Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Killing for Company

  • By: Brian Masters
  • Narrated by: Jason Watkins
  • Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (599 ratings)

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Killing for Company cover art

Killing for Company

By: Brian Masters
Narrated by: Jason Watkins
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
activate_primeday_promo_in_buybox_DT

Listeners also enjoyed...

Fred & Rose cover art
The Dennis Nilsen Tapes cover art
Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter cover art
I'm the Yorkshire Ripper cover art
Wicked Beyond Belief cover art
Manhunt cover art
Inside the Mind of BTK cover art
A Fine Day for a Hanging cover art
Face to Face with Serial Killers cover art
Butcher, Biter, Spy cover art
The Hillside Stranglers cover art
Rose West cover art
Nothing but the Night cover art
The Search for the Green River Killer cover art
The Red Ripper cover art
Murder by the Sea cover art

Summary

Soon to be an ITV drama, Des, starring David Tennant.

Winner of the Gold Dagger Award for Crime Non-Fiction.

Dennis Nilsen, who died in May 2018, murdered at least 15 people before his arrest in 1983. This ground-breaking criminal study of his killings was written with Nilsen's full cooperation, resulting in a fascinating - and horrifying - portrait of the man who worshipped death.

On February 9th 1983, Dennis Nilsen was arrested at his Muswell Hill home, after human remains had been identified as the cause of blocked drains. 'Are we talking about one body or two,' a detective asked. Nilsen replied 'Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978. I'll tell you everything.'

Within days he had confessed to 15 gruesome murders over a period of four years. His victims, all young homosexual men, had never been missed. Brian Masters, with Nilsen's full cooperation, has produced a unique study of a murderer's mind, essential listening for true crime aficionados.

©1985 Brian Masters (P)2020 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"One of the most remarkable and accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society.” (Observer)

What listeners say about Killing for Company

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    399
  • 4 Stars
    136
  • 3 Stars
    45
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    401
  • 4 Stars
    75
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    335
  • 4 Stars
    107
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

started ok...

Started ok, but couldn't finish as seemed to go on and on, good early on but became bored.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • m
  • 03-10-20

Chilling , fascination mixed with disturbment

Delving into the sick and shocking history of Britain's most prolific serial killer and more importantly attempting to understand his mindset. To understand is to forgive. I'm not sure I still understand.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Killing for Company

First off Dennis Nielsen was a monstrous serial killer who deserved to die behind bars but this book shows him to be intelligent, articulate and someone who gave the appearance of being just a normal joe.

Inwardly Nilsen harboured psychopathic tendencies which resulted in the deaths and dismemberment of young men whom he mostly pickup via gay bars.

In the book Masters , using correspondence from Nilsen, suggests this behavior began with the death of his grandfather. This left him with feelings of loneliness, rage and the need to relate to death. Who knows.....

I ‘enjoyed’ this book but it’s not for the faint hearted as it does contain some graphic descriptions of Nilsen actions against the bodies of his murder victims but it’s a book about a serial killer.

So to sum up it’s interesting, well written, well narrated and well worth my time and money.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Crikey ... a tough one to take

Not for the faint hearted and I confess I could only listen to bits of it and then have a break, listen to something else before coming back.

It's so fascinating in a macabre way and so well written. The whole idea of serial killers, psychopaths, necrophiliacs is quite bewildering but also begs the question if they are not made then why do they happen. If you take humans as a species, have these personality types always been around even in, for want of a better phrase, "cave man days"? Presumably if they were, did they help or hinder our early communities - if it is a modern phenomena, then why is it happening? And why to such extremes?

Might look up some books and delve a bit deeper.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

mental

not am easy listen by any stretch but I couldn't stop listening it gripped me from start to finish would 100% recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Killing for company.

Well read and well constructed. I did feel that it was one chapter too long though. It didn’t need to be there. It was just recapping and repeating what had already been discussed.
Saying that it’s a great listen. Such an interesting case and horrific.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Morbid, but intriguing

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend if you have a decent constitution. Very well narrated. Fascinatingly unraveled

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My faviourt book do far this one.

So interesting almost like a case study, fantastically narrated. A real insight into his world

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Interesting insight to the story of Des, so much detail from start to finish. Good listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

This is one of the most harrowing books I have ever listened too. At one point I even had to pull over in the car as I was physically sick from listening to the details of the murders.
If you are interested in the psychology side of murders this is a very interesting but sickening listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!