The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins
Written by John Pearson
Narrated by Martin Shaw
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
John Pearson
John Pearson is the author of All the Money in the World (previously titled Painfully Rich), now a major motion picture directed by Ridley Scott film and starring Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plumber (nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). He is also the author of The Profession of Violence, on which the Tom Hardy film Legend is based, and the follow-up, The Cult of Violence. Born in Surrey, England in 1930, Pearson worked for Economist, The Times, and The Sunday Times, where he was the assistant of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Pearson published the definitive biography of Fleming, The Life of Ian Fleming in 1966. Pearson has since written many more successful works of both fiction and non-fiction. Biographies remain his specialty with accomplished studies of the Sitwells, Winston Churchill and the Royal Family.
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Reviews for The Profession of Violence
37 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I could have done without the corny pop music intros for each chapter. Most of the events covered in this book took place in the 50s/60s. We get it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins by John Pearson is a factual recounting of the lives of the Kray brothers, twins Reggie and Ronnie. This famous duo were not criminal master-minds with a great intelligence but psychopathic thugs using violence and fear to control others. They successfully used brutality and terror to swindle and exhort in order to build an empire of organized crime in London during the 1950s and 60s.The Brothers had the special bond of being identical twins, although most people found Reggie the more charming of the two, Ronnie appeared to be the more dominant twin. Ronnie had been certified insane during one of his stays in prison, but Reggie still chose to support and follow him in most things. They were doomed to disaster as their antics got more and more violent and witnesses grew more determined to come forward. When the intelligent Inspector Nipper Read was put on their case, these two were finally brought to justice.The author used a flat, matter-of-fact tone to tell this story, I suspect he was trying not to glorify the subject matter, but, for me, this deadpan delivery took away from the intricate and fascinating story, giving it the flavor of a newspaper report. I read a lot of British crime stories and the Kray Brothers have come into my reading many times either directly or by reference, so I was pleased to have been able to read such a factual account of their lives.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rereading this book many years later I can't help but feel that Reggie Kray might have been quite a successful business man without the need to resort to crime in order to achieve what he felt was important in life, wealth and power. However he was the second half of a demented twin, and Ronnie's life was always going to end in sadness and violence. Reggie choose to support his brother and together they built an empire of crime which was doomed to disaster as the antics of the Krays became more violent and bizarre. Added to this mix we have the highly intelligent Inspector "Nipper" Read determined to see the bad guys brought to justice and peace restored to the streets of London.