• The Minds of Billy Milligan

  • By: Daniel Keyes
  • Narrated by: Roger Wayne
  • Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (96 ratings)

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The Minds of Billy Milligan

By: Daniel Keyes
Narrated by: Roger Wayne
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Publisher's summary

Billy Milligan can be anyone he wants to be … except himself.

Out of control of his actions, Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body—a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality—the first such court decision in history—bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan.

Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drugstore robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy’s stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who “used” Billy’s body in the rapes that led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old “keeper of pain”; and all of the others, including men, women, several children, and the teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world.

©1981, 1982 Daniel Keyes and William S. Milligan (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about The Minds of Billy Milligan

Average customer ratings
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Very interesting true story with perfect narration

Really enjoyed this book. I felt that the narrator was the perfect choice for this book. All of the different voices he had to use for each of the personalities is what I enjoyed the most

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Incredible

Great performance, amazing insights into the mind, perfect composition of details and narrative. I’m sad it ended!

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Interesting and enjoyable!

Started watching The Crowded Room and found this while waiting for the next episode to drop.

Very intriguing story about Billy and his other personalities. It was very detailed and I enjoyed the glimpse into his mind.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Weak Believability

Whereas, I appreciate the authors attempt to piece together conversations among the personalities and outside people, I found them weak and unbelievable. The general story of a man with multiple personalities was interesting. Unfortunately, the portrayal was lacking.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Poor editing

There are several lines that are repeated… Very frustrating to listen to. Overall good story though.

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Totally entertaining and eye opening

I saw the TV show first, but the book was way better for me. I highly recommend it. I learned from this book too and highly recommend it.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Just boring

Saying the same so much over and over. It was clear what had caused this to happen to him very quickly but so slow to say the cause

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Listen and learn.

Narrator did fabulous! Been wanting to read/ listen to this title for a while. Personally intrigued about Billy for a while now. Definitely give it a chance.

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Multiple personalities

Read this book back in 1983 and recently got this audible version with some updates on Billy. It is heart wrenching to get an understanding of what occurred to make Billy fracture like he did. More bothersome is to know there are others in our world who deal with the “losing time” when the core person is off the spot.

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Important Story

Such an important story. I'm glad it has been brought to life by the Apple TV series The Crowded Room. The reading is perfect and the story is captivating.

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