What Lies Buried by Kerry Daynes

I was drawn to this book as I am a huge fan of memoir style books and true crime stories. I was looking forward to finding out more about Kerry’s job and the people she has met as a result of it.

Blurb:

Kerry Daynes, leading forensic psychologist, opens up the case files of some of her most perplexing clients to uncover what lies buried behind some of the most extreme and disturbing behaviour.

For twenty-five years, Kerry has worked on the frontline of violent crime, from working with the police on complex cases and acting as an expert witness in court, to advising the government on how to handle high-risk individuals.

Whether she is dealing with a young murderer who says he has heard voices telling him to kill, a teacher who daubs children in red paint and threatens to abduct them, or an aspiring serial killer who faints at the sight of blood, Kerry’s quest is to delve beyond the classic question asked of her profession: ‘Are they mad or are they bad?’

In her new book, Kerry provides an unflinching, enlightening and provocative insight into the minds of her clients, shedding light on the root causes of their behaviour and challenging our notions about who, and what, is dangerous.

If you enjoyed The Dark Side of the Mind, Unnatural Causes and The Prison Doctor, you will be captivated by What Lies Buried.

My thoughts:

“Perhaps if we listen more and judge less then we’ll see that there may be a little bit of their story in all of us.”

This is a follow up to Kerry’s previous book “Dark side of the mind” but I read it as a standalone, though I’m sure that book provides additional context that would be helpful for this book.

I was immediately hooked into the book with the “skewer” story and I was exited and intrigued to see Kerry’s perspective on this being different to what you’d expect. This is a woman who deals with people from all walks of life who have done very bad things and made very bad choices, but she treats them as exactly that: people.

Therefore her portrayal of her job is insightful, engaging and eye-opening. It is clear that she is passionate about the role and helping people to understand what we can do to improve stigma around mental health and convicted criminals in this country.

Despite her job being a very important and often complex one, Kerry’s writing style is accessible and is even at times light-hearted and humorous. This provides a great balance in the book as she deals with lots of sensitive and hard-hitting issues including violence, arson, murder and mental health issues.

This has been an incredibly engaging book which I struggled to put down. I definitely want to go back and read read other book, which I’ve recently bought!

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