Beyond Belief by Emlyn Williams

I found this book in a second hand book shop and I hadn't heard anything about it before, but I am interested in true crime so I wanted to read it. This book is based on The Moors Murders which happened in Manchester, England in the 1960's. The killers were a man, Ian Brady and a woman Myra Hindley and they killed five people, four of which were children. The murders sparked outrage in Manchester at the time and people hated the killers who killed innocent children. The author is Emlyn Williams(pictured at bottom of page) who wrote many plays and who died in 1987. Ian Brady was a loner and a strange child. He was interested in Nazi stuff and he listened to the speeches of Hitler. He read books which fed his lust for violence and sex. He wanted a submissive mate and then he met Myra Hindley when he was working at a firm and they became a couple. She was in love with him and she would do anything for him. She was besotted with him and he treated her like a servant. She would do anything to keep him, so she didn't disagree with him. On the other hand, she was a willing participant in what they would do together and she shared the blame for the horrific murders that they committed. Their victims were children who they lured to their car. In those days, it would be very easy to pick up children as people didn't realise that there were perverts and killers around. Children were allowed out late and they were allowed out on their own sometimes. It seems incredible in these times, but we are more in tune these days. They killed the children and buried their bodies up on a lonely moor. The bodies were recovered, except for one, who is still out on the moor somewhere. People would never have suspected a woman in murders and it is still unusual that Myra Hindley participated in these horrific acts. That was why they found it so easy to get away with the killings for so long. They lived a normal life, they had normal jobs and they were the perfect couple until they invited Myra's brother in law to participate in the final killing. He was appalled and he went straight to the police. This brought their killings to an end.The book is semi-fictional and I think that the author is assuming what the killers were thinking etc, but that doesn't take away from the book. I have to say that it was a great read and I felt sad for the families of the victims and I felt that I understood the minds of the killers more. They were both evil and horrible people who should have been executed, but hanging in England had gone by the time they were caught. Brady is in a mental institution for the rest of his life and Hindley died in 2002. The book has no mercy for the killers and I would think that nobody could have. I would recommend this to fans of true crime. It is an interesting and thought-provoking book.