Book Review: Inside 10 Rillington Place by Peter Thorley

Inside 10 Rillington Place Release Date: 6th August 2020
Source: Publisher
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During the 1940s and 1950s John Christie, an English serial killer and necrophile from Halifax, murdered at least eight people - including his wife, Ethel - by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London.

Two further bodies were found wrapped in a tablecloth in the washhouse behind 10 Rillington Place - those of Beryl Evans and her baby daughter Geraldine. They were his lodgers.

In 1939 Beryl Thorley, then 19, married Timothy Evans. Baby Geraldine followed quickly and, determined to stand on their own two feet, the couple rented a room from John Christie and his wife Ethel, at 10 Rillington Place, not knowing how fatal this would prove.

Over the years this case has sparked huge controversy surrounding the question of who actually killed Beryl and Geraldine. Now, more than 50 years later, Peter Mylton-Thorley, Beryl's youngest brother, is ready to tell his story. With first-hand knowledge of the real horror of life inside 10 Rillington Place, it is time to set the record straight.

Peter has collected unseen evidence, never released crime scene photos and statements to the police. This is the shocking true story of the crimes and horror of life with John Christie, Timothy Evans and 10 Rillington Place.

Inside 10 Rillington Place was such a let down! I didn’t know anything about the case when I requested this book from Netgalley, so I went in completely blind. I’m massively disappointed by the way the case was presented, and I wish I wasn’t because this is such an interesting case!

Since this book is told by Peter, the younger brother of one of the victims, it provides a completely biased view of what happened back in the 1940’s and ’50’s. That would have been fine, except I was expecting a much more nuanced version of events to be presented to me. I found it very frustrating and it put a massive damper on my reading experience.

In addition to that, the book is presented as though the reader already has a bit of knowledge about the case. I personally hadn’t heard of the case before, and I hadn’t seen the TV show (which is apparently very good!) either. This book wasn’t a very good introduction to it as it made a lot of assumptions about the reader’s prior knowledge.

I’m looking forward to doing my own research into this case, but as a true crime book this one fell more than a little flat for me.