The Devil in the City

The Shocking True Story of the Son of Sam and the Cult That Haunted New York

De: Miles Donovan

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The Devil in the City: The Shocking True Story of the Son of Sam and the Cult That Haunted New York

New York, 1977. The heat was unbearable. The fear was worse.

In a city already collapsing under crime, corruption, and decay, a faceless gunman began hunting young couples parked in quiet streets. He left behind bodies, letters, and a name that would haunt America forever—Son of Sam. But behind the bullets and headlines lay something even darker. A web of obsession, isolation, and whispered ritual that turned one man’s madness into a movement of terror.

The True Story Behind the Summer of Fear

The Devil in the City peels back four decades of myth to reveal the real story of David Berkowitz, the disturbed postal worker who claimed to serve a demonic master—and the city that nearly lost its mind trying to stop him. Drawing on historical records, first-hand accounts, and investigative journalism, bestselling true-crime author Miles Donovan reconstructs the murders, the media circus, and the obsession that gave birth to America’s first modern urban panic.

From the Bronx to Yonkers, from blood-stained letters to occult rumors in the ruins of Untermyer Park, Donovan exposes how fear turned New York into a living nightmare—and how the legend of the Son of Sam became the template for every serial-killer hysteria that followed.

Inside This Book:

• The Hunt: How police pieced together a killer’s trail through chaos, panic, and misinformation.
• The Letters: The strange, theatrical messages that taunted the NYPD and made “Son of Sam” a household name.
• The Cult: The alleged network that blurred the line between delusion and reality—and sparked one of the greatest conspiracy debates in true-crime history.
• The City: New York in the 1970s—broke, burning, and desperate for meaning in a time of madness.
• The Legacy: How the myth of the Son of Sam shaped America’s obsession with serial killers, Satanism, and evil itself.

A Cinematic Descent into the Heart of Fear

Written with Donovan’s trademark investigative intensity and documentary-style narration, The Devil in the City reads like a film unspooling in the dark—each page pulling the reader deeper into the humid, haunted streets of a city that no longer trusted itself. From the first gunshot on Pelham Parkway to the whispered rumors of cult rituals beneath Yonkers, this is not just the story of a killer. It is the story of how America learned to fear its own reflection.

Perfect For Readers Who Love:

• The Ultimate Evil by Maury Terry
• Mindhunter by John E. Douglas
• Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi
• The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
• Dark documentaries and investigative nonfiction that blend psychology, history, and atmosphere

The Truth Still Echoes Through the City

Even after four decades, the questions remain: Did Berkowitz act alone? Was there really a Satanic cult behind the killings? Or did a city, drowning in heat and hysteria, create its own monster out of shadows?

The Devil in the City is more than true crime—it is the portrait of a time, a place, and a people caught between disbelief and dread. A gripping exploration of evil, faith, and the psychology of mass fear, told with unflinching realism and haunting beauty.

From the author of The Psycho of Plainfield and Slashed: The Night Chicago Screamed, Miles Donovan delivers his most chilling and meticulously researched book yet—a New York Times–style investigation into the soul of America’s darkest summer.

Because in the city that never sleeps, even the devil needed an address.