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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: The Serial Killer of Nazi-occupied Paris
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    Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-occupied Paris
    Audiobook13 hours

    Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-occupied Paris

    Written by David King

    Narrated by Paul Michael

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 20, 2011
    ISBN9780307967190
    Unavailable
    Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-occupied Paris
    Author

    David King

    David King is the New York Times bestselling author of Death in the City of Light, Vienna 1814, and Finding Atlantis. A Fulbright Scholar with a master's degree from Cambridge University, King taught European history before becoming a full-time writer. His books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Turkish, Polish, Korean, Italian, Swedish and Russian. Film rights have been sold in Death in the City of Light.

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    Reviews for Death in the City of Light

    3.5/5

    24 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Wow--this book was The Devil in the White City but without the annoying architectural lectures! (Although at times the information given about the artists, authors, and other famous people living in Paris during the occupation did get to be a bit much...for the most part they had very little, if anything to do with what was happening at the not-so-good doctor's building. Still, for the most part these sections were more interesting than the long lectures on the building problems faced by the Fair--though I suppose it's a matter of personal preference. Probably both books could have done without either.) I listened to it on audio, which was well done though it did get a bit confusing at times trying to keep all the names and places straight. I ended up picking up a print copy of the book anyway, just to make it easier to page back and remind myself of who was who and who did what and where they were. The one complaint I have with the audio version--and it's not really a big issue, but it did get to be a bit much at times--is that each and every time a direct quote showed up in the book the narrator read it with a French accent, even if it was only a single word or two! Mostly this was fine, but it really felt like one word didn't need to be read with the accent...made it a bit distracting. Overall, though, it was a well-done version.

      The story is incredible--the horrors of the basement, the sheer numbers of people affected, the terror of living in a city occupied by the Nazis, the unbelievable holes and mistakes made in the investigation and trial--it's hard to believe at times that this book is all based on real life. There are still so many things unknown about the case--and barring some kind of time machine or time warp, I guess they'll stay that way--that it just adds to the utter incredulity of the whole situation. Truth really is stranger than fiction--I doubt a fiction writer trying to pitch this book would have gotten the go-ahead, the whole tale seems so improbable.
    • 4/5
      A fascinating chronicle of the investigation, capture, and trial of Dr. Marcel Petiot, a serial killer convicted of the gruesome murders 26 people in Nazi-occupied Paris and probably responsible for the murder of many, many more. A great true crime story.
    • 4/5
      First of all, even though Dr. Marcel Petiot killed enough people to be a serial killer, he was not technically a serial killer. That being said, this was still a horrific series of events. The police had trouble investigating because of the Nazies in Paris, Petiot claimed he was a member of the resistance and was killing ‘collaborators and spies’. The court decided to try him for 27 murders at one time and the judge had a timetable for getting through the trial.David King has done a good job of gathering all the facts and writing a cohesive account of them. He also fills us in on the conditions of Paris during this time period, and some history. At times I felt this was too much, he appeared to be going off on tangents at times with reports of plays written and parties thrown by this person and so on. Also the trial seemed to drag on and on.Still this was an enjoyable book, the areas that dragged to me were not horrible, I never wanted to give up, I just think the book would have been more interesting if some of the details, such as going through each witness that was called, that a woman fainted and the court officers had to take care of her, and so on, had been left out.
    • 4/5
      The charismatic charmer, Dr. Marcel Petiot, has not only been double-dipping into government compensation for his patients, but he is also masquerading as a Resistance fighter who is helping wealthy citizens to escape the Nazi tyranny. In reality he sets them up so that he can torture, take whatever wealth the escapees might have, and murder them in cold blood.
    • 2/5
      Purported to be the thrilling chase for the serial killer of Nazi Occupied Paris--did he kill 100+ people, 27, none? Was he a Resistance fighter, Gestapo Stooge, or esteemed doctor. David King's Death in the City of Light is a mess (with a terrible title)--one can usually count on at least a sense of place especially in stories that take place in WW II and more especially Paris. There is none of that. We don't really come to understand Marcel Petiot or his motivations. I stuck with the book to see how he would be caught. He was more mangled than caught and though convicted the story is a real disappointment.
    • 4/5
      This book is an interesting blend of World War II history and true crime. It opens in 1944 in occupied Paris when a fire reveals a grotesque scene of burnt human remains in a rundown mansion. More bodies are discovered, grisly details of the crimes emerge, and the killer is revealed as a man using the hopes and dreams of people looking to escape the Nazis for his own gruesome profit. The picture of Paris in wartime is gritty and dark, and the author shows us how the crimes were very much a product of this setting. It raises important questions about who to believe amidst war. It's not a happy book by any means but it's certainly a fascinating one. Recommended for history buffs and true crime fans.
    • 2/5
      This is the true story of Marcel Petiot, a Paris doctor who allegedly murdered untold numbers of people and stole their money and belongings under the guise of helping them escape occupied France. Besides detailing the investigation and trial, it provides a detailed picture of Paris during the Occupation: a chaotic and corrupt dance of mobsters, collaborators and Gestapo agents.The book is being marketed as an Erik Larson read-alike, but I found it nowhere near as compelling as the Larson books I've read. Mr. King's research is admirable, but perhaps too much of that research found its way into the final draft, and the overall tone of the book is very dry. I don't want to say that the book wasn't quite lurid enough. Let's just say that Mr. King doesn't have Larson's skill at shaping a narrative.
    • 4/5
      My review is in reference to an uncorrected proof copy of the book. I had never heard of this story before receiving this book. King does a wonderful job of telling Petiot's story. I was horrified by the fact that it was so long before Petiot was caught. I am sure he has killed more than we will ever know. I felt so sorry for his wife and son who I felt were also duped by him. He took advantage of so many who really thought he was going to help them. A very very sad story that will make you wonder how anyone could do these terrible things. Great for those who love true crime and little known stories of the holocaust. Highly Recommended for those who love history.
    • 3/5
      In the manner of Erik Larson, author David King examines the Parisian serial killer, Dr. Marcel Petiot, who murdered over 25 people in his townhouse in Paris' chic 16th arrondissement during the German occupation of the city.What should have been a riveting story gets bogged down in way too many details and back-stories of minor characters. It's like King, having researched his subject for years, couldn't bring himself to leave any nugget of information out of his final manuscript. This book needed a good editor.
    • 2/5
      I was was not familiar with the events that took place in the book. The first half of the book makes the serial killer look very guilty. The second half, about the trial, hints the killer may be innocent, or at least not found guilty due to the skill of his defense attorney, and the ineptitude of police and prosecutors. I enjoyed the suspense, and reading the verdict. However, I am not a fan of the book's true crime style.
    • 4/5
      This book was a good evocation of everyday life in Paris during WW2, plus an almost too detailed study of a serial killer, his crimes and his trial. I'm generally not a fan of true crime, but the setting made this one a little out of the ordinary
    • 4/5
      Don't be mislead by the cover art for Death in the City of Light, this is no graphic novel, nor is it a work of fiction. I saved this review for Halloween because I think there's nothing more macabre than the sick twisted horrors of what takes place in the real world.David King's book opens on a street in the fashionable 16th arrondissement neighborhood of Paris, where neighbors are complaining of thick black smoke permeating the area along with a nauseating stench filling the air. It's a great opening and takes the reader by the hand and pulls you in! That's a great hook! You are compelled to keep turning the pages, as King begins to paint the grizzly picture of the accused doctor, Marcel Petiot and the heinous crimes he is accused of committing.King kept me going for about the first third of the book, then suddenly, for me, the book began to read more like a police report than a horrific true story being related to readers, eager for the truth. I found myself getting online and hitting the search engines for maps of the city, trying to see what the neighborhood may have looked like in those days of WWII. Trying to find something to relate the history to. I realize that I have an advance readers copy, and hope that photos, maps, diagrams, floor plans and the like would be included in the final print copy. I researched a bit online and it seems that perhaps that may not be the case. I think it would help the reader put things into perspective. So many people alive back in 1944 are no longer here and I suspect that most of the readers of Death in the City of Light have no idea what the city looked like back then, how people lived and how the neighborhood functioned within the city. I have no clue, but went looking for answers about the smaller day to day things.While I did enjoy King's book from the beginning, I was equally as frustrated with it, when as I read on, I got more and more bogged down. I felt like I was reading a clinical report. Testimonies and trial transcripts lost me. Somewhere along the line, for me, Mr. King lost his ability to tie in this reader. And that's a sad thing.I do recommend Death in the City of Light, it's a fact based, but gruesome story of a serial killer that raged in Paris about sixty seven years ago, and that is amazing even to this modern world of 2011.I give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.**This ARC was provided to me by the Crown Publishing Company and in no way affected by opinion and review of this book.
    • 2/5
      I was disappointed in the readability of this book. I was expecting a book about the hunt for a real-life serial killer in Nazi occupied Paris to be a riveting, page-turner. Instead, it was actually a rather dry account of the events and I had a difficult time slogging through all the difficult to pronounce French names with no pay-off in learning much of anything about the actual victims, other than the basics Mr. King no doubt gleaned solely from the court documents. This was characterized as "a colorful, character-rich narrative". I beg to differ. I will say that it gives a disturbing view of what life was like for Parisians during the 4 years spent under Nazi occupation.
    • 4/5
      Oh my gosh this book is so dark I felt like I had been in a dungeon for a week. This is an astonishing true story of a murderer whose evils are unlike anything I've ever heard. (What kind of man lures Jews, certain they are headed to the Nazi extermination camps, with a promise of safe passage to South America, then murders and dismembers them and places their remains in a lime pit?)I actually woke up at night frightened by what I had read here.That said, this is a very good book. Well-researched and written, compelling, memorable. Just not for the faint of heart.
    • 1/5
      I was excited to get this book with its comparisons to the writing of Erik Larson. I really like quality true crime where the crime is placed within the context of its place and time. Erik Larson does this really well so I was really hoping that was another author in the same genre. Plus serial killer in Nazi-occupied Paris - how cool and eerie is that? The crimes and the search for the serial killer are definitely detailed with some additional information about the place and time. However, the writing was so dry that I just couldn't care and abandoned about a third of the way in. Very disappointing.
    • 4/5
      Lots of nonfiction authors compare themselves to Erik Larsen (Thunderstruck, Isaac's Storm), but most fall short of that comparison. King comes the closest of any I've read. And, I think the short fall is because of the subject - not the author. This is the story of a French doctor who was convicted of killing 26 people during WWII (and who may have killed over 100). Unfortunately, the trial was a farce (even though he was convicted) and this makes the story a little difficult to read. Also, most of the information is contained in descriptions of testimony rather than the testimony itself and I think we would have fared better with direct quotes from the trial.Even with the failings described above, this story was fascinating. King allows himself to speculate (in the Epilogue), based on a newly discovered memoir by a young man who survived his encounter with the doctor, what might have actually happened in Paris and explains why it's important all these years later.This review is based on an uncorrect proof.
    • 4/5
      In a word.....WOW!!! I think you know by now that I am obsessed with True Crime. I have read a lot and always learn something. Death in the City of Light was mind blowing for me. I know I say it every time but the degree of sickness that these people, serial killers have is something that I don't think I will ever understand. Dr. Petiot was a much loved doctor. Who would have thought that he would have bodies and body parts in and about his house and sewers. He was a cold blooded killer with a wife and family! No not the first or the last but something about this book repulsed me so much more than others. I can't put my finger on just what it was.The number of murders reported in the book is 27 but I really think there are so many more victims that are unidentified and or unfound. The author did his research and there is a lot of history included. Remember, this was all going on while the serial killer Hitler was doing his own murdering. We read a lot about Paris at this time and that was very interesting for me. Let me tell you, lots of grimacing and head shaking went on while I was reading this book. Death in the City of Light is a bit on the long side due to all the vivid details and descriptions that the author includes. The trial was for me the best part of the book. Still caused me to shake my head more than once at the goings on, it got more interesting with every page turn.Definitely one to read if you are a true crime fan.
    • 4/5
      This book presents a very detailed look at a part of history that took a back seat to the World War raging through out the 1940's. With all the death and destruction occurring in France attributable to the war, it is almost unimaginable that a serial killer ran amok in Paris at this time already so filled with sorrow and misery. French citizens were under constant scrutiny during the occupation from many sources including German military, German Gestapo, spies, French Gestapo, French Resistance, and neighbor watching neighbor. It is hard to imagine that a man could murder an estimated 25 to 50 people and still carry on an every day life of a doctor. Dr. Marcel Petiot's preferred method involved convincing his victims, often his patients, that he could spirit them out of occupied France to freedom in Argentina. Many of his victims were Jews who were being pursued by the Nazi's. Dr. Petiot was eventually accused of murdering 27 people. There may have been many more, but the police could only identify 27 with any certainty as the bodies were dismembered and disposed of in a lime pit or burned. This appears to be a case of the criminal often outsmarting and being one step ahead of the police. He left little or no direct evidence that he had committed the murders. He appeared to be completely amoral, with no regret for having taken the lives of so many people. This book is a mesmerizing study of a man who puts himself above the law and his fellow citizens in order to gain personal wealth. Throughout the book there is a lingering question of whether Dr. Petiot will get away with these murders. The seeming ineptitude of the Paris police leaves open the question of whether the doctor will go free or go to the guillotin. No matter your opinion of our justice system, the scenes of the French judiciary system of the late 1940's, will leave you thankful for our current laws and procedures. While not as fast paced as an adventure novel, this book has the impact and immediacy of nonfiction. This book provided for review by the well read folks at Shelf Awareness and the Crown Publishing Group.