In eleven vivid narratives based on decades of providing therapy to people in prisons and secure hospitals, an internationally renowned forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist demonstrates the remarkable human capacity for radical empathy, change, and redemption.

What drives someone to commit an act of terrible violence? Drawing from her thirty years’ experience in working with people who have committed serious offenses, Dr. Gwen Adshead provides fresh and surprising insights into violence and the mind. Through a collaboration with coauthor Eileen Horne, Dr. Adshead brings her extraordinary career to life in a series of unflinching portraits.

Alongside doctor and patient, we discover what human cruelty, ranging from serial homicide to stalking, arson or sexual offending, means to perpetrators, experiencing first-hand how minds can change when the people some might label as “evil” are able to take responsibility for their life stories and get to know their own minds. With outcomes ranging from hope to despair, from denial to recovery, these men and women are revealed in all their complexity and shared humanity. In this era of mass incarceration, deep cuts in mental health care and extreme social schisms, this book offers a persuasive argument for compassion over condemnation.

Moving, thought-provoking, and brilliantly told, The Devil You Know is a rare and timely book with the power to transform our ideas about cruelty and violence, and to radically expand the limits of empathy.

In this “unmissable book” (The Guardian), an internationally renowned forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist explores the psychology of violence and demonstrates the remarkable human capacity for radical empathy, change, and redemption.

What drives someone to commit an act of terrible violence? Drawing from her thirty years of experience in providing therapy to people in prisons and secure psychiatric hospitals who have committed serious offenses, Dr. Gwen Adshead provides fresh and surprising insights into violence and the criminal mind. Through a collaboration with coauthor Eileen Horne, Dr. Adshead brings her extraordinary career to life in a series of unflinching portraits.

Alongside doctor and patient, we discover what human cruelty, ranging from serial homicide to stalking, arson or sexual offending, means to perpetrators, experiencing firsthand how minds can change when the people some might label as “evil” are able to take responsibility for their life stories and get to know their own minds. With outcomes ranging from hope to despair, from denial to recovery, these men and women are revealed in all their complexity and shared humanity. In an era of mass incarceration, deep cuts in mental health care and extreme social schisms, this book offers a persuasive argument for compassion over condemnation.

Moving, thought-provoking, and brilliantly told, The Devil You Know is a rare and timely book with the power to transform our ideas about cruelty and violence, and to radically expand the limits of empathy. “A welcome contribution to the literature of crime and rehabilitation” (Kirkus Reviews).

“Over a working life of more than 30 years, Adshead has served patients at Broadmoor, a place with 'a history of housing some of the UK’s most notorious violent criminals.' Adshead’s interest is not lurid, though there are lurid episodes, and her overarching goal is to secure more funding for better treatment. A welcome contribution to the literature of crime and rehabilitation."—Kirkus

"A fascinating, erudite, and beautifully written deep dive into the nature of evil. The Devil You Know makes the case for radical empathy and reminds us that all human beings are capable of darkness, and of light."
—Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story

"An extraordinary book. Shocking, sad and absolutely fascinating.”
—Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong

"This is a myth buster of a book—crammed with compelling, constructive, candid and compassionate insights into the criminal mind."
—Val McDermid, author of Still Life

"Hope is a verb, infusing every chapter in this remarkable account of a therapist working with violent offenders; full of wisdom and insight, warmth and mercy, this book offers new ways of seeing our common humanity."
—Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Advocate for abolition of the death penalty and author of Dead Man Walking 

"On killing and other crimes—a forensic, gripping, extraordinary and ultimately enlightening insider’s account of how and why it happens." —Philippe Sands, author of The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive

"This new text, The Devil you Know, is a masterful achievement. Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne build on an established literature that contemplates the use of narrative, compassion, empathy, and dignity in forensic psychiatry. They formulate a terrain of beneficence that must undergird caring for individuals who have committed serious criminal offences. These offenders are human beings, in possession of an inviolable human dignity. Their caregivers have an obligation toward them that is rooted in a vocational commitment bordering on the spiritual. All of this is presented in a prose that is engaging and lively. These scholars have advanced the field substantially with their brilliant observations and insights. The text is refreshingly creative." —Ezra E. H. Griffith, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and African-American Studies, Yale University 

"This book is both a gift and an invitation to transform the judging mind; may it touch many."—Father Richard Rohr OFM , Author, educator, and Founder of the Centre for Action and Contemplation

"This timely book puts a human face on people who are stigmatized and vilified by society, and whose experience of trauma and pain is not always recognized." —Dr. Linda A. Teplin, Director of the Health Disparities and Public Policy Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University