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Gods of Death
An investigative journalist travels from Thailand to France to suburban America in search of the shocking world of snuff pornography, describing this small, fragmented, but very real business that trades in illicit sex and death. 75,000 first printing. Tour.
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 1997
73 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 31, 2012
slightly dim friend recommended this to me. should be obvious to anyone with even the most nascent critical thinking skills that is is a) completely fabricated horseshit and b) the author is a pathetic parasitic blowhard, in addition to being a first class liar-liar-pants-on-fire, he also wants to convince you how badass he is. i would rather have this book thrown at me than have to read it again.
March 12, 2012
In my never ending quest for disturbing literature, I stumbled across this book. Published as non-fiction, it reads like some sort of school boy fantasy. And that's being kind.
Yaron Svoray claims to be an investigative journalist but if this book is any indication, my guess is that he's a journalist in the same way Rush Limbaugh is. The book is written in a breathless break-neck style even though very little actually happens. While there is a lot of speculation over whether or not true snuff films exist, the author does little to shed any light on the subject.
In the end, you're better off watching 8MM. More entertaining and probably closer to the truth than this schlocky novel.
Yaron Svoray claims to be an investigative journalist but if this book is any indication, my guess is that he's a journalist in the same way Rush Limbaugh is. The book is written in a breathless break-neck style even though very little actually happens. While there is a lot of speculation over whether or not true snuff films exist, the author does little to shed any light on the subject.
In the end, you're better off watching 8MM. More entertaining and probably closer to the truth than this schlocky novel.
April 24, 2014
Rating: 3.5
This book was not exactly what I was expecting. I expected a more academic book, but this was more memoir of an an ex-cop turned journalist, who was working undercover to find a snuff film to expose the criminal scene.
TW: Sometimes gave graphic descriptions of snuff films (video taped rape and murder), so don't read this if it will upset you a lot.
I'm not gonna lie, it was hard to read sometimes, but I feel like something has to be done, realistically, and what better way to read the experiences behind enemy lines.
This book was not exactly what I was expecting. I expected a more academic book, but this was more memoir of an an ex-cop turned journalist, who was working undercover to find a snuff film to expose the criminal scene.
TW: Sometimes gave graphic descriptions of snuff films (video taped rape and murder), so don't read this if it will upset you a lot.
I'm not gonna lie, it was hard to read sometimes, but I feel like something has to be done, realistically, and what better way to read the experiences behind enemy lines.
September 3, 2024
Transparently fake and utterly uninteresting. Svoray seems desperate to be both a thriller author and a thriller protagonist, but the closest he can get is this self-aggrandising, poorly-written attempt at a book.
January 9, 2022
Given to me by a friend who I don’t think read any of it, otherwise why would you recommend this failure of a book. Super amateurish writing, with seriously embarrassing dialog made up solely of cliches. Just a totally aenemic, undeveloped narrative that reads like any of a thousand forgotten low-budget daytime detective movies. Nothing feels REAL about this book - it just comes across as totally fabricated, like something someone sat down at their laptop and pounded out in an afternoon for a quick paycheck. There’s no evidence of any research done; it clumsily unfolds like the cheap bargain bin paperback it is, with a total absence of authenticity. And it took two people to write this. I made it through the first 4 chapters, skipped ahead to the Robert DeNiro one, then was so annoyed I had to come on Goodreads to warn other people against reading this schlock. Thoroughly unbelievable. I want my time back. Zero stars.
June 27, 2015
I have mixed feelings regarding this book.
On one hand, I can't deny that it's a pretty captivating read. I bought this because I was intrigued by the premise of the book. I had recently read a story on r/nosleep about snuff films and was surprised to see a book about a journalist investigating this kind of films in real life.
Yaron Svoray writes well, I'll give him that. I almost couldn't put this down once I started reading it, because I just wanted to get to the end already. Not because it was bad, mind you, but because the whole thing was quite frustrating. Yes, it was interesting, yes, it was captivating, but it was also very, very frustrating and unsatisfying. I also found myself torn between liking Svoray and outright hating the way he treated the people around him. (Ex. ) He is described in the book as a "hero", but his attitude simply sucked majority of the time. Seriously, there were times when it seemed like he was more concerned about how he was presented to other people than the actual "mission" at hand. At least, that's how he seemed to me. He does have some endearing qualities, but I found myself distracted by his attitude for the most parts of the book.
But anyway, personal dislikes aside, I did like the book. I like the way it was written, at the very least. Although it seemed more like crime fiction to me, actually, with just some basis in the truth. If you're interested in crime novels and/or investigative journalism, in general, then you might like this book. I sure don't regret reading it. It was quite interesting, after all. If you get easily bothered by NSFW talk, though, then you might want to skip this one. There are a lot of graphic NSFW descriptions, which did bother me at times.
P.S. The epilogue was pretty great. That was my favorite part of the book, even though it was also the least believable part for me.
On one hand, I can't deny that it's a pretty captivating read. I bought this because I was intrigued by the premise of the book. I had recently read a story on r/nosleep about snuff films and was surprised to see a book about a journalist investigating this kind of films in real life.
Yaron Svoray writes well, I'll give him that. I almost couldn't put this down once I started reading it, because I just wanted to get to the end already. Not because it was bad, mind you, but because the whole thing was quite frustrating. Yes, it was interesting, yes, it was captivating, but it was also very, very frustrating and unsatisfying. I also found myself torn between liking Svoray and outright hating the way he treated the people around him. (Ex. ) He is described in the book as a "hero", but his attitude simply sucked majority of the time. Seriously, there were times when it seemed like he was more concerned about how he was presented to other people than the actual "mission" at hand. At least, that's how he seemed to me. He does have some endearing qualities, but I found myself distracted by his attitude for the most parts of the book.
But anyway, personal dislikes aside, I did like the book. I like the way it was written, at the very least. Although it seemed more like crime fiction to me, actually, with just some basis in the truth. If you're interested in crime novels and/or investigative journalism, in general, then you might like this book. I sure don't regret reading it. It was quite interesting, after all. If you get easily bothered by NSFW talk, though, then you might want to skip this one. There are a lot of graphic NSFW descriptions, which did bother me at times.
P.S. The epilogue was pretty great. That was my favorite part of the book, even though it was also the least believable part for me.
January 20, 2012
Israeli cop turned journalist attempts to infiltrate the sexually criminal realm of Europe and Asia to prove the existence of snuff films by obtaining one. The author tries to convey himself as a moral superhero, but I'm not fooled. He must of left out a wealth of self incriminating, sexually deviant information. A good read, but could have been much more interesting if it were a fictional exaggeration of criminal reality.
August 16, 2013
I kept waiting for some extraordinary epiphany to happen, but it never did. Svoray seems to have the primary goal of validating that snuff films do exist, which he most strongly proves in the first few lines of the book. The rest of the story is sort of fluffy, vague, and if anything, takes away from his initial argument.
June 16, 2011
I didn't believe a word of it.
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September 21, 2023dnf @ 10%, the other reviews explain very well why this book is not it
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews