The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer: Anders Behring Breivik and the Threat of Terror in Plain Sight

by Unni Turrettnin

July 22, 2011 was the darkest day in Norway's history since Nazi Germany's invasion. It was one hundred eighty-nine minutes of terror - from the moment the bomb exploded outside a government building until Anders Behring Breivik was apprehended by the police at Utoya Island. Breivik murdered seventy-seven people, most of them teenagers and young adults, and wounded hundreds more. Breivik is a "lone wolf killer," often overlooked until they commit their crime. Breivik is also unique as he is the only "lone wolf" killer in recent history to still be alive and in captivity. Unparalleled research and a unique international perspective, The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killerexamines the massacre itself and why this lone-killer phenomenon is increasing worldwide. Based on true events."

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime, True Crime, Audiobook, Psychology, History

Audio CD

First published November 15, 2015

Reviews

[Katherine Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is primarily about Anders Behring Breivik, but it's about him in comparison with Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski, and how between the three of them you have a kind of template of the lone wolf killer: intelligent, narcissistic, alienated, so fanatically devoted to his ideology that he believes he must kill for it. It is also a scathing denunciation of Norwegian society, in which, Turrettini says, no one is allowed to stand out or have different opinions and people sleepwalk through their lives.

I obviously can't speak to the state of Norwegian society, but I think Turrettini is trying to write two different books here, one about lone wolf killers and one about Norway, and the edges of the two don't quite mesh. The parts of the book that talk about Breivik and McVeigh and Kaczynski in comparison, I think are very good. That is, I buy her argument that there is such a thing as a lone wolf killer and that he is dangerous because he is (a) a fanatic who thinks that any number of innocent lives are necessary "collateral damage" for his cause and (b) invisible. He doesn't have a prior criminal history, or a history of mental illness, or a history of being anything worse or more alarming than an oddball, a weirdo who never fits in.

The parts of the book that are about what Breivik did, told in clear, straightforward prose, are also very good. Where things start to come a little unglued is where she starts talking about WHY Breivik did what he did. Because she has two quite different arguments. One is that ANY ideology would have served as Breivik's rationale for a violent outburst that had more to do with his psychology than any of his buzzwords; the other is that Breivik was right to be angry and that what drove him to the massacre of 77 people was the failure of Norwegian society to provide him with an outlet for his unpopular political views. Given that those views amount to white supremacist hate speech, I find it really hard to be sympathetic to Breivik here, and it makes me uneasy about Turrettini herself and whether she's using her argument about Breivik as a kind of stalking horse. Although I think the term "multiculturalism" must be used differently in Europe (or, at least, she doesn't seem to be using it quite in the way that is familiar to me), she seems to me to be saying that multiculturalism is the wrong response to Muslim immigrants because it lets them walk all over the law-abiding citizens of their new country and that that's one reason why Norway's combination of socialism, democracy, and monarchy is a horribly failed, frankly dystopian enterprise. At the same time she denounces Breivik she almost seems at certain points to agree with him, and she doesn't make the distinction clear, so I don't know if the Islamophobic argument about multiculturalism is HIS argument, which she is explicating for her readers, or if it's HER argument as well.

She does at least vehemently reject his claims to be a martyr (going on a hunger strike because the prison won't give you the computer game you want?), and I felt on firmer ground with her argument that the Norwegian courts, in their anxiety to preserve Breivik's rights, forgot about the rights of the victims.

So this was certainly a thought-provoking book, but I'm not sure it was always for the right reasons.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure there has been a good book or two written about Anders Breivik and the danger of lone wolf terrorists, but The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer is not one of them. Written by a Norwegian lawyer with a passing interest in the case, rather than a profiler or expert on extremists, the book is a rambling, disorganized attempt to explain Breivik and, whether she intended it or not, a validation of his vile ideology.

Turrettini structures the book with the idea that constantly comparing Breivik to other famous lone wolf cases will create a resonance, but in fact the constant jumping back and forth from Timothy McVeigh to the Unabomber to other killers does more to highlight the differences than find the commonalities. Although the facts of Breivik's background and murderous rampage appear to be presented faithfully, the rest of the book is sourced thinly and argued poorly. I won't doubt her assessment that Norway has a strongly anti-individualist culture, but to go from that to concluding that maybe if Breivik was able to more openly air his racist views, 77 people wouldn't have died? That's some victim-blaming bullshit! Not to mention her uncritical repeating of Breivik's grievances of Oslo being "terrorized" by muslim gangs, and that he wasn't racist, he just hated his government for letting in too many immigrants. If she had put half the effort into debunking his delusions as she did in writing that awful, right-wing boilerplate anti-gun control chapter (oh yes, there's that!), the book would have been less revolting by a large margin.

So what I took from this book, besides that she shouldn't quit her day job, is that yes, violent extremists can arise in any culture, even in ones that think themselves highly enlightened. We have to be on the lookout for the kinds of disturbed loners and bigots who have the potential to be another Breivik. But we do not have to accommodate them in any way. To do so is never the solution to this kind of problem.

[Paula Kalamaras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unni Turrettini’s book The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer: Anders Behring Breivik and the Threat of Terror in Plain Sight (Pegasus Books, November16, 2015) impressed me with its extensive research and insights that she has on the motivations of that deadliest of killers, the lone wolf. As she states:
All children are born beautiful and untainted, including the lone wolves. Something happened to them along the way. By recognizing the warning signs and giving them the help they need before they become killers, we can prevent the next massacre and help them rise to greatness instead of letting them sink into the spiral of destruction.
On July 22, 2011, Ander Breivik murdered 77 innocent people and wounded hundreds of others by exploding a car bomb at a government building, then getting on a ferry and going to Utøya Island and slaughtering teens and young adults as they were attending a summer camp. His actions caused ripples of shock throughout the world. If such heinous deeds could happen in Norway, a land noted for its calm, civilized society, it could happen anywhere.
One of the most striking aspects of the book is that Turrettini delves into the Norwegian culture of Jante or Janteloven, which essentially stipulates that society comes before the individual, and that no one should try to think of him or herself as “special’ or “better” or “smarter” than anyone else. This concept, while creating a harmonious and homogeneous society, does not allow for the individualism that is needed for some persons to thrive. Brievik was below the radar in his quest for fame or in his case infamy, and to promote his twisted ideology.
Turrettini’s comparison of Breivik with other lone wolf killers like Tim McVeigh, Ted Kaczynksi, Eric Rudolph is both chilling and disturbing. She analyzes how Breivik, who was born not twenty minutes from her own birthplace in Norway, eluded all detection despite the warning signs that were evident in his behavior and his proclivities. Loner, video game enthusiast to the point of obsession, intelligent, and abandonment issues all played a part of his transformation from an isolated young man living in his mother’s spare room, to an ideologue with an obsession against Muslims in Europe and Norway in particular. “Most people who are attracted to violent groups do not commit violent acts. They get together to hate together and that feeling of belonging meets their social needs. But this is not the case for a lone wolf..."
Turrettini spends a considerable amount of time analyzing Breivik’s manifesto that defines his transformation into a lone wolf killer. She studies it for its obvious signs that this is not someone just feeling violent, but actually on his way to committing violent and deadly acts, in the name of some ideological hodgepodge of conflicting ideas. Unlike other mass murderers, such as Klebold and Harris in Littleton Colorado or a suicide bombing terrorist, Lone Wolf killers are interested not just in surviving but in glorifying in the limelight to reveal their message to the world.
Despite the heinous nature of his crime, Breivik manipulates the Norwegian penal system and obtains whatever he desires just with threats of lawsuits. His sentence is laughably short, and Turrettini turns her unflinching gaze at the large holes that exist in the Norwegian legal system that may eventually allow Brievik to be released. Her critique is precise and compelling.
Unni Turrettini is a writer, public speaker and former attorney, so her attention to detail is extensive. The book is very well researched, and logically built on all the facts. This makes reading somewhat slower and more methodical than the average skimming-a-page technique, since the detailed minutiae of mass murderers as well as lone wolves creates chilling comparisons and assessments and requires serious attention. Although detail driven, Turrettini's style is clear and readable and the analysis targeted and supported.
All told, The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer is compelling, frightening and worth reading. Her take is even handed, sometimes too much so, and she does lay the blame on Norwegian society for not recognizing that there are individuals within it not capable of thriving in a homogeneous society. She further indicates that while these individuals crave individual achievement or recognition for their actions, the problem is not limited to Norway. Lone Wolf killers are a global problem as well, as she makes her comparisons to the United States and other locales plagued by this terror in plain sight. Her use of examples of mass killings makes for grim reading but if we are to comprehend the motivations, and impetus that drives these lone wolves, it is necessary to analyze and understand how they’ve evolved into monsters.

[James Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

In between some genuinely good research, the author tends to veer too often into the territory of trying to make square pegs fit round holes. This is particularly evident in the author’s continued attempts to draw parallels between Breivik and both the Unambomber and Timothy McVeigh. While some similarities do exist, too often the author tries to force similarities where there aren’t any and doesn’t devote nearly enough attention to acknowledging the ways in which these individuals differ.

There also appears to be some rather significant gaps in the research for this book, perhaps none more glaring than asserting Australia changed its gun laws due to a massacre in “Dunblane”. Actually, the mass shooting in Australia occurred at Port Arthur. Dunblane, of course, did experience a mass shooting in 1996, but Dunblane is in Scotland - not Australia.

This might seem small, but given the subject matter of this book, it’s troubling and is not alone in being signs of areas where the research was/is lacking in between areas where the research was solid. Overall though, these gaps do not irk the reader as much as the first point.

[Marideth Bridges · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very biased and factually inaccurate. The author clearly has an ‘axe to grind’ about gun control and ‘Nordic style’ social democracy, plus she seems to contradict herself with her analysis of Anders B. in order to create a particular narrative about WHY he did what he did. This author clearly doesn’t have a background in criminology or any other social science, but acts like she does! As other reviewers have said, the author also tries too hard to blame “PC culture” for this crime. But I DO AGREE with her that Norway’s criminal justice system IS NOT for convicted terrorists, since he’s only gotten worse in prison.

[john callahan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really bad. Early in the book the author seems to blame the murders Breivik committed (about 70, in one day) on Norway's social democratic system.
Stupid.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t finish- so bad. Stay in your lane, dude.

[Ann]

This book presents itself as an in depth social-psychological study of the so-called “lone wolf killer” Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the terror attack om Utøya in Norway in 2011. The structure of the book is somewhat disorganized, because it alternates between the story of Breivik and several other “lone wolves”, a category that also includes serial killers, spree killers, bombers, school shooters, domestic or homegrown terrorists, in addition to garden variety terrorists. Sometimes the “lone wolves” even operate in pairs and small groups. The rest of the book consists of interviews with various experts, interspersed with personal rants about multiculturalism, gun control, social democracy, radical liberalism, political correctness, affirmative action, the school system and the state of Norwegian society in general.

The most original element of the book is that tries to be a study of the evolution of a “lone wolf” terrorist in the context of Norwegian society, so this will be the main theme of this review. “The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer” is primarily written for non-Norwegian readers, so Turrettini gives us a short introduction to the history, politics and culture of modern Norway. Unfortunately, Turrettini knows little if anything about any of this, so she just makes up her own facts. At one point she tells us that socialism became a major force in Norwegian society after 1850 because “several kings, in succession, had been rewarding loyal constituents of their choice with land. As the land became more depleted from years and years of cultivation, many farmers started going broke and this practice stopped. Soon the monarchy was reduced to the nation’s ceremonial figurehead, and its political power diminished. Land-owning farmers were the main source of Norway’s political bloc until the beginning of the 19th century.” None of this ever happened in real history. Norway was not a feudalistic society in the 19th century. There was no agricultu¬ral crisis due to land depletion. Farmers had no political power before 1814, because they lived in an absolutist monarchy, where nobody had any civil rights. Turrettini has apparently never heard of the Constitution of 1814, the introduction of parliamentarism in 1884 or the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. She also thinks that the Labor Party first came to power in 1945, something that happened in 1935. This is as if an American is totally unaware of facts of the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War and the New Deal. The author’s grasp of more contemporary events is not much better. At one point she writes about how Breivik’s lawyer Geir Lippestad defended a Neo Nazi “accused of murdering Benjamin Hermansen, a Jewish man in 2001.” But Hermansen was a 15-year-old Norwegian-Ghanaian boy, a fact that every Norwegian citizen who is not living under a rock should be aware of.

Turrettini lies the blame for Breivik’s terrorism on Norwegian society in general and the Labour Party in particular, partly because “the governement’s social-democratic politics have silenced the non-believers.” Please keep in mind that the Labour Party was the principal target of the terror attack. Norway is described as “a restrictive, repressive and bullying society”, where “the individual is suppressed and repressed” and “anyone too ambitious, trying to excel too hard, was denigrated”. According to Turrettini, everybody in Norway is ruled by the infamous “Law of Jante”, which is enforced by the Labor Party, “the ultimate personification of Norwegian society,” who rules through “mind control” and “brainwashing”. According to the book Breivik became a terrorist because “the Labor Party and the “multicultural pack”, which had bullied him and the rest of the population into silence”. The book never presents any real evidence to back up these claims, except that Breivik once mentioned the Law of Jante in passing. Ironically, the novel A Fugitive Crosses His Track (1933) by Aksel Sandemose is not at all about highly successful and privileged individuals who feel oppressed by the envious masses and the social democratic state. Instead it is a psychological study of a childhood in a small Danish town in the early 1900s, long before the labor movement came to power, and it describes how working class children are socialized into a slave mentality of self-oppression that makes true solidarity and community impossible.

“The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer” also suffers from a lack of clearly defined terms. For instance, Turrettini writes that one of Breivik’s main grievances was multiculturalism, because “multicultural¬ism creates rage on all sides, especially when that rage can’t be openly expressed”. She never bothers to define the term and constantly contradicts herself. At one point multiculturalism is described as “ a type of immigration the world has never seen before”, then as “formal label or policy… to ostensibly counteract a class-designated society”, but also as “an ideology … that seemed so noble…[when] the United Nations started encouraging it following World War II”, and as a “practice, which can simply be defined as assimilation into another cultu¬re.” Worst of all, “multiculturalism can lead to positive discrimination, which in turn can deny equal opportunity to those who are more qualified and/or more driven to succeed.” As social anthropologist Sindre Bangstad writes, the right wing uses multiculturalism as a “floating signifier” that can mean whatever you want it to mean, as long you do not like it. For the record, no Norwegian government, left or right, as ever pursued policies of multiculturalism or positive discrimination.

One wonders who this book is really written for. It has not received any attention whatsoever in Norway, so it must be intended for an international audience. The Utøya attack is important, both because it cause so much death and suffering, and because it has become a role model for later attacks. It is therefore unfortunate that The Lone Wolf Terrorist contains so much misleading information and in the end resorts to outright victim blaming. Also, I do not think that refraining from criticizing fascists and racists is the right way to go. If you want to read a book about the Breivik case that is riddled by factual errors, inaccuracies and weak reasoning, with a strong right-wing bias, this is the perfect book for you. If you want the truth about Norway and the evolution of the “lone wolf” terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, you will have to look somewhere else.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer: Anders Behring Breivik and the Threat of Terror in Plain Sight

July 22, 2011—is a day that will live forever in infamy. On that day Anders Behring Breivik set in motion the plans for domestic terrorism that he had worked on for years. By the time the smoke cleared on that day seventy-seven people were slain, most of them teenagers; and several hundred more were injured, quite a few of them critical.

But who was Anders Behring Breivik and what possible purpose could he have for such pitiless violence? He was just your average Norwegian, no one whom people would ever dream of killing anyone, let alone massacre dozens. In a rambling manifesto that ran on for 777,724 words, totaling 1,516 pages of hate filled ranting; Breivik outlined his reason for what he considered a “necessary action.”

His stated cause was to stop the tolerant government of Norway’s immigration laws, specifically the admission of Islamic people into Norwegian society. To Breivik, these people represented all that was wrong with the country. And yet his victims were not targeted for their religion, but because they were easy targets.

Breivik set of a bomb similar to Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahoma City bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and claimed 168 lives. The bomb went off at Government quarter Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo, killing eight and maiming over 200. Then he calmly took a ferry to the Island of Utøya, where over one hundred teenagers were gathered for a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp. He methodically stalked from one end of the Island to another, killing and maiming, pausing to contact authorities in an attempt to surrender; then continuing until police arrived to arrest him.

This book explores the modas operendi of Anders Behring Beivik and other “lone wolf” killers such as Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Federal Building Bomber; Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber; and brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon Bombers.

They are creatures of cold planning who have a stated manifesto of something they feel is wrong, especially causing perceived harm to them. They don’t just get up one morning and decide to go kill a bunch of people. They plan out each detail and are patient. They can wait for years for the optimum time and place to strike, having already gained the weapons and tools they intend to use in the act. They feel no remorse, claiming to be soldiers with a cause that needs to be addressed.

In reading this story, I was most horrified by the story of what growing up in Norway was like. Imagine a society that degrades its own citizens daily. Add to that the fact that prisons are more like a country club, and the maximum sentence for any crime is twenty-one years. This man killed seventy-seven people, maimed hundreds of others; but he will serve less than four months for each murder.

There are two horrible insights in this true crime novel: One is the inside look into the brain of one of the world’s worst mass murders. Learning the viewpoint of this deadly nemesis from his own words could shake anyone with a conscience. Then there is look inside the politics of a country that suffered much during WWII and has almost certainly went too far in the other direction, having skewed values as the price of peace and prosperity.

Unni Turrettini is a native of Norway who now resides in Switzerland. In her research and deep examination of this case, she has produced a book that almost any true crime lover will want to read. Just a little slow paced, the book takes the time to examine everything to the smallest detail. And in the end, it accomplishes the author’s goals.

I give this book four out of five stars. It truly makes the case for “truth is stranger than fiction.”

Quoth the Raven

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemed to advocate for civilians to carry handguns so if the remainder of the book was based off such narrow interpretations of facts, then it is concerning.

Made some good points, was a bit repetitive at times, but was overall fairly well written.

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author does much to invalidate her “arguments” by referring to the Australian Dunblane massacre of 1996. There was no such thing. It was Port Arthur in Tasmania, and after tighter gun laws were introduced in its wake, there’s been no further attacks of that nature. Her chapter on gun control is a little unhinged, and blaming Norwegian culture (a culture I am unfamiliar with) seems vaguely ludicrous. Breivik was (is) a grandiose narcissist, sane but unhinged by his own sense of self-importance and desperation to be regarded as a leader. If anything, the book proves above all that ideology - all ideology, all belief systems, religious, political - are poisonous and destructive.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

-98 (Book#2 was THE MYSTERY OF THE LONE WOLF KILLER by Unni Turrettini, which had interesting and important content but was not particularly thoughtful or eloquent.)

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched but doesn't present a unified thesis.

[Hanna Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really interesting, but by the end I was so bored with Breivik and the other storys about Lanza, McVeigh etc. were more interesting.

[Jill Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breivik was completely new to me except for headlines at the time. I learned about him here - but also learned quite a lot about Norwegian society. I liked that part. I didn’t mind the comparisons with McVeigh and Kazinski, but I was put off by the numerous mentions of the spree killers, the school killers… all of the killers who killed for attention that this book gave them. I’ve made a point of not learning those names and came here just for Breivik.
Except for that complaint I found the book reasonably interesting.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but I didn't enjoy the way it was laid out, in particular jumping around between various lone wolf killers. I thought it might be more helpful to structure that differently and have different chapters for those individuals. Overall, what was most fascinating is the wildly different justice system in Norway and the idea that this person is still propagating his message from jail, and unless serious changes are made, will likely be released while still relatively young.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains facts on disarmed countries having higher murder rates than those whose populace (legally) own weapons. Info on why it’s hard to find lone wolf killers and why they kill. Narrator has empathy and is clear.

[Johanna Poell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autori isiklik subjektiivne hinnang kumas kohati väga tugevalt uurimusest läbi ja jäi häirima. Raamatu struktuur oleks võinud olla parem. Muidu oli väga huvitav lugemine.

[Rauno Remmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hea ülevaade Breviku, kui ka Kaschinzky mõttemaailmadesse, mis polegi alati nii arutud, vaid täis pinget, viha, ning väga väärasid järeldusi. Viha pimestab.

[Marideth Bridges · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all. It starts off ok, as a summary of Anders Breivik’s life before the massacre, but at the same time, I feel like it overemphasizes the role of mental illness and violence in video games in his crimes. It also downplays the fact that the massacre was politically motivated and not just for attention/publicity and/or revenge, like nearly all school shootings and most mass shootings. I also don’t like how the author seems to push her own personal bias onto the reader. 


Specifically, she talks about how Norwegian society promotes a “don’t-think-you’re-special” mentality and why strict gun laws won’t stop mass shootings. She bases this argument on the fact Anders Breivik was able to pass a background check to get a gun and had a hunting license, even though he didn’t actually hunt🤔. But she also writes that he was highly mentally unstable, grandiose, paranoid, delusional, a germaphobe, and a steroid addict, so he shouldn’t have been allowed to purchase guns in first place if they had known that he was planning a massacre and wasn’t just going to use them for hunting or target practice.

She’s not the only person who has made that argument. Shortly after the massacre, many American Conservatives used it to argue that strict gun laws don’t actually prevent mass shootings, especially ones with high deaths. Some have even used it to argue that Norway and Finland have a higher rate of gun violence than the US, using highly cherry picked data.  I don’t think that licenses and background checks alone will prevent mass shootings since most mass shooters don’t have a prior criminal record, except for maybe juvenile delinquency. However, banning semi-automatic rifles will. (Norway finally banned semi-automatic rifles in 2018). 

In addition, I’ve also heard other people say that she gets a lot of facts wrong in her book. For example, she says that a boy who was killed by Neo-Nazi skinheads in Oslo was Jewish when he was actually West African. She also gets the Dunblane and Port Arthur massacres mixed up and goes off on tangents about other “lone wolf” mass murderers such as the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho, James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Boston Marathon bombers, and Elliot Rodger and how they were similar to Anders Breivik. (With the exceptions of the Unabomber, Timothy McVeigh, and the Boston Marathon bombers, none of these mass murderers were explicitly politically motivated).

[Georgia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I didn't finish the book. There are parts of the analysis of what gives rise to this kind of mass-murderer that are interesting and even insiteful. That gets it the extra star. The veneer of sociological study falls apart slowly until it complely decinterates about halfway through. It then goes into this diatribe about how the "Lone Wolf" killers are entirely society's fault for not giving racists enough respect. Seriously, the entire problem is because these racists aren't given a place at the table in modern society. These killers aren't to blame. They were pushed to it because people judged them for being racists. That if they were free to give voice to their hatred of others in an accepting society that took their viewpoint as valid and not something to dislike them over, none of this would have ever happened. But because the modern world is so repressive as to dismiss racists views, this is the result. Too bad. The idea of the study this promised would have been interesting.

[Lesley Botez · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is the trigger that turns a man of higher than average intelligence into a lone wolf killer? Unni Turrettini explores in minute detail how Anders Behring Breivik came to massacre so many in Norway, on 22 July 2011. A Norwegian lawyer herself, she sees an explanation in the Law of Jante, the Scandinavian view that "You are no better than anyone else" which keeps Norwegians from standing out in the crowd. The book is well-researched and documented and I learnt a lot from it, particularly in the first part. However it could have been shorter, with less repetition. I would have liked to see more input from psychologists. I also found it confusing when the author jumped from one lone wolf to another without transition. Her final chapters on Breivik's sentence and his present situation sent shivers down my spine.

[Jill Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the most valuable parts of this book are not the descriptions of the Lone Wolf-style killers, but the glimpses into the societies which spawn them. The Norwegian "Rule of Jante" is something right out of "1984" or "Fahrenheit 451."

[Nastja]

// kustutasin oma review kuniks olen raamatu uuesti läbi lugenud sest mu vaated on vahepeal muutunud ja mul on natsa piinlik endal ka //