London Underground Serial Killer: The Life of Kieran Kelly Paperback – 14 Oct. 2016

As someone with an interest in crime and who works for London Underground, this book ticked all the boxes. A tale of an Irish tramp, homeless and an alcoholic. He was gay, but seemed to be ashamed of his sexuality. Going around London and pushing people under trains and getting away with it.It was therefore a great shock when reading this book, that's it VERY light on facts. Instead it's massively padded about about the History of the tube. Don't get me wrong, that's interesting. But if I want a book on the History of the tube, I'll buy a tube History book! The Tube was a grim place when these murders were allegedly committed. Very run down, staff shortages and importantly, next to no CCTV. Why does London Underground/Police have no record of these murders? Kieran Kelly, the person whom this book is about, definitely committed murder more than once. He strangled a fellow tramp in a police station in South London. He also killed another tramp in a park. He MAY have even committed even one or two murders as described in this book, on the tube, but there's no record of it. Maybe the authorities saw it as suicide at the time?I recently listened to a podcast. The author Geoff Platt was interviewed by an Irish journalist who was interested in the case. He asked basic questions about Kelly. Platt gave no satisfactory answers and walked out of the interview. It turns out Platt was not one of the key officers on the case, he was a periphery figure who was not at the heart of the investigation.So in summary, a poorly written book, using a sensationalist title that fails to deliver. Massively. Thankfully I only wasted £1.99.

This book is about the true story of Kieran Patrick Kelly. A modern day serial killer that pushed numerous people in front of tube trains in South London. The book is written by Geoff Platt, one of the lead investigators in the case. It is written with clarity and a narrative that leads one through the amazing but true facts of the case. The in depth knowledge and first hand experience of the author gives one a fuller more in depth understanding of the events leading up to the arrest of this man. A very worthwhile read about a little known serial killer. Highly recommended.

No doubt there's a good book to be written about this subject. Unfortunately, this isn't it.Kieran Kelly managed to kill more than a dozen men by pushing them in front of oncoming trains in London's Underground system. This is almost the stuff of one of Christopher Fowler's "Peculiar Crimes Unit" novels, but in this case, it is fact not fiction. As such, it is a rich subject for a compelling piece of investigative journalism, but it fails at almost every level.The biggest problem: The actual description of the crimes, the investigation and the trial would just about make up an article in True Detective magazine. Much of the rest is padding. We first meet Kelly in Chapter Two with a brief account of him drunkenly pushing a friend in front of a train. We next hear anything of substance about the killer in Chapter Seven, when he murders a cellmate. In between, readers are subjected to long and largely irrelevant chapters such as 'The Parks and Common Land in South West London,' 'The History of The London Underground' and even a chapter on the architect who designed facades for several stations.The section of photographs consists almost entirely of pictures of the exteriors on Underground stations and courthouses; there is not one photograph of Kieran Kelly or any of his victims. Other than Kelly's original victim, none of the people that Kelly murdered are named in the book. It seems the author did not have access to some key records as he frequently refers to "the magistrate" or "the defense solicitor" rather than mentioning them by name.One aspect of the case that the author overlooks is the apparent incompetence (even allowing for the fact that this was before the advent of computer technology) of the police in not linking the coincidence that in virtually every case the key witness to the 'suicides' was none other than Kieran Kelly.Meanwhile, there are long passages describing the construction and history of numerous Tube stations, many of which are unrelated to the murders, and also to the various boroughs that make up South West London.For readers who have an interest in London's Underground system, or who could use the book as a starting point to find out more about this spate of serial murders, this would be an interesting book. Indeed, the passages actually relating to the interviews with Kelly and his trial are highly readable. But the reader is left wanting more about the crimes, the perpetrator and the victims and less about the stations.

Does not mention victims' names or ages and 90% of the book (roughly) is about London's infrastructure with almost no details of the Kelley case included at all. You will literally learn more from browsing the internet.

Not good... the majority of the book is spent on capsule histories of the London Underground, the areas where the crimes took place and a lot of other "background" - the murders themselves, on the other hand, are barely mentioned. No dates, no names, no witness statements, no investigations, nothing. It's a slim book to begin with, but if you remove all the extraneous material, it might as well be a pamphlet. The writing is pedestrian, too.

This is a fascinating subject but the writer has provided very limited detail on aspects of the case that matter. More than half the book covers irrelevant topics such as Northern Line stations, parks and commons. The writer could have made more of an effort to research each of the deaths, and certainly those for which Kelly faced court. These cases were apparently covered to some degree by local media and would have been documented in police and/or court records. The writer's credibility as someone who was involved with the case was undermined by his sloppy research and inability to provide such detail. I do hope a more accomplished writer/researcher takes on this subject in the future.

Other reviewers cited the positive points, which I agree are provocative and interesting. My complaint is that 80+% of the book is simply padding. If you want potted histories of the relevant tube stations on the Northern and areas in London where the derelicts hung out at the time, this book's for you. If you want to know more about the 16 suspected killings, only three get more than a few sentences of mention. This lack of detail about events leading to the author's conclusions makes those conclusions seem speculative at best.

This was an interesting read but heavy going in parts. I found the ending a little unsatisfactory to be honest.