Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Occupied Paris by David King

Category: 50 Books

 

What’s this? A serial killer? Paris? and Nazis? I’m in.

This historical true crime book reads like a novel, and is so facinating I couldn’t put it down. Mr. King writes about Dr. Marcel Petiot and how he prentended to work for the French Resistance during the Nazi Occupation of Paris. He would trick people (read: Jews) into thinking he was helping them get out of the country and then he would kill them and steal their money. People think he was responsible for at least one hundred murders during this time.

This book will no doubt be compared to Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, and it’s a pretty good comparison. They both have stories revolving around a historical time period (World’s Fair/Occupied Paris) and a serial killer. What’s so great about reading historical true crime is you get to read about true crime and not feel like a total weirdo. You can tell your friends you’re reading historical nonfiction and feel like a smarty!

The writing in the book was good. The story flowed. There weren’t any slow or boring parts. The author did a great job of blending Dr. Petiot’s story into what was going on in Paris with the Occupation and what some of the more famous people in Paris were doing at the time. I will say that the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, though this has more to do with the actual history than the writing. When you find out that the main detective who’d been working the case for years didn’t get to catch Petiot, or even interrogate him, because the detective was charged with collaborating with the enemy (he was later cleared but had to miss the capture and trial of Dr. Petiot.) the ending is kind of lackluster.  Although the trial was a crazy circus and pretty entertaining to read.

If you like true crime, Erik Larson’s books, and learning about World War II without getting too indepth about concentration camps, definitely give Death in the City of Light a shot.
Pun totally intended.
Shot, get it? No? Well if you read the book you’ll get it.

****

Death in the City of Light by David King is available 9/20/2011 from Crown Publishing.

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