38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia

by Philippe Sands

The arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998 was a landmark moment. It was the first time that a former head of state has been arrested on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity while travelling abroad. Five decades after the Nuremberg trial, the Pinochet case was the moment in which the idea of international criminal justice came alive once more. The central narrative of Pinochet in London is that untold story - the circumstances of his arrest, for crimes committed after he came to power on 11 September 1973; the extraordinary and tumultuous legal proceedings in London, with consequences in Madrid and Santiago; and his return. Relatedly, it's a tale about legal principles invented in 1945 and first invoked in Nuremberg's Courtroom 600 - the end of immunity - and personal stories and in Chile, Spain and Britain, a victim, a lawyer, a prosecutor, a friend, a judge.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook, Biography, Law, World War II

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2025

About the author

Philippe Sands an Anglo-French lawyer and writer. He is Professor of Law at University College London and a practicing barrister at Matrix Chambers. He has been involved in many important cases, including Pinochet, Congo, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo and the Yazadis. His books include Lawless World and Torture Team. He is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, Guardian, New York Review of Books and Vanity Fair, makes regular appearances on radio and television, and serves on the boards of English PEN and the Hay Festival.

Reviews

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philippe Sands makes great publicity for the subject of International Law. He takes a court case, adds a historical mystery (ideally involving an escaped nazi), blends in some personal memoir/travelogue, and you have a riveting and suspenseful narrative.

In this case, the legal subject is 'extradition' and the central event is Augusto Pinochet's 1998 arrest in London at the request of a Spanish judge. So the legal question we have is whether a national (not an international) court should allow the extradition requested by another national court for an international(!) crime. I am not sure how relevant that question is today, now that we have the ICC that is more or less expected to be the one issuing such arrest warrants (even when knowing full well they won't be followed up on by national governments, see Putin and Netanyahu) but Sands presents it as crucial jurisprudence being created.

Obvious political concerns play a role too for the new Blair government to deal with. Sands then uses the case of the ex-SS officer Walter Rauff - who escaped to Chile after the war and was not extradited by Chile when West-Germany requested it - to illustrate life in Chile before and after the 1973 coup. There is a mystery around Rauff as he may or may not have played an active role in Pinochet's torture, murder and disappearance programme carried out by a secret police called DINA. This connects the Rauff case with the Pinochet case. And for book lovers, the figure of Walter Rauff plays a role in several fictional writings by Bolaño especially, but also Neruda and others, that may not be as fictional as they seem.

I won't say this is great literature, but it is endlessly fascinating and it works perfect on audio read by the author.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sands writes a fascinating book about the prosecution of Augusto Pinochet for crimes against the people of Chile and others who happened to get caught up in the torture and murders perpetrated in the name of anti-communism. The book has three veins running through it.

First, we have the arrest and 16-month house arrest of the former Chilean head of state by the United Kingdom at the behest of Spain. This is a slippery slope as it leads to the potential capture of any ranking administrator of any government. It is one of those things that seems like a very good idea until one thinks of it being carried to its extremes. It potentially would allow any country to try to force its values on any other in the name of international fair play. Do not get me wrong. I am not a Pinochet supporter, but the place for him to have been tried is in Chile.

Secondly, the book is about the escape of Walter Rauff from Nazi Germany and his living openly in Chile. Rauff invented the "gas vans" used to gas Jews during WWII. During part of his time in Chile he was on the payroll of the West German government and protected by General Pinochet. Sands makes a very believable circumstantial case that Rauff was involved in the torture and execution of Chilean leftists and the disposal of their bodies at sea and though a fish meal processing plant in Patagonia. He has me convinced of the veracity of these claims. Rauff committed crimes in both countries and could have been tried under either legal system if indicted.

Third, Sands discusses the pain and anguish of the survivors of the torture and family members of the disappeared. They certainly have a right to have justice for what was done. Tied to this are those who supported the regime or believed in its goals and the minor bit players with selective amnesia. At what point does one say "only driving the van load of bodies to the fish plant" is or is not an international crime?

Sands does a very good job with a complex subject. The book is not a linear story. It jumps back and forth between Pinochet and Rauff and between events of the 70s and the present day, but it is probably the only way to tell the story. There are no easy answers in this case except for zealots. Read the book and decide for yourself.

If you want to know more about state terrorism, attempts for justice, or international criminal law this book will not disappoint.

[Marta Cava]

Trigaré molt en recuperar-me de l'impacte d'aquest llibre. Impunitat és la paraula per definir aquesta història: la de Pinochet i la de Walter Rauff, el creador de les cambres de gas que va poder viure molts anys lliure i tranquil·lament i va acabar sent còmplice del dictador xilè. Si us va agradar «La llamada» de Leila Guerriero o «No diguis res» de Patrick Radden Keefe, feu el favor de llegir-vos aquest llibre, que no n'estem parlant prou i no s'ho mereix

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not praise this wonderful book enough but I won't pretend to be anything but partisan because as a fifteen year old school boy I watched the black and white news film footage of the Chilean air force bombing La Moneda Palace as part of the coup that toppled the democratically elected Allende and supplanted it with the dictatorship of Pinochet who unleashed the horrors of torture, death and disappearance. For me what happened in September 1973 in Santiago, Chile, was one of those moments when you peer into the heart of evil and know the terror if it looked back at me. I loathed what happened, I was revolted by American involvement and Henry Kissinger living out his folie de grandeur of being a new macho Metternich by sanctioning and or ignoring the grotesque brutalities of every so-called anti-communist tin-pot dictators.

[It is incredibly deliciously pleasing to read in this book how much Kissinger's creations like Pinochet despised him and used disparaging antisemitic names for him.]

So for me there is no upside to the coup against Allende or for what Pinochet did. I find it shameful that everyone from the free market economists from Chicago University to leaders like Margaret Thatcher were happy to associate with this tyrant with the blood of thousands of deaths on his hands - all to save Chile from 'communism' - that it also enabled Pinochet to salt away over $26 million dollars in USA banks was never mentioned.

So this book by Philippe Sands looks at Pinochet - via his arrest in the UK in 1998 on extradition warrant from Spain - and also via the life and activities of Water Rauff, the fugitive Nazi responsible for creating the gas-vans which were the beginning of the systematic final solution.

Sands is excellent at ferreting out the truth or as much of the truth as can be known - particularly with regards to Rauff he is cautious, even sceptical, of much of the journalistic and other reportage about his activities which makes the cautious evidence he amasses all the more convincing - Rauff with his expertise in 'vans' and disappearing people almost certainly played a role Pinochet's horrors.

This is a splendid book - it is not narratively as straight forward as his earlier books like 'East West Street' or 'Ratline' but he is dealing with the smoke and fog of the clandestine but also recent history - like the UK's failure to extradite Pinochet in 1998. That may be ancient history to some but for many of us it is only yesterday.

[Arnau Fernández Pasalodos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Después de leer "Calle Este-Oeste" y "Ruta de escape" pensaba que Sands no podría mantener ese nivel en una nueva publicación que cerrase la trilogía. Por suerte, me he equivocado.

Tengo tantas cosas que decir de este libro que no sé por dónde empezar. Así que solo citaré el final de la página 466:

"Está muy bien investigar por razones personales", dijo el juez Carroza. "Pero que muy bien".

[Mariona · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5. Què es pot dir de Philippe Sands, i la seva obra, que no s'hagi dit encara? I si bé continuo pensant que Calle Este - Oeste és la seva millor novel·la aquesta se li apropa bastant.

Ens trobem amb un llibre que bàsicament tracta dos personatges, Walter Rauff i Augusto Pinochet, que tothom pensaria que poca relació tenen, però més aviat el contrari.

Per una banda, en el cas de Walter Rauff ens trobem amb la història de la seva vida a Chile i una investigació sobre el seu paper durant els primers anys de la dictadura (una mica semblant al que Sands ja va fer a Ruta d'Escapada).

Per altra banda, en relació amb Augusto Pinochet trobem que Sands se centra més en la seva vida a partir de l'intent d'extradició des de Londres i, a partir d'aquí, s'expliquen algunes de les atrocitats comeses pel seu Govern.

I què tenen en comú aquests dos homes? No vull fer gaires spoilers i únicament diré una: la impunitat, morir sense haver de retre comptes de les seves atrocitats.

Per finalitzar únicament m'agradaria deixar constància, igual que fa l'autor en aquestes fulles, de com és de vergonyós que inclús quan criminals internacionals estan a punt d'haver de rendir comptes apareixen els interessos polítics i nacionals que acaben tenint un major pes que no pas fer justícia a les víctimes.

[Jasmina · Rating 5 out of 5]

full disclosure, I loved East West Street and was ready to love this too, which I did.

infinitely interesting analysis of the case against Pinochet, the crimes commited during his dictatorship, and the connection between Chile and Nazis.

Sands is an engaging writer and benefits from having direct access to practically everyone who plays a key role in the story he tells.

10/10

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is such a timely read in terms of the genocide unfolding before our eyes right now, addressing questions of justice and accountability. i wish i read this instead of listening to the audiobook because there are so many details that get lost in me but would be better absorbed reading the physical text but excellent nonetheless. i think everyone should read this book

[Berta · Rating 5 out of 5]

sands explica en aquest llibre la història (o, més aviat, la impunitat) del dictador Pinochet i del nazi Walther Rauff, realitzant a la mateixa vegada un interessantíssim anàlisi sobre el dret internacional que es va tractar en els intents de jutjar a ambdós individus; dos temes que a mi m’encanten, però ho fa d’una manera tan senzilla que t’atrapa fins el final

una se sent impotent de veure com al final la justícia sempre serà influenciada per la política, i com la maldat (o la fredor, com la majoria dels testimonis ho defineixen) de persones com Pinochet o Rauff podrà continuar sent defensada tot i haver causat la mort i el dolor a tantíssimes persones

en fi, us el recomano molt!!!!

[Andrei Vylinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 really.
An idiosyncratic, forked narrative, both parts of which are good - though, mind you, not linked conclusively until the very end of the book, which is one of its many points.

One part is the story of the legal battle around Pinochet's arrest in the UK as it unfolded back in 1998-2000, with an almost equally detailed description of how Pinochet's regime terrorised Chileans into obedience through the 1970-80s as its historical context. The other is the life of Walther Rauff, a mid-ranking SS officer responsible for the infamous mobile gas chambers and other war crimes during WW2, who eventually found refuge in Chile, was never extradited anywhere, and died there (almost) peacefully, his past seemingly haunting him but never to the extent of bringing him any real trouble.

Philippe Sands is exactly the narrator who can make both parts insightful and quite gripping even when describing intricate details of international law, English legal system, relations between the UK, Spain, and Chile, or, indeed, of the life of an ageing Nazi officer.

But it's not exactly the skillful compilation of facts that makes this book great. It's the deeper nature of it, which is a sort of practical meditation on impunity, its legal and historical limits and how they can be challenged. And what happens to our ability to tell a coherent narrative of ourselves, which is what what history, law, and literature are, when, for some reason or another, we can't challenge them.

These two parts, the legal and the biographical one, are actually seeking the answers to this last question.

The legal part eventually turns into the story of initiating incremental, almost geological changes to the law which don't bring justice by themselves but only make it more possible. That is, to put it bluntly, it confirms that dictators and major perpetrators, whichever of them you may think of now, won't be prosecuted for their crimes, at least not when they are still alive and retain at least some power - though the Pinochet case indeed made it possible to prosecute some of them, like Milošević or Hussein, when they lose it. Which isn't much of a resolution but anyway.

It is the Walther Rauff part, though only by the end of the book, that makes this good book truly great. What starts as a biographical sketch, somehow evolves into a weirdly optimistic piece of forensic journalism which shows Chile as a tangle of places inhabited by people who had been affected and shaped by evil they had failed to stop or comprehend - the genocide of aboriginal peoples, disappearances and torture of innocent people during the Pinochet era - and who are now doing what they can to deal with the absences, silences, wounds, and violent absurdities left by it.

Which sounds quite like a Bolano novel, and for a good reason: Bolano and his books actually do appear early in the text. The infamous mansion at Via Naranja is the house where parties where held in By Night in Chile, and Walther Rauff himself appears in one of the stories in Nazi Literature in the Americas together with the most eerie, desperate, and despicable places of crime visited by Philippe Sands, Colonia Dignidad - it alone would have been enough for me personally to despise the Pinochet regime, and he describes plenty more. The difference between his work and that of Robert Bolano is that Bolano merged fact with fiction to grasp the truth and Philippe Sands eventually uncouples them to find it, i.e. to establish more or less certainly that Walther Rauff indeed directly participated in the terror campaign which Pinochet started on the day one of his coup and never ended during his reign.

Or, to put it bluntly, take care of low-ranking enablers and culprits - it's one of them who will tell the truth we all need to know when the murder facilities has been torn down and everybody else has been exiled, or silenced, or disappeared, tortured to death and thrown into the sea.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story of Chilean Dictator Pinochet in London and Nazis in Chile. This is quite a technical read with chapters on legal thinking and procedures. However the author gives close examination as to how it all unfolded. Real life never ties up in a neat ending.

[Laura González Ugalde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble lectura. Aprendí muchísimos detalles sobre la detención de Pinochet en Londres y la vida de Rauff en Chile. Sands realiza una revisión exhaustiva y logra explicar en un lenguaje más cotidiano los aspectos del derecho internacional que aplicaron en ambos casos. Recomendadísimo!

[Dani Vilaró · Rating 4 out of 5]

‪Com funciona la impunitat? El llibre ho explica a partir de les vides creuades de Pinochet, centrant-se en l'episodi de la seva detenció a Londres el 1998 per ser extradit a Espanya, i la d'un vell nazi fugit a Xile. Quina relació tenien tots dos? Es coneixien? Va col·laborar Rauff (el nazi) amb la repressió desfermada al país després del cop de 1973?

Sands parla i s'entrevista amb molta gent, visita molts llocs (alguns són terribles, pel seu passat com a centres de detenció i tortura ) i entrega un llibre absorbent i aclaridor, que en alguns moments es llegeix amb un nus a la gola...

Molt ben documentat i també amb molt bones reflexions sobre la impunitat / immunitat de caps d'estat i governants davant de crims gravíssims i sobre els instruments del dret internacional per posar-hi fi. 500 pàgines que t'empasses gairebé sense adonar-te'n.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Llegir Carrer Londres 38 és tornar a topar amb la mateixa història de sempre: dictadors i botxins que sembren l’odi i el dolor, i que mai paguen pels seus crims. És la vergonya d’aquest món: quanta impunitat! Fa ràbia, molta ràbia, comprovar que la injustícia encara és la norma.

[Jason P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philippe Sands writes these amazing personal accounts of journeys through history and law viewed through the lens of devastation wrought by killers like Augusto Pinochet and Adolf Hitler. It’s amazing to think Chile is still grappling with the terrors of state-sanctioned murder carried out a half century ago. And that - as Sands discovers - a key Nazi was involved in the bureaucracy of those horrors. A great read. And sadly - questions of immunity and impunity are still timely.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philippe Sands has such a unique ability to bring to life complex legal theory and procedure – in 38 Londres Street he not only turns Pinochet's extradition hearing into a genuine page-turner, but blends it so sensitively with the human stories behind the fight for justice. The book raises such interesting (and relevant) questions about the nature of justice, impunity, and if/how societies can recover from mass atrocity violence.

[Tilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This treads the line between dry legal text and top level overview well, although does require more effort to read than some casual books. Overall, I am once again hot with outrage (as I was after listening to The Ratline) about all the Nazis escaped to South America and lived free. And in this case had opportunity to torture and kill again.

Side note, I love the casual name drops that Sands makes in this book, that it’s not of celebs but these high up legal figures.

[Alejandro Koppmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro que se lee en un suspiro. Phillipe Sands estuvo en todos los escenarios y pudo hablar con casi todo el mundo involucrado en la historia. Muy recomendable y buen cierre para la trilogía que comienza con “Calle Este Oeste” y sigue con “Ruta de escape” Seguro estará entre los libros de 2025.

[Jane Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent investigative, personalised, non-fiction account (a genre I might have just coined a name for!) of the judicial processes around the proposed extradition of Pinochet from Britain to Spain in the late 1990s. Philippe Sands skilfully weaves another investigation into his immaculately researched book, that of his own enquiries into the role played by the German Nazi Walther Rauff in Pinochet's infamous DINA. This was the Direction of National Intelligence, a Gestapo-like secret police department responsible for deaths, 'disappearances', executions and torture under Pinochet's direct orders.
This book is the last of Philippe Sands' trilogy about the processes and uses of the law to try to bring Nazis, (and Pinochet) to justice. The trilogy includes 'East West Street', following Sands' family's secret history and culminating in the Nuremberg trials; and 'The Ratline' about the daily life of a Nazi SS officer which includes a section on the eponymous Nazi escape network.
38 Londres Street is a fascinating but not an easy read - or listen, in my case as I heard Sands himself reading it, and reading it well, on Audible. Some of the intricacies of British and international law and their procedures were a little hard to understand, for me at least, and I was glad of the 30 second rewind button! However, that didn't put me off and I was amazed and impressed by the sheer depth and quality of the research Sands and his team had put in to try to trace the elusive, cautious and secretive Walther Rauff, who'd created a new life for himself in Punta Arenas, southern Chile, as manager of a king crab canning factory. I went to Punta Arenas 2 years ago and could visualise the places Sands visited, the landscape and the shore areas where Rauff worked. The book is very well written with enough description and personal reflection to prevent it being dry, and in some sections reads like a pacy thriller.
38 Londres Street, or Calle Londres is in the centre of Santiago and was a torture and interrogation centre from which at least 94 political prisoners disappeared. Sands aims to link Rauff with the interrogations at this site, hence the title as this building could be seen to be the epicentre of the connections between Pinochet and Rauff.
I visited Calle Londres last week, just after finishing the book, at the end of my second trip to Chile. It was chilling to stand on the cobbles outside and recall what had happened there. The place has been declared a Historical Monument with a memorial plaque and, similar to the 'stumbling stones' in Berlin, the names of the dead and disappeared are immortalised in brass 'cobbles' on the street outside.
I recommend this book to those interested in modern history; international law and its changing jurisdictions; justice and an exploration of what that actually means and how it can be meted out; international relations, political cynicism and expediency; the definition of evil; society's responses to atrocities; impunity and immunity - what they are and how they can be manipulated.
Overall, an extremely thought- provoking, challenging and worthwhile read.

[Aljosa Ajanovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

En la línia de les altres novel·les/investigacions de Sands, l'autor - un important advocat de dret internacional - fa una brillant dissecció, en aquest cas, de com les normes internacionals apliquen a la possibilitat d'extradir i jutjar criminals. En aquest cas, es basa en la petició d'Alemanya d'extradir el nazi Walter Rauff els anys 60, i d'Espanya per extradir el general colpista Augusto Pinochet l'any 98.

Com en els altres llibres de Sands, els detalls sobre les interioritats d'aquests casos tan rellevants son apassionants, com ho és també el talent que té l'autor per anar trobant i construint connexions entre els protagonistes.

A diferència de "Calle Este-Oeste", que recomanaria a tothom i que és la seva obra mestra, en aquest cas m'ha semblat un llibre molt tècnic a nivell jurídic, pel que pot avorrir a qui no estigui versat o interessat en aquest àmbit.

Com amb tots els seus llibres, he après molt, aquí sobre els casos d'impunitat de nazis a sudamèrica i sobre la dictadura de Pinochet i els seus crims. És un llibre que et fa passar la meitat de l'estona llegint, i l'altra buscant noms o moments històrics a la viquipèdia, la qual cosa personalment m'encanta.

La traducció de l'anglès és a estones, erròniament, una mica literal, però si parles anglès ho pilles a l'instant.

[Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un monumento al periodismo de investigación y una clase magistral de derecho internacional, historia e impunidad narrada magistralmente.

Me llevó de vuelta a La Llamada de Leila Guerriero, la película Spotlight y creo que a la serie Homeland en algún momento.

Un disfrute de lectura aun cuando la temática pertenezca a algunas de las horas más oscuras de la humanidad

[Miquel Oliveras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tot i que hi ha moments on la xapa jurídica és intensa, és un llibre accessible, ameno i fàcil de llegir. Dona per pensar la quantitat de coses que han passat a la nostra història i que no sóm conscient d’elles.

[Miguel Utreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una gran investigación. Se lee como thriller, crónica, novela histórica. Investigación profunda, presencial, directa. Muy recomendado

[Lydia Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowwwww

[Julián Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es un viaje ágil y rápido por parte de la historia reciente de Chile. El fin de la dictadura de Pinochet todavía resuena en muchos y la conexión de esta historia con el escape de nazis de Alemania después de la Segunda Guerra, hace la historia muy entretenida e interesante.

El libro se lee como una crónica judicial, en parte (me recordó un poco V13 de Carrere), pero se intercalan historias personales, entrevistas breves e investigación documental que hacen que las páginas pasen volando. Muy entretenido, a ratos un poco angustiante conociendo el desenlace, pero muy bien escrito.

[Alva Lundquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

En av de bästa böckerna jag läst på länge. Boken kräver ett intresse för internationell rätt men är otroligt välskriven och lätt att plöja. Bitvis frustrerande läsning om svårigheterna med ansvarsutkrävande och att döma människor för brott mot mänskliga rättigheter, lika relevant för saker som sker idag som för 50 år sen.

[Oriol Lladó · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una investigació impressionant, retrat d'immunitats i impunitats, que lliga el cas de Pinochet i un criminal nazi 'amagat' a Xile. A mig camí del reportatge periodístic, l'assaig jurídic (l'autor és advocat i va viure com a tal la detenció i procés d'extradició del dictador) i memòria personal.

[Pablo E · Rating 4 out of 5]

En simultáneo en todo el mundo se lanzó el mes pasado “38 Londres Street”, el nuevo trabajo de investigación del profesor Philippe Sands, quien a estas alturas un especialista en recuperar relatos vinculadas a episodios negros en temas de DDHH. En esta oportunidad, su trabajo lo lleva a Chile y a dos historias marcadas por la impunidad. La primera de ellas es la figura del general Pinochet, y cómo logró eludir a la justicia durante su periodo de detención en Londres en 1998. El otro, Walter Rauff, uno de los nazis más peligrosos y responsable del diseño de las camionetas con gas para asesinar a los detenidos en los campos de concentración.Rauss, gracias a las “rutas de escape” que utilizaban los SS para llegar a sudamérica (un tema abordado por Sands precisamente en un libro del mismo nombre), logró construir una vida tranquila en Chile ayudado por Pinochet, sin embargo su rol cooperando con la DINA en los procedimientos de tortura de detenidos es algo que no se había estudiado profundamente. Hasta ahora.

“Judge Carroza turned to me. Why was I interested in this story, and Rauff’s role in the crimes of Augusto Pinochet?
It was a decent question. It began with the law, how the crimes invented for Nuremberg were taken forward, the interplay between the immunity and impunity. There was too a personal connection, my involvement in Pinochet’s case in London, my feelings about the outcome and the circumstances of his return, and the discovery of a family connection through my wife, with the killing of Carmelo Soria. Then another personal connection, as I discovered, along the way, that one of the many murdered in Rauff’s vans in Poland was Herta Gruber. She was twelve years old, my mother’s older cousin”.

[Jim KABLE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pinochet - Torturer and Murderer - Friend of Thatcher.

Philippe Sands is meticulous and forensic in his search for the truth about Pinochet and his evil-doing in Chile - and beyond - and his connections to Walther Rauff - the Nazi who developed the vans first used in extermination before the gas chambers and who advised on such things to the Pinochet regime and the concentration camp constructed on Dawson Island across the waters from Punta Arenas. Chilling.

[James Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyed the legal bits and extradition. Otherwise a bit mixed and confused on parts of the narrative; it also felt a bit light on historical detail. Although appreciate its equally a personal account and perspective.