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A review by szeglin
Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris by David King
2.0
Copy received through the Goodreads First Reads program.
I had never heard of Dr. Marcel Petoit until I entered this giveaway. I really wanted to like this book. The subject matter has "gripping" written all over it: Serial killers! The French Resistance! Nazis in Paris! And this story was biiiiig news. And not only in France! Author David King even references a story written in The Washington Post about Petoit's trial. Unfortunately, I found the book to be slow going. That's really unfortunate, because Petoit is darkly fascinating.
Much of this book was repetitive, and despite a pretty respectable amount of fascinating details, a lot of the book didn't really seem to go anywhere. Puzzling over the triangular room in Petoit's charnel house, finding out about Petoit's odd behavior, and the victims' stories, which were essentially the same story over and over. Actually, this last one made sense--if Petoit had a system, and it worked, there would be no real reason to deviate. The courtroom scenes were fascinating, but a little confusing. I read in another review that the French court system is different than the American one. I agree it would have been nice to get an overview of that, because I was puzzled, not knowing the differences.
The oddly inserted side material read as forced and nonsensical. Why bother talking about Sartre and Camus when they don't factor into the main thread of the story? Yes, the interweaving of the serial killer and cultural events worked in The Devil in the White City, but it doesn't work here. It doesn't fit the main narrative, and adds nothing.
I feel this book would have been a lot better if it had been organized and streamlined a little better. It really does seem that King was trying to write the second The Devil in the White City, and that is too bad, because it trips the narrative up in some places. The title structure is even the same! Drop the second storyline, and tell the story in a more linear fashion, and there is great potential for a gripping true crime book.
I had never heard of Dr. Marcel Petoit until I entered this giveaway. I really wanted to like this book. The subject matter has "gripping" written all over it: Serial killers! The French Resistance! Nazis in Paris! And this story was biiiiig news. And not only in France! Author David King even references a story written in The Washington Post about Petoit's trial. Unfortunately, I found the book to be slow going. That's really unfortunate, because Petoit is darkly fascinating.
Spoiler
Petoit really was a medical doctor, and apparently pretty generous to those with little means. But was not only a doctor, but a disturbed electricity-stealing former mayor, among other things. And although he was officially accused of murdering 27 people, the real total might have been as high as 150! In addition to being numerous, the aftermath of Petoit's murders was pretty gruesome. It will be hard to erase the mental image of a basement full of bodies dissolving in lime. Although he claimed to be a hero of the Resistance who only "liquidated" members of the Gestapo, in reality many of his victims were Jews who were trying to escape Nazi Europe. Petoit ran a fake escape agency. Instead of getting a ticket to Argentina, would-be émigrés were murdered for profit.Much of this book was repetitive, and despite a pretty respectable amount of fascinating details, a lot of the book didn't really seem to go anywhere. Puzzling over the triangular room in Petoit's charnel house, finding out about Petoit's odd behavior, and the victims' stories, which were essentially the same story over and over. Actually, this last one made sense--if Petoit had a system, and it worked, there would be no real reason to deviate. The courtroom scenes were fascinating, but a little confusing. I read in another review that the French court system is different than the American one. I agree it would have been nice to get an overview of that, because I was puzzled, not knowing the differences.
The oddly inserted side material read as forced and nonsensical. Why bother talking about Sartre and Camus when they don't factor into the main thread of the story? Yes, the interweaving of the serial killer and cultural events worked in The Devil in the White City, but it doesn't work here. It doesn't fit the main narrative, and adds nothing.
I feel this book would have been a lot better if it had been organized and streamlined a little better. It really does seem that King was trying to write the second The Devil in the White City, and that is too bad, because it trips the narrative up in some places. The title structure is even the same! Drop the second storyline, and tell the story in a more linear fashion, and there is great potential for a gripping true crime book.