• Death in the City of Light

  • The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
  • By: David King
  • Narrated by: Paul Michael
  • Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (424 ratings)

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Death in the City of Light  By  cover art

Death in the City of Light

By: David King
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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Publisher's summary

Death in the City of Light is 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.

The main suspect was Dr. Marcel Petiot, 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.

Who was being slaughtered, and why? Was Petiot a sexual sadist, as the press suggested, killing for thrills? Was he allied with the Gestapo, or, on the contrary, the French Resistance? Or did he work for no one other than himself? Trying to solve the many mysteries of the case, Massu would unravel a plot of unspeakable deviousness. When Petiot was finally arrested, the French police hoped for answers.

But the trial soon 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. His attorney, René Floriot, a rising star in the world of criminal defense, also effectively, if aggressively, countered the charges. 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.

©2011 Paul Michael (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“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)
“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)
“Gripping….expertly written and completely absorbing” Kirkus Reviews)

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What listeners say about Death in the City of Light

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Bored To Death

I was surprised that such a potentially interesting subject could be so easily turned into a pile of boring mush. There was no tension, no suspense and no drama . . . though the narrator's cheesy French accents were occasionally entertaining.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Too many facts too little story

The book sounded like a documentary, listing fact after fact. It was hard to follow. I would have enjoyed a bit more story. You may like it but it wasn't my cup of tea. At least the narrator Paul Michael was good and entertaining to listen to.

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12 people found this helpful

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I should have read the reviews!

What a boring list of people and places w/o any real story. I tried and tried to listen to this book, but it began to feel like work so I stopped.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too much detail in some areas not enough in others

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not as compelling as I thought it would be.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Added more information about the victims and more specific detail about the investigation and how investigators were effected by the grisly nature of the case. Possibly more detail about Petiot's imprisonment. If I wanted to know that much about the liberation of Paris I would read

Which scene was your favorite?

Not sure I had one. Everything was written so matter of factly that there was little that truly stood out.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not if it followed the book. It would be so long and so wordy as to make a movie hours long with little if any real sense of story.

Any additional comments?

Really Disappointing book.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • RD
  • 09-28-11

It just droned on.....and on.......and............

The description of this story lead one to believe it would read like a novel... It read like a documentary and just droned on with names, dates, and times. It started out alright, however by chapter 12 I had had enough and jumped straight to the end just to find out what happened. Too bad, as this story had the potential to entertain and educate.

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8 people found this helpful

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What a drag!

I thought this would be like Devil in the White City - NOT! it is a dry incantation of a serial murderer- takes real skill to make this as boring as it is but the author succeeds- there is no story here...

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Couldn't get through it

I wanted to love this book and the story it told but I could not get through it at all. I found myself getting lost in the people being introduced, what was going on, what timeframe we were in and just the story alone.

I was expecting something completely different - There wasn't a moment where I felt "wow I am hooked" - it became extremely factual.

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