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David King

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Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris Kindle Edition

by David King (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.8 585 ratings

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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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of history's most macabre bouts of serial killing . . . David King, the author of Vienna 1814, has more than just fresh eyes and imaginative speculation to power his revisiting of this long-forgotten true crime."
—New York Times

"If you like true crime, put this book at the top of your reading list. . . . An exceptional piece of crime reporting backed by a gut-wrenching narrative that is masterful, haunting, and an incredible literary achievement."
—King Features Syndicate

"Unprecedented detail . . . The detail with which King explores the story is aided by the fact that not only did he have access to trial materials, including a stenographic record no one thought existed, but also the complete police dossier, which had been classified since the investigation began."
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"A page-turning, detective/manhunt/courtroom drama . . . King tells it with the skill of the best police and courtroom beat reporters, mixed with the sweeping eye of a social historian."
—Lexington Herald-Leader

“A new masterpiece of true crime writing . . . the most startling impression left by Death in the City of Light is of Paris itself, confronting the bestiality lurking behind its supremely civilized facade, and of the handful of Parisiennes who tried to serve justice in spite of it.”
—Salon.com

“Required reading.”
—New York Post

“Weirdly fascinating.”
—Bloomberg.com

“This nonfiction account tracks the extensive manhunt and sensationalized trial of Dr. Marcel Petiot, who lured his victims by promising them safe passage out of Nazi-occupied Paris. King gained access to classified French police files in order to re-create this story of terror against the chaotic backdrop of war.”
—Goodreads September 2011 Movers & Shakers list

“Erik Larson's tour de force of narrative nonfiction hasn't been matched—until now…While this work is painstaking in its research, it still has the immediacy and gasp power of a top-notch thriller. True-crime at its best.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“A gripping story…this fascinating, often painful account combines a police procedural with a vivid historical portrait of culture and law enforcement in Nazi-occupied France.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Gripping….expertly written and completely absorbing”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“David King's anticipated crime history.”
–NPR.org

Praise for VIENNA, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace by David King

“Reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively-researched and important story.”
—David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer

“Superb…a worthy contribution to the study of a critical historical event long neglected by historians. It should be in every European history collection.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

“A great story….richly narrated.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Deftly paced and engagingly written.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A teeming…personality-rich panorama of the first truly international peace conference.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“An outstanding addition to European history collections.”
—Booklist

About the Author

David King is the New York Times best-selling author of Death in the City of Light and Vienna 1814. A Fulbright Scholar with a master’s degree from Cambridge University, King taught European history at the University of Kentucky. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004P8JPJU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown (September 20, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 20, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5745 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 433 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #327,604 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #163 in History of France
- #432 in Biographies of Serial Killers
- #663 in Jewish Holocaust History

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3.8 585 ratings

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David King

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David King is the New York Times best-selling author of four books of history and narrative nonfiction. His most recent book, The Trial of Adolf Hitler, has been translated into nine languages, longlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize and the Cundhill History Prize, and optioned for a television miniseries by a major Hollywood studio. A Fulbright Scholar with a master's degree from Cambridge University, King has been honored as a Fellow of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, a Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society, and an inductee into his high school’s Hall of Fame. Before becoming a writer, King lived in Europe for six years and taught European history at the University of Kentucky. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife and children.

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585 global ratings

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Jeff Jellets

You had me at the tagline: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris.

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014

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Death in the City of Light is one of those nonfiction books whose premise seems impossible to believe: a serial killer in Paris during the height of the Nazi occupation. It sounds like it could just as easily be the plot of some sleazy exploitation film, whose garish movie poster promises the Gestapo, Girls, and Gore.

The truth, though, is far more chilling and tragic than any B-movie fare as author David King traces the life and crimes of the frighteningly devious and disturbingly sociopathic Dr. Marcel Petiot, whose townhouse at No. 21 rue Le Sueur was discovered to be an abattoir of dismembered, burned, and decomposing bodies complete with a strange triangular room -- sound-proof, hung with hooks from the ceiling, and including a false door and a curious observation viewer that many suspected of being nothing less than a sadist’s torture chamber. This is a book that is certainly gruesome, but as author King expertly unfolds the story of Dr. Petiot with twists and turns worthy of the best fictional thrillers, it is the tragic identity of the doctor's victims that is truly heartrending.

This is a story that is certainly complex and crowded with a number of real-life characters. But the author is able to manage that complexity with dexterity and deliver not only an easily followed plot, but plenty of drama. More importantly, King expertly connects Petiot’s story to the historical backdrop of the Occupation -- and that’s not just for atmosphere. Like many other stories of the Second World War that seem to orbit larger-than-life personalities, from Churchill, Roosevelt, Hitler or Patton (just to name a few), this story begs the age-old question, “Does man make the times or do the times make the man?” Petiot’s story is no different. Petiot’s grisly business (and the later justification he made for his actions) seem inseparable from the conditions made prevalent by Hitler’s ambitions and the occupation of Paris. King wisely makes the times in which this novel take place as much a force in this story as its human players.

King also delivers a credible theory as to exactly what happened at No. 21 rue Le Seur and, while there will always be a bit of lingering mystery to the case since many of its players (not the least of whom was Petiot himself) carried their secrets to the grave, the author does an admirable job of filling in the gaps created by both the fog of the Second World War and Marcel Petiot’s own lies and half-truths, which the physician spins as artfully as a spider in a web. Perhaps the only negative to this book is that, while important, the trial of the physician does not carry quite the same intensity as the early chapters of the book and seems to bleed a bit of the momentum off the plot. However, that’s small potatoes in light of Death in the City of Light’s obvious strengths. This is a book that belongs not just on the shelf of fans of true crime, but also on the shelf of every historian. It is as much about the age of the occupation -- as it is about the monster that was enabled by it.

5 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer Teresa

Interesting read

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024

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Very well written. Then author spent a lot of time researching the subject and did a good job translating the subject matter.

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A. Emery

Great story with sub-par storytelling...

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2012

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I read this book with great anticipation having scanned the reviews and gleaned an idea for this story's potential. Undoubtedly the true crime saga of Marcel Petiot in Nazi-occupied Paris is fascinating and I give the author great credit for what looks (and reads) like thorough and balanced research. There are lots of details that pull the reader in, raising uncomfortable questions about the nature of the crime - and the barbarity of the times.

*Some spoilers!*

Yet I can't help feeling disappointed by this book. Unfortunately, while the writing is largely crisp and uncluttered, the storytelling itself is a mess. By this I mean that the fairly complex path of Petiot's crimes is made considerably more muddled by disjointed passages and shoddy exposition. To his credit, the best sections of the book lay the groundwork for an understanding of the killer's milieu - the demimonde of pre-war Paris, and the everpresent anxiety of living under the Nazi occupation. Yet in this, King doesn't go nearly far enough. He gives a compelling view of the Germans taking Paris, but once that act is complete, little is added to understand broadly what life was like in this environment. Moreover, too often key plot points in the story are lost in the muddle of less important details. As the narrative unfolds, we are often unable to distinguish between important characters and unimportant characters. One area of extreme importance - the history, structure and customs of the French Resistance -- is touched upon in scattershot fashion. Without a proper introduction to establish this all-important background, we find ourselves uncertain as to the provenance of key plot points - particularly as the killer himself provides a questionable view of this world with which the writer's point of view must compete.

Another example: King does a terrific job of setting up the killer's nemesis, inspector Masu - yet two-thirds of the way through the book, Masu is waylaid by an accusation and taken off the case. With precious little explanation or foreshadowing, a key perspective we've invested in through half the book is altogether dropped. Worse, the major climaxes of the story - the killer's capture and eventual conviction - both happen rather quickly and with insufficient background or reflection. Key players in each of these events are introduced with little or no background and disappear once their role is played out. It's frustrating to pursue Petiot for 300 pages only to have the conclusion wrapped up so hastily.

Last, and most gratuitiously, the driving mystery behind this true crime story is the nature of the crimes themselves. Ultimately, King cannot be blamed for the fact that there still remains considerable mystery behind Petiot's methods, madness and motives. But as the storyteller, he has organized the telling of what we do know about the crimes and pursuit of the killer in such a way as to muddle the mystery further rather than to present possibilities in a compelling way for us to decipher for ourselves. The most egregious example of this is the book's conclusion; King departs from his even-handed reportage to speculate on what exactly happened in Petiot's charnel house. As a reader, I was screaming "Yes! Finally!" His speculation is based on a contemporaneous account of a young man who was lured in by Petiot and yet survived. Even with the proviso that this account is not verifiable, it is, nonetheless, excruciatingly close to satisfying the mystery behind these crimes. Yet even here King drops the ball and it's maddening for the reader. We are taken blow by blow through one of Petiot's crimes as described by a surviving witness. We go all the way to the secret death chamber and Petiot going in for the kill, the eye-witness on the verge of certain death. And then the book ends. We are never told what happens next -- how this eye-witness survived to tell his tale! If this fact is unknown then this entire account is questionable at best. If this fact IS known, then we are never told why this vital information is withheld from us. So very frustrating.

In sum: Great research. Chilling slice of history. Potentially fascinating characters. Botched and incomplete narrative.

If you don't know this story I might still recommend the book because it's a one-of-a-kind crime by a thoroughly diabolical character. But if you're looking to understand this crime or even for masterful storytelling along the lines of Devil In the White City, you will likely be as disappointed as I was.

16 people found this helpful

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Daniela S.

Horror in Paris

Reviewed in France on February 27, 2015

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Paris is not only the city of light in this novel and more the city of the dark with Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld running through the pages. It is based on a true story and that make it the more rightful. I enjoyed every word of it.

Nath

History at it's best ...

Reviewed in Canada on February 11, 2013

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I love that book, we all know the story of Dr. Petiot but this book is so much more than that. It is a real and palpable look at the life in France during the occupation not all French people are Nazi "sympatiseur" and not all French people had there eyes open especially the ones in the unoccupied section of France. This book is a history book.

ACB(swansea)

House of Horrors in Nazi Occupied Paris

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2012

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In March 1944, the police and fire service were summoned by neighbours of a house on rue Le Sueur, part of a Parisian suburb, from which thick black smoke had been emanating for 5 days. The smell was nauseating, described as burnt rubber or burnt roast of poor quality. Further enquiry revealed the property to be an unoccupied house belonging to Dr Marcel Petiot, a respectable family physician with a flourishing practice. The firefighters entered the building and traced the smell to a small basement room. On opening the iron door, they discovered dismembered human bodies and bones. Two coal stoves were present, one roaring furiously, containing charred human remains. The room bore the stench of roasted, putrescent human flesh. Chief commissaire Massu was summoned to the scene locating rooms with works of art and antique furniture. A courtyard led to a small triangular room with thick walls. No furniture or windows were within but high on the walls were iron hooks. A viewing lens was concealed under wallpaper looking into the room. An outside former stable house contained a pit full of quicklime and decomposing bodies.

This scene of carnage is the starting point of a long and perplexing investigation into the circumstances that had been witnessed. David King, using archived records of the investigative processes and subsequent events, has written an account of the chief suspect Marcel Petiot. A work of fact not fiction. King records in extreme detail the lives of Petiot's purported victims, their families, his acquaintances and also backtracking on his past life leading to the present. These are set against a Paris occupied for four years by Germans. Amongst the Nazi atrocities in Paris, Germany and elsewhere, it appears that Petoit may have been undertaking his own operation, according to the investigators.He lured desperate, wealthy, ( mainly Jews), in the hope of escaping the oppressive Nazis with the promise of passage to Argentina, taking huge fees and other items as payment. The findings in rue Le Suere suggested that few, if any, actually made the trip.

David King chronicles the efforts to obtain the evidence needed for a case against Petiot and a trial. Whilst doing this he portrays Parisian life both low and high, with tales of malnourishment amongst the French people with the champagne lifestyles of the elite (high-ranking German officers, their girls and collaborators, gangsters) with scattered chapters on the society literati (Sartre, Camus, Picasso etc). Whilst adding to the timbre of Paris of this time, they do not fit in comfortably with the narrative flow of the Petiot story. The exhaustive descriptions of people and places of relevance would have benefitted from their pictorial representation, if available ( I had to make notes from my Kindle edition).

This is an in-depth well-researched book with over 200 references in the bibliography. The author provides evidence that Petiot was a mass-murderer (denied by the accused). An intelligent, articulate, cultured, witty,ingenious, ruthless,ill-tempered psychopath, of little doubt. There are questions the reader needs to decide. Was Petiot working for the French resistance, the Gestapo or himself? Did he get a fair hearing? What state of mind was he in? King ends the book with his own perspective of events, in part fact, part speculation and heresay, but interesting nonetheless. Infuriatingly, he relates the story of Raphael K (from a small book King later came across) who said he had been through the whole Petiot selection process and had escaped from improbable circumstances. We, as readers, never find out how, nor what happened to him. Despite the quibbles this is a fine and fascinating document of true events surrounding this slice of history.
P.S. Since this review, the subsequent comments confirm my thought that the thoroughness of the author would not have left any loop-holes. In view of this I would up my grading to 5 stars.

12 people found this helpful

erinport

An interesting story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2012

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This is a horrifying and intriguing true story of mass murder in Paris during WWII. For readers with an inquiring mind.

robert hue

Peliot taking advantage

Reviewed in Canada on April 19, 2013

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Although the story is compelling, the main characters excepting Peliot did not make an impression.

There are to many references to characters who appear once, and don't actually add to the story.

I flipped through the final chapters that deal with the trial as the writing did not draw me into the trial.

I did enjoy the sections dealing with the Paris environment,

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