What do you think?
Rate this book
Werewolf Killer: The True Story of a Russian Cop turned Serial Killer
Mikhail Popkov seemed to live the perfect life. Beautiful family, rewarding career, admiration and respect of the entire police force he worked with. Yet underneath, he had a deadly secret no one would ever believe...he moonlighted as a serial killer.
His family and co-workers doubted his guilt in the beginning, but when he confessed to the crimes and led the police to his many dumping sites, they were horrified. In an effort to avoid Black Dolphin, Russia’s most feared prison, Popkov continued to list names and locations of more and more victims.
When his kill count climbed above 81 souls, everyone wondered what could have caused this seemingly ordinary man to snap, carry out a never-before-seen reign of terror on the people of Russia, and turn into the worse serial killer in Russian history.
Chris Swinney is the bestselling true crime author
- Robert The Pig Farmer Killer
- The Killer The True Story of William Patrick Fyfe
- Deadly The True Story of Serial Killer Herbert Mullin
- Peter The Beast of Birkenshaw Serial Killer
- The Clairemont The True Story of Serial Killer Cleophus Prince, Jr.
- James The True Story of England's Youngest Serial Killer
- True Story of Serial Killer Peter Kurten
- LIST OF 10: The True Story of Serial Killer Joseph Naso
He is also the author of the action/thriller "Bill Dix Detective Series"
Book 1 - Gray Ghost
Book 2 - The Cartel Enforcers
Book 3 - Sin City Assassin
Book 4 - Full Circle
His family and co-workers doubted his guilt in the beginning, but when he confessed to the crimes and led the police to his many dumping sites, they were horrified. In an effort to avoid Black Dolphin, Russia’s most feared prison, Popkov continued to list names and locations of more and more victims.
When his kill count climbed above 81 souls, everyone wondered what could have caused this seemingly ordinary man to snap, carry out a never-before-seen reign of terror on the people of Russia, and turn into the worse serial killer in Russian history.
Chris Swinney is the bestselling true crime author
- Robert The Pig Farmer Killer
- The Killer The True Story of William Patrick Fyfe
- Deadly The True Story of Serial Killer Herbert Mullin
- Peter The Beast of Birkenshaw Serial Killer
- The Clairemont The True Story of Serial Killer Cleophus Prince, Jr.
- James The True Story of England's Youngest Serial Killer
- True Story of Serial Killer Peter Kurten
- LIST OF 10: The True Story of Serial Killer Joseph Naso
He is also the author of the action/thriller "Bill Dix Detective Series"
Book 1 - Gray Ghost
Book 2 - The Cartel Enforcers
Book 3 - Sin City Assassin
Book 4 - Full Circle
- GenresTrue Crime
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 3, 2017
41 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
C.L. Swinney
20 books174 followersC. L. Swinney is the author of eleven international best-selling true crime books and a best-selling Crime Fiction series.
Chris consulted for a mini-series in Hollywood, has been interviewed several times for television and radio programs, and several of his books have been considered for television and film rights.
He donates proceeds from book sales to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Cancer research, PTSD/Military support groups, StopHungerNow.Org, and victims of violent crimes.
Find him at the following locations:
Email: theclswinney@yahoo.com
TWITTER: @clswinney
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/clswinney
Chris consulted for a mini-series in Hollywood, has been interviewed several times for television and radio programs, and several of his books have been considered for television and film rights.
He donates proceeds from book sales to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Cancer research, PTSD/Military support groups, StopHungerNow.Org, and victims of violent crimes.
Find him at the following locations:
Email: theclswinney@yahoo.com
TWITTER: @clswinney
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/clswinney
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 29, 2018
Wow what in the h*ll?
I am speechless in so many ways about this case. So many mistakes cost so many life's and how many may never truely be known!! But I found that while this book was well written there was not much details and I don't think that's the authors fault. I know with other countries sometimes getting an information on cases like this can be extremely hard. As most try to deny they have or had a serial killer in thier mist. So while I truely enjoyed the book and found it very interesting I could only give it three stars due to that!!
But this is definitely a must read of you like reading up on stuff like this.
I am speechless in so many ways about this case. So many mistakes cost so many life's and how many may never truely be known!! But I found that while this book was well written there was not much details and I don't think that's the authors fault. I know with other countries sometimes getting an information on cases like this can be extremely hard. As most try to deny they have or had a serial killer in thier mist. So while I truely enjoyed the book and found it very interesting I could only give it three stars due to that!!
But this is definitely a must read of you like reading up on stuff like this.
December 11, 2017
I read this book via an Amazon-US KINDLE Unlimited download.
While I might be a romance author who naturally enjoys reading books from the various genres of romance, for some reason I also enjoy reading books with deal with True Crimes. Having just read/reviewed entitled “Iron Curtain Killers” I became rather fascinated regarding murders occurring in Russia, lead me to search for another book about serial murderers there, which is how I found this book.
I believe you’ve got to agree with me when I say “How much do we really know about our neighbors and even those who we consider to be about friends?” A prime example of not knowing who they are, and whether or not they might live a double life we know nothing about, can be found in this book.
Looking at Mikhail Popkov from the outside all we would see is a guy with a wonderful family; a guy who worked as a police officer whose work garnered the appreciation and veneration of everyone who he worked with. But with his professional attitude towards his profession, who could have ever expected the dark, heinous individual he hid from everyone.
Knowing who you thought Popkov was, if I told you that he’s a sadistic serial murderer you’d probably say I must be nuts. He’d escaped suspicion due to his service record and alibis from his loving wife. His crimes only came to light after 20 years of his reign of terror when all those who’d been on the police force where he’d worked had to supplied samples of their DNA.
Seeing no way out at this point Popkov finally decided to confess to his deeds, causing all those who knew him to become aghast with horror. He knew although he’d given authorities a list of some of his victims and the sites where their bodies could be found, that in order to not to be sent to the prison where his arrests had been sent, the Black Dolphin, he’d have to give them a more complete listing. Ultimately, Popkov confessed to having committed 81 murders, 22 of which he got convicted of, and got sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
For having researched this individual, Russia’s most notorious serial killer, in the in-depth he has I’m glad to give Mr. Swinney the 5 STARS he’s gotten from this reviewer. I guess his being a narcotic detective involved with homicide investigations for over 17 years is the reason for his commitment in having written this expose in the manner he has.
While I might be a romance author who naturally enjoys reading books from the various genres of romance, for some reason I also enjoy reading books with deal with True Crimes. Having just read/reviewed entitled “Iron Curtain Killers” I became rather fascinated regarding murders occurring in Russia, lead me to search for another book about serial murderers there, which is how I found this book.
I believe you’ve got to agree with me when I say “How much do we really know about our neighbors and even those who we consider to be about friends?” A prime example of not knowing who they are, and whether or not they might live a double life we know nothing about, can be found in this book.
Looking at Mikhail Popkov from the outside all we would see is a guy with a wonderful family; a guy who worked as a police officer whose work garnered the appreciation and veneration of everyone who he worked with. But with his professional attitude towards his profession, who could have ever expected the dark, heinous individual he hid from everyone.
Knowing who you thought Popkov was, if I told you that he’s a sadistic serial murderer you’d probably say I must be nuts. He’d escaped suspicion due to his service record and alibis from his loving wife. His crimes only came to light after 20 years of his reign of terror when all those who’d been on the police force where he’d worked had to supplied samples of their DNA.
Seeing no way out at this point Popkov finally decided to confess to his deeds, causing all those who knew him to become aghast with horror. He knew although he’d given authorities a list of some of his victims and the sites where their bodies could be found, that in order to not to be sent to the prison where his arrests had been sent, the Black Dolphin, he’d have to give them a more complete listing. Ultimately, Popkov confessed to having committed 81 murders, 22 of which he got convicted of, and got sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
For having researched this individual, Russia’s most notorious serial killer, in the in-depth he has I’m glad to give Mr. Swinney the 5 STARS he’s gotten from this reviewer. I guess his being a narcotic detective involved with homicide investigations for over 17 years is the reason for his commitment in having written this expose in the manner he has.
December 10, 2017
Hiding behind a badge
This well-written and well-researched account of Mikhail Popkov, the Werewolf Killer, is a revelation of how a Russian police officer got away with murder for 18 years. The fact that he was a cop, with his trusting wife providing alibis, was sufficient to turn suspicion away from him. It was not until 20 years after he began killing that all policemen, active and retired, were asked to provide a DNA sample, thus exposing his crimes.
Popkov was convicted of 22 murders and received a life sentence. Two years later, he confessed to an additional 59 murders of women. At last count, Popkov has confessed to 81 murders and led police to the bodies of his victims.
This well-written and well-researched account of Mikhail Popkov, the Werewolf Killer, is a revelation of how a Russian police officer got away with murder for 18 years. The fact that he was a cop, with his trusting wife providing alibis, was sufficient to turn suspicion away from him. It was not until 20 years after he began killing that all policemen, active and retired, were asked to provide a DNA sample, thus exposing his crimes.
Popkov was convicted of 22 murders and received a life sentence. Two years later, he confessed to an additional 59 murders of women. At last count, Popkov has confessed to 81 murders and led police to the bodies of his victims.
December 17, 2017
This is a very interesting story about a Russian police officer, Mikhail Popkov, who went on an 18 year rape and murder spree using the excuse he wanted "to cleanse the streets of loose women." After police officers, current and retired were mandated to give a DNA sample, he was arrested, charged and found guilty of 22 murders. He then admitted to 59 more and a trial pending for those. He also said the total might be closer to 200 but that has not been confirmed yet. Author C. L. Swinney did an excellent job researching and presenting the details of this very strange story.
September 17, 2022
This book is about the Russian police officer/serial killer Mikhail Popkov AKA: "the werewolf" or "the Wednesday killer" He only became a serial killer due to falsely believing that his wife had cheated on him several times supposedly which was never proven to be true.
I believe he was psychologically damaged due to his alcoholic single-parent upbringing and his alcoholic mother abusing him.
Over time he developed a deep rooted hatred of women and that fact that his father was never a part of his life meant that he never had a positive male role model or "surrogate father figure" to look up to or admire.
I believe that he hated women that drank alcohol socially, because they reminded him or his abusive/alcoholic mother and also suspecting his wife of possible adultery were the catalyst for him to lure the victims he was stalking, then raped and murdered.
(Or raped and attempted to murder some of his victims and leaving them to die, only returning to the crime scenes to collect his police badge due to forgetting it.
He then callously beaten any surviving victims to death,to ensure they would not survive.
Mikhail Popkov's crimes were premeditated, calculated and abusive of the position/status he had in the Russian community in Angarsk, Russia due to his good reputation and respect he earned from colleagues which he used to his advantage to divert any attention away from related to the horrific crimes he committed then "investigated" while covering up the crime scenes, evidence or using evidence from the police locker as a weapon that was related to other crimes that may or may not have been solved.
This would have contaminated the evidence and made it very difficult to find any connection to Mikhail Popkov.
On his days off work he would stalk potential victims in the evening, from bars, restaurants, the train station or he chose to target women that were walking home alone at night.
He specifically chose to wear his police uniform and drove the police car assigned to him, it was proven the car was used due to the late number of miles on the car.
The car was used a lot more than usual for a police car.
Mikhail used his police uniform and as a way to create a false sense of security, so his female victims would trust him, when he offered to give them a lift home.
However his true intentions were to lure his potential victims (which he decided were going to live or die depending on his interaction with them or if he considered them to be a "loose woman" and drunk) Most of his victims looked similar in terms of physique, and a similar youthful look that his daughter possessed, while the other victims were middle-aged and they resembled his wife or mother. Mikhail was a opportunistic serial killer, serial rapist, sadist and sexual psychopath. Most of his victims were between 19-38 but one victim that he believed was between 23-24 due to her maturity was actually 15 years old.
It disgusted me that the Russian police force treated the young girl like a insignificant witness and victim of crime, a survivor of rape, and attempted murder.
The blatant disregard of Svetlana and disrespect and victim shaming really pissed me off and offended me.
The testimony of Svetlana and one other surviving victim (that would have solved the case and got Mikhail Popkov convicted a lot sooner but they were not taken seriously and they were ignored)
Due to the ineptitude of the Russian authorities, more women were raped, murdered by Mikhail Popkov, a lot of innocent women's lives could have been saved if only the Russian authorities cared enough to investigate Mikhail Popkov but instead they chose not to due to his reputation as a police officer, his reputation in the community because they didn't want to believe he was capable of savage, rape, and frenzied sadistic behaviour of Mikhail due to his intense hated of women.
During his 18 year reign of terror (1992-1998) there were two other active serial killers at the same time which were equally despicable and evil. Andrei Chikatilo (the "Red Ripper")and Alexander Pichushkin (the "Chessboard Killer")
The fact that Mikhail Popkov was a police officer and a serial killer that used evidence from other crimes to incriminate other murders involvement in his crimes and that her was murdering his victims/then investigating the crime scenes is disgusting and evil. It proves his intelligence, the depths of his manipulation and how he revelled in his crimes and loved the attention of not getting discovered or caught and knowing his colleagues had no idea what his was capable of is truly disturbing. When the judge asked what he would do if he was given the chance to change the past his behaviour and response says a lot about his personality, behaviour towards woman and if given a chance, if he made his way into China like he planned to be would continue luring his victims/potential victims, and rape and kill hundreds more innocent women u fortunately.
I hope that the surviving family members will get closure and justice for their family members that were cruelly and unfairly targeted, lured, savagely raped, attacked and murdered.
I wish the victims (living and dead) will rest in peace. You will be remembered and you will be missed, you will not be forgotten.
I believe he was psychologically damaged due to his alcoholic single-parent upbringing and his alcoholic mother abusing him.
Over time he developed a deep rooted hatred of women and that fact that his father was never a part of his life meant that he never had a positive male role model or "surrogate father figure" to look up to or admire.
I believe that he hated women that drank alcohol socially, because they reminded him or his abusive/alcoholic mother and also suspecting his wife of possible adultery were the catalyst for him to lure the victims he was stalking, then raped and murdered.
(Or raped and attempted to murder some of his victims and leaving them to die, only returning to the crime scenes to collect his police badge due to forgetting it.
He then callously beaten any surviving victims to death,to ensure they would not survive.
Mikhail Popkov's crimes were premeditated, calculated and abusive of the position/status he had in the Russian community in Angarsk, Russia due to his good reputation and respect he earned from colleagues which he used to his advantage to divert any attention away from related to the horrific crimes he committed then "investigated" while covering up the crime scenes, evidence or using evidence from the police locker as a weapon that was related to other crimes that may or may not have been solved.
This would have contaminated the evidence and made it very difficult to find any connection to Mikhail Popkov.
On his days off work he would stalk potential victims in the evening, from bars, restaurants, the train station or he chose to target women that were walking home alone at night.
He specifically chose to wear his police uniform and drove the police car assigned to him, it was proven the car was used due to the late number of miles on the car.
The car was used a lot more than usual for a police car.
Mikhail used his police uniform and as a way to create a false sense of security, so his female victims would trust him, when he offered to give them a lift home.
However his true intentions were to lure his potential victims (which he decided were going to live or die depending on his interaction with them or if he considered them to be a "loose woman" and drunk) Most of his victims looked similar in terms of physique, and a similar youthful look that his daughter possessed, while the other victims were middle-aged and they resembled his wife or mother. Mikhail was a opportunistic serial killer, serial rapist, sadist and sexual psychopath. Most of his victims were between 19-38 but one victim that he believed was between 23-24 due to her maturity was actually 15 years old.
It disgusted me that the Russian police force treated the young girl like a insignificant witness and victim of crime, a survivor of rape, and attempted murder.
The blatant disregard of Svetlana and disrespect and victim shaming really pissed me off and offended me.
The testimony of Svetlana and one other surviving victim (that would have solved the case and got Mikhail Popkov convicted a lot sooner but they were not taken seriously and they were ignored)
Due to the ineptitude of the Russian authorities, more women were raped, murdered by Mikhail Popkov, a lot of innocent women's lives could have been saved if only the Russian authorities cared enough to investigate Mikhail Popkov but instead they chose not to due to his reputation as a police officer, his reputation in the community because they didn't want to believe he was capable of savage, rape, and frenzied sadistic behaviour of Mikhail due to his intense hated of women.
During his 18 year reign of terror (1992-1998) there were two other active serial killers at the same time which were equally despicable and evil. Andrei Chikatilo (the "Red Ripper")and Alexander Pichushkin (the "Chessboard Killer")
The fact that Mikhail Popkov was a police officer and a serial killer that used evidence from other crimes to incriminate other murders involvement in his crimes and that her was murdering his victims/then investigating the crime scenes is disgusting and evil. It proves his intelligence, the depths of his manipulation and how he revelled in his crimes and loved the attention of not getting discovered or caught and knowing his colleagues had no idea what his was capable of is truly disturbing. When the judge asked what he would do if he was given the chance to change the past his behaviour and response says a lot about his personality, behaviour towards woman and if given a chance, if he made his way into China like he planned to be would continue luring his victims/potential victims, and rape and kill hundreds more innocent women u fortunately.
I hope that the surviving family members will get closure and justice for their family members that were cruelly and unfairly targeted, lured, savagely raped, attacked and murdered.
I wish the victims (living and dead) will rest in peace. You will be remembered and you will be missed, you will not be forgotten.
June 17, 2020
The way this book has been written is just appalling. Information gets repeated throughout the book which is very frustrating. There doesn't seem to be any order within the book eventhough there are chapters. Plus you get near the end and it's about a completely different case? Like why? The two stars are just for introducing me to the serial killer I didn't know about.
May 17, 2019
Terrifying case. Great book
This is the most complete covering of the case that I have been able to find. The author does a great job humanising the victims and explaining why the case took so long to solve
This is the most complete covering of the case that I have been able to find. The author does a great job humanising the victims and explaining why the case took so long to solve
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews