason, it sat on my 'to be read' pile until about a week ago when I picked it up and began reading. Since then, I have read it in any spare minute, even in the ad breaks of Big Brother!
Paul Britton is a criminal psychologist and the book is about his work with a few flashes of his private life intertwined. The Jigsaw Man was published in 1997 but seems to have stayed very relevant. His experiences illustrate a side to crime which rarely gets much attention. He explains the way he has used his psychological expertise to help the police solve the crimes.
Britton is one of the first to be asked to help the police in this way and he shows how some people were skeptical about any help he could offer, until he proved himself. By studying the evidence available, finding out about the victim and attacker and visiting the crime scene, Britton can suggest the thinking behind the crime - the psychological reasons for how, why and in what way the crime was committed. This can help him compile a psychological profile, giving the police a smaller area to work with. For instance, he may be able to suggest the attacker was aged between twenty and forty.
Britton's job is a fascinating one. I was interested in how he became involved in criminal psychology as well as his reasons for his continuing involvement in an area which is often traumatic and disturbing. I didn't feel I knew much about him as a person by the end of the book, but that didn't seem important. The man I wanted to read about was Paul Britton, criminal psychologist - and this side of him is examined very well.
He has been involved in many of the high profile cases that have made headlines for many months. The cases included the murders committed by Fred and Rosemary West - which I have already read many books about - but The Jigsaw Man showed me a different side to the investigation.
The murder of Rachel Nickell is covered and how the case against Colin Stagg failed. This was interesting as it details the way a policewoman was used as a potential girlfriend to obtain information of the sexual depravity he would have needed to have been the killer.
Michael Sams (abductor of Stephanie Slater and killer of Julie Dart) and the abduction of baby Abbie Humphries are two more cases that Britton assisted with. These are both detailed in the book, along with others, some I vaguely recalled and others I didn't remember hearing about at all.
The book is written in a very matter-of-fact and straight-forward way. This isn't a scandalous headline-grabbing book which sensationalises criminal activity. The subject matter is often disturbing and hard to read, but it is handled in a sensitive way and details are only revealed if they are important to the way the case was solved or investigated. I suggest you have a fairly strong stomach though and this certainly isn't a book to have around children!
It's a good size book - around 650 pages - which I felt was the right length for explaining everything and telling his story. It didn't seem rushed nor did it waffle on, it was just right. It probably took me about a week to read, but that was because it's the school holidays and my reading time is reduced. Otherwise, I probably could have finished it in a day or two. This is definitely the sort of book you want to keep reading.
Paul Britton has also written another book, which is called Picking up the Pieces and I hope to read this one soon too. The field of psychology intrigues me on its own, but when added to the criminal mind, I find it even more fascinating and would like to learn more about it.
I'm sure most of us have listened to the news of some murder or other - serial killers like the Wests, for example - and have thought to ourselves - Why did they do it? How could they physically do those things? What must have happened in their lives to have turned them into someone like that?
There must be a reason why someone kills and another person doesn't, even though they may seem to have similar backgrounds or have experienced similar things. Britton attempts to answer these questions and the explanations are ones that will educate and elucidate, but also get you to question yourself and society.
If you are interested in true crime or psychology, you must read this book. I loved it!The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton Published by Corgi ISBN 0-552-14493-2 Paperback cover price of £7.99
KarenUK 19.08.2006 (19.08.2006)
Ciao members have rated this review on average:
very helpful
Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Advantages: Educational without being patronising Disadvantages: Somewhat gruesome subject matter
"The Jigsaw Man" is the first of two books written by one of Britain's leading Forensic Psychologists about the evolution of his career in assisting the police to solve crimes. The second book, "Picking Up The Pieces" is described not as a sequel, but as a companion volume. That book delves deep into the minds of some of Britton's patients from secure units and special hospitals. The focus of "The Jigsaw Man" is more on crime itself and the information ... ...with the hope of eventually identifying the perpetrator.
It has long been argued whether Offender Profiling is an art or a science and whether or not is has a valid contribution to make to the field of crime detection. Britton stumbled into profiling almost by accident when he was asked by the police for his assistance in solving a particularly vicious murder. His approach to the problem was to ask five questions: What has happened? Who is the victim? ...
4N6gal 22.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Advantages: True life Disadvantages: very disturbing
...about true stories. Everything from the past to the present day.
The book I am going to tell you about now is called The Jigsaw Man
It was written Paul Britton and is an excellent book to read if you like reading true life crime stories.
The book starts of telling you about his early years and how he went on to be a top criminal psychologist.
The way that he describes how people have died is very explicit and in some cases I think a bit to explicit.. ... ...have suffered the loss of a loved one. There are certain cases in this book that even the press would not publish as they were just to sickening for the general public to read.
I myself had a job to read some of them.
Paul Britton has assisted the police in over 100 cases. He helps the police by giving a good description of what kind of person they are looking for.
He likes to visit the crime scene, find out what time the person died, in what ...
gill1960 17.09.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Advantages: Portrays the type of people likely to have committed crimes Disadvantages: Gruesome and unnecessary details
...a hot cuppa and began The Jigsaw Man written by Paul Britton, one of the top and indeed perhaps one of the first Clinical Psychologists, certainly in the U.K.
The book covers the writer's journey from a working class family into the police world, originally as a police cadet and ultimately as a clinical and forensic psychologist. We read of his struggle to undertake exams whilst working and bringing up a family at the same time, until the fateful ... ...solving the murder of Caroline Osborne, a young woman brutally murdered whilst walking her dog through local fields.
At this point, the book was what I expected. The author analyses the scene and the victim through details of her life. He assesses how the victim reacted when accosted, how the wounds are inflicted, what time of day the murder happened and through all this knowledge is able to give an insight into the type of person who carried out ...
ANNJSEC 14.02.2001 (19.02.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Advantages: Interesting Disadvantages: Leaves some important facts out
The book by Paul Britton The Jigsaw Man is An interesting book. It tells how an underachiever from a state secondary modern eventually became the best criminal forensic psychological profiler in the UK. In fact from reading Britton's glowing paean of praise for himself, one would be led to the conclusion that Britton was the only forensic psychological profiler in the UK.
The book details in somewhat gruesome detail all of the cases that Britton ... ...one obtain the impression that Britton single-handedly (aided or sometimes stymied by the police) solved a variety of high-profile cases from the Fred and Rosemary West murders, the murder of Caroline Osborne in Leicestershire, the vicious double sex-assault murder of Samantha Bissett and her 4-year-old daughter Jazmine to name only a few. And there was of course the case of the murder of Rachel Nicklin, where he set up a sting to smoke out the man ...
Martinscholes 30.07.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Advantages: Compelling read but dark images stay with the reader Disadvantages: graphic detail sometimes too much
This book charts the remarkable career of Paul Britton (written by himself), one of Britain’s most respected Criminal Psychologist. The Jigsaw Man charts the beginnings and development of professional psychology as used in the investigation of crime. I read this book during the Xmas holidays over a period of five nights, it kept me awake till yon time which was suprising given that it is not really my type of subject matter.
The book is definitely ... ...you into the mindset and motives of the killer(s) through detailed analysis of actual crime scenes, clinical case material and other case studies. But unlike the speculative tabloid ‘gory glory real life drama’ type books, this is written first hand in an intellectual (but not high brow) compelling style and is factual. Although details and names that would identify individual clinical cases have been altered for obvious reasons.
A word ...
runmedownmissy 11.02.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton
Similar products and search queries by other users »
The Jigsaw of, The Man of, The The of, The Jigsaw Man of, The Jigsaw The of, The Jigsaw Remarkable of, The Jigsaw Career of, The Man The of, The Man Remarkable of, The Man Career of, The The Remarkable of, The The Career of, The Jigsaw Man The of, The Jigsaw Man Remarkable of, The Jigsaw Man Career of
Are you the manufacturer / provider of The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist) - Paul Britton? Click here
