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Death in the City of Light

The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

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Death in the City of Light

By: David King
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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Summary

 The gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris.

As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld. But while trying to solve the many mysteries of the case, Massu would unravel a plot of unspeakable deviousness.

The main suspect, Dr. Marcel Petiot, was a handsome, charming physician with remarkable charisma. He was the “People’s Doctor,” known for his many acts of kindness and generosity, not least in providing free medical care for the poor. Petiot, however, would soon be charged with twenty-seven murders, though authorities suspected the total was considerably higher, perhaps even as many as 150.

Petiot's trial quickly became a circus. Attempting to try all twenty-seven cases at once, the prosecution stumbled in its marathon cross-examinations, and Petiot, enjoying the spotlight, responded with astonishing ease. Soon, despite a team of prosecuting attorneys, dozens of witnesses, and over one ton of evidence, Petiot’s brilliance and wit threatened to win the day.

Drawing extensively on many new sources, including the massive, classified French police file on Dr. Petiot, Death in the City of Light is a brilliant evocation of Nazi-Occupied Paris and a harrowing exploration of murder, betrayal, and evil of staggering proportions. 20th Century Crime Europe France Military Modern Murder True Crime Scary War
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Given this one only three stars, difficult to get into at first, the reader is not exactly inspiring me to go on listening and after the third attempt to listen again from the beginning, I've actually given up and just picked up a copy in print from the library to finish the book by reading it for myself.

Story line wise, its not a Dean Koontz although you could be forgiven by thinking it is similarly written, it has got everything from murders, mystery, suspense, both thrilling and chilling moments along with twists and turns, bit over descriptive in places but otherwise a good read, the author has done well not skipping or jumping from crime to crime but woven them into a neat fabric as the basis of the book with lots of extensions to the under lying plot beautifully worked in on top. Lots of levels to this one.

Basic but overall an OK Listen

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Well performed as ever from Paul Michael.
The book starts very strongly but sags noticeably during the trial section. This is a problem with many such books.

A disturbing picture of a disturbing time

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