A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer

A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer sounds like it will be a really interesting read. The title itself is evocative-how unique is it to have a serial killer in the Nazi capital city? Isn’t that a bit redundant? Unfortunately A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer failed to meet my expectations. It is obvious that the author worked hard to tell this story, but the story left out certain germane facts. Initially I thought that it lacked details because the author was going to later reveal a point, but it never happened. There were two times when I couldn’t ignore it. First, the author states that one victim was going to lose her children to the government the day after she was killed because she was found to be an unfit mother. Why-was she actually unfit or was it unreasonable-the government was run by Nazis after all? No idea. Second, the author said that one victim was sexually molested, but neither she nor the cops knew it. So how did the author know it? That particular victim isn’t explicitly addressed in the confession portion of the book, but I suppose that is the implication. It is possible that details are missing because they weren’t available, but after the publication of books such as The Devil in the White City, readers are now spoiled and expect more from non-fiction historical accounts. In addition, the narrative felt repetitive. The author should have fleshed out more about the victims and the killers instead of simply saying how he stalked them, what he did and how he felt. They didn’t feel like real people, but a set of actions in spite of the author’s efforts to generally describe daily life in wartime Germany. The author occasionally jumps around the time line instead of telling the story linearly; thus he is forced to repeat himself to remind the reader of an earlier important detail when the event is mentioned again. The author does succeed at distinguishing how solving a crime within the Nazi government had unique challenges-if you think all the criminals are not Germans, finding the perpetrator is going to be a bit difficult. I applaud the author’s efforts and ambitions, but suggest skipping it and rereading The Devil in the White City. At the end of the day, who cares what I think because this book will be made into a movie according to a recent Variety article. Congratulations!