Hunting the Devil: The Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History

by Richard Lourie

Twelve years of unimaginable depravity. Ten days to obtain suspect Andrei Chikatilo's confession or he goes free. Certain to join the classic accounts of true crime, Hunting the Devil is the story of how a master detective, an expert in the psychology of serial killers, ensnares a cunning, seemingly bland, but terrifying psychopath. Fifty-three frenzied murders of women and children, involving mutilation and sexual cannibalism. Not a single witness. Not a shred of evidence. A terrified populace. An incompetent local investigation. This is the challenge facing Chief Inspector Issa Kostoev, head of Russia's Department of Crimes of Special Importance, when he is assigned to the case. Five years later, in 1990, after extraordinary efforts, his hunt comes to a taut climax when he locks eyes with his prisoner. Interrogation - the most intricate game of all - is about to begin, played by two, alone for ten days in a bare room, the stakes freedom or death. Richard Lourie has had the exclusive cooperation of Chief Inspector Kostoev in the writing of this book and unrivaled access to most of the other personalities involved in the case. His own deep knowledge of Russia and its people has informed his account, a relentlessly paced story of crime and punishment in a collapsing society. Hunting the Devil is a remarkable book: an absorbing story of the brilliant detective work that finally chained a ravenous, unspeakable evil.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Biography, Russia, Serial Killer

263 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! Really sick, depraved serial killer in communist Russia where everybody knows there are no serial killers, right?
The dude is a downright butcher! And gets away with it for years. The detective on his trail gets zero support from his government because of course they don’t want to admit the murderer even exists. The FBI are so impressed with him once the case is solved they interview him about his investigative techniques.

[Петър Стойков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Чекатило е известен сериен убиец и изнасилвач на деца, и канибал, действал в предолъжение на 20 години в СССР. Така както историята му се разказва(ше) по медиите изглежда, че е убивал необезпокояван и никой не се е усетил чак до края. Което изобщо не е вярно.

На властта е известно, че нещо се мъти в тая област на Украйна (тогава Украинска ССР) още след първите няколко убийства. Специален разследващ екип на милицията и прокуратурата действа години наред и се опитва да го хване, но успява чак през 1990 г.

Авторът Ричард Лоури написва книгата въз основа на, според мен, доста детайлно изследване на наличните документи, както и на задълбочени интервюта с някои от работещите по случая, вкл. арестуващият офицер Иса Костоев. Описанието на действието е достатъчно художествено, за да е интересно и в същото време достатъчно фактологично. Наблегнато е на психилогическият профил на Чекатило и на емоциите и мисленето, които се предполага, че са го движили по време на престъпленията му.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating detective story that happens to be true. It would be hard to write a dull book about Andrei Chikatilo, but the way the author drew his characters really gripped me -- as did his horrific examples of the corruption and incompetence within the Soviet criminal justice system, which among other things lead an innocent man to be convicted of one of Chikatilo's murders and executed.

A word of warning: the book is as much about Inspector Kostoev (who was in charge of the task force to find Chikatilo and who eventually wrung a confession out of him) as it is about Chikatilo and his crimes. It goes into great detail about Kostoev's background, childhood, etc. I found it all very interesting but others may just want to read about the murders. Most of the Kostoev biography can be skipped if you really don't want to read it.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in conjunction with Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer, and the parallax view was fascinating.

Lourie is a little too "human interest" for my taste: he's actually much more interested in the biography of the man who organized and led the search for Chikatilo than he is either in Chikatilo or his crimes. Now, I agree with him, Issa Magamedovich Kostoev, the head of Russia's Department of Crimes of Special Importance, is a much more interesting person than Chikatilo, and Lourie could actually have done more than he did with the parallels between the two men. Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (who was executed the year after both this book and Comrade Chikatilo were published) was ethnic Ukrainian and, being born in 1936, lived through the years when Ukraine was being kicked around Europe like an old soccer ball. His mother told him stories of his older brother Stepan, killed and eaten by starving Ukrainians before Chikatilo was born. (The problem with this story is that, although Chikatilo's sister also remembers their mother's vivid recounting of Stepan's death, no one else remembers it happening, and there are no records of a Stepan Romanovich Chikatilo, eaten by cannibals or otherwise.) Chikatilo wanted to go to law school, but his father committed the terrible crime of surviving being a POW in WWII, which in Stalin's insane troll logic made him a traitor. So Chikatilo became a teacher and then a supply clerk, married, had two children, and in 1978 started raping, killing, and mutilating girls, boys, and young women.

Issa Magamedovich Kostoev is ethnic Ingush, which in Stalin's insane troll logic made him and his entire nation traitors. He lived through two "resettlements" (in which three of his siblings died), and clawed his way up, by virtue of being smart and aggressive, to the point that he could in fact go to law school; he also had the sense, unlike Chikatilo, not to try for Moscow, knowing it was pointless. (Kostoev's dream was actually to become a test pilot, but he got thrown out of the stiff competition for admission for brawling.) Kostoev became a master interrogator, solved a number of difficult cases (including indicting basically the entire legal and judicial structure of Rostov-on-Don for corruption), and became head of the Department of Crimes of Special Importance. And got handed the dreadful clusterfuck that was the investigation of the serial killer working in Rostov-on-Don.

Putting Kostoev and Chikatilo side by side makes mincemeat of most of Chikatilo's attempts at self-exculpation. Chikatilo had an awful childhood? So did Kostoev. Chikatilo was denied his heart's desire? So was Kostoev. It's that old unanswerable question of why some people are able to choose not to do evil. And in some cases, like Kostoev, become illuminated inside with the desire to do good.

Like I said, Lourie could have done more with that.

He does do a good job of following Kostoev's Herculean achievement in actually catching Chikatilo, and in putting both Chikatilo's career as a murderer and Kostoev's career as an investigator in context with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the transition from Stalinist corruption, paranoia, and mindless bureaucracy to glasnost--which if not a miracle panacea at least brought a new set of problems to the table. His version of the inside of Chikatilo's head is based on imagery and metaphor, but is in its own way effective. I have no idea if his version of Kostoev is an accurate portrait of the real human being, but he does make him a splendid protagonist.

[Miles Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining and well-written account of the hunt for, capture, and trial of Andrei Chikitillo, an incredibly prolific serial killer who haunted the Soviet Union for decades, murdering and partially cannibalizing his young victims. It is a classic literary, rather than a procedural, study in the contrast between the killer and the cop who hunts him. Kostoyev, the cop, is a member of a despised minority that was cruelly "relocated" during Stalin's purges, and haunted by the memories of starvation and oppression at the hands of his own country; Chikatillo, the killer, is a faithful communist, a husband and father, who suffers grievously from poor eyesight and sexual dysfunction, leading to a feeling that "he was born without eyes or genitals" that pushes him into a kind of calculating madness. Kostoyev, a thorough and incorruptible policeman, follows a seemingly endless trail of mutilated corpses for years, while simultaneously battling the corruption and inertia of the Soviet government, which insisted serial killers were a decadent phenomenon and couldn't occur in the Socialist paradise. Chikatallo wreaks horrible vengeance on random strangers, mostly children, for the wrongs he feels have been done to him by the system and by life itself.

This book is notable more for its take on the cop-killer relationship and the culture of the Soviet Union and specifically Kostoyev's own Inguish culture, than for its scholarship per se. Author Richard Lourie is setting a piece, a period piece and a character piece, but also an atmospheric piece unique to one land, a sort of travelogue similar to THE GREAT RED TRAIN RIDE, except it's drenched in blood. Chikatillo, book smart but impotent, well educated but drab and forgettable, a loyal communist unrewarded by communism who was easily bullied and full of homicidal rage, is a near-perfect metaphor for the Soviet system during its declining -- "stagnant" years under Brezhnev, where problems were masked with coat after coat of lying propaganda until they burst like overfilled boils. On the other hand, Kostoyev, a dogged but highly competent servant of the state that massacred half his family, is defeated by Chikatillo for years because he must spend half of his time and energy trying to force the rusted organs of Soviet justice into action.

I found this book quite good and informative, with a number of interesting insights on human nature good and bad, if a little abrupt at the very end. One crucial part of the story I'd have liked to have seen explored a little more is the role of Buchanovsky, the psychiatrist who claimed to be the man who made Chikatillo confess, and was lionized by Max von Sydow's portrayal of him in HBO's very entertaining, but evidently factually horrific "Citizen X." Lourie tells a different story, painting Buchanovsky as a self-aggrandizing charlatan who took credit where it wasn't due and rewrote history to serve his ego and pocketbook. Who is correct? And why is there no account of Chitatillo's execution? After following him through 55 gruesome murders, the audience has a right to follow him to the death chamber. This aside, I thought HUNTING THE DEVIL well worth my time and think it would be well worth yours.

[Juanita · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was UNPUTDOWNABLE. It gave just enough details of this madman to keep one involved, and just enough detail to explain why he got away with these murders for 12 years. It was almost entirely frustrating, since there were times when it seemed they'd NEVER find this dude! The judicial system in Russia seemed quite a bit more ... speedy than we have experienced: when a man is found guilty, he is immediately taken to a cell and shot. I can't deny that I was thankful for that. Awesome read and only 252 pages.

[Evione · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrej Romanovics Csikatilo a világ egyik legismertebb és legkegyetlenebb sorozatgyilkosa 1936-ban született egy ukrán falucskában. Oly sok ukrán paraszti családhoz hasonlóan a Csikatilo-familia is elszenvedője volt a holodomornak. Sőt, Csikatilo anyja szerint a család legidősebb fiúgyermeke, Sztyepan az éhínség idején kannibalizmus áldozata lett. Egyébként Sztyepan létezésére nincs semmi bizonyíték, arra viszont igen, hogy az édesanya gyakran rémisztgette ezzel a sztorival a gyerekeit, ami mély nyomott hagyott Andrej nevű fiában.
Andrej Csikatilo sokáig egyszerű életet élt, nagyon az élettörténetére egyébként nem akarok kitérni, talán annyit érdemes kiemelni, hogy az iskolában viszonylag sok bántalmazás érte, a társai kirekesztették és sokat gúnyolódtak rajta, mindezt azzal próbálta ellensúlyozni, hogy rengeteg tanult. Érettségi után megpróbált felvételt nyerni a Moszkvai Állami Egyetemre, de nem vették fel. Szerinte azért, mert apját árulónak bélyegezték, miután visszatért a hadifogságból, így kvázi a rendszer ellenségének számított, de más helyen úgy olvastam, hogy valójában Csikatilo nem érte el a kellő pontszámot. Ezeket csak azért emelem ki, mert Csikatilo, oly sok sorozatgyilkoshoz hasonlóan, a körülmények áldozatának tartotta magát, akinek folyamatosan mindenféle igazságtalanságot kell elszenvednie.
Végül a Rosztovi Állami Egyetem levelezős szakán végzett orosz nyelv és irodalom szakon, ami lehetővé tette, hogy tanárként vállaljon munkát. Itt kezdődtek igazán a gondok, ugyanis Csikatilo elég sokszor molesztált gyerekeket és leskelődött a lánymosdókban, ennek ellenére, számomra teljesen megdöbbentő módon minden ilyen botrány után simán taníthatott tovább, maximum az adott iskolából küldték el. Végül 1981-ben (pont az első gyilkosság évében), miután egyre több panasz érkezett ellene, kénytelen volt befejezni a tanári pályafutását, ezután anyagbeszerzőként kezdett dolgozni. Munkája miatt sokat utazott buszon és vonaton, – egy-két kivételtől eltekintve – ezeken a járatokon és a különböző állomásokon, valamint pályaudvarokon vadászott áldozataira. Mindig igyekezett egy törékeny, idős ember benyomását kelteni, nagyon könnyen és hamar ki tudta szúrni, hogy ki az a fiatal fiú vagy lány, akit valami banális ürüggyel el tud csalni a tömegből, mindig valami fás, erdős részre, távol a kíváncsi tekintetektől. Nem véletlen írtam az értékelés elején, hogy Csikatilo az egyik legkegyetlenebb sorozatgyilkos volt, a bestiálisnál nem létezik találóbb szó arra, amit áldozatokkal művelt, gyakran evett is belőlük, bár ezt utólag igyekezett tagadni.
Csikatilo összesen 56 embert ölt és kínzott meg és a szomorú helyzet az, hogy ebből 55 biztosan megmenekülhetett volna, ugyanis a rosztovi rémet már rögtön az első gyilkosság után letartoztatták, mint lehetséges elkövetőt, azonban a rendőrség mégis elengedte egy olyan apróság miatt, amit nagyon egyszerű lett volna ellenőrizni. Helyette egy – ebben a bűncselekményben – teljesen ártatlan embert vádoltak meg, akit egyébként halálra is ítéltek. Csikatilo pedig háborítatlanul folytathatta, amit éppen csak elkezdett.
Ha nincs Issza Kosztojev nyomozó, akit egyébként 1985-ben rendeltek Rosztovba a nyomozás felügyeletére, Csikatilo valószínűleg haláláig folytatta volna a gyilkosságokat. Még Kosztojevnek is 5 év kellett ahhoz, hogy elfogja a rosztovi rémet. Semmilyen szempontból sem volt könnyű dolga, főleg a helyi rendőri erőkkel gyűlt meg a baja, akikre az inkompetens jelző talán enyhe kifejezés.
A könyv találóan párhuzamba állította a Csikatilot és Kosztojevet, főleg, ami a gyerekkori traumákat illeti, ugyanis Kosztojevnek sem volt egyszerű élete. A negyvenes évek végén Sztálin egyszerűen kitelepítette az ingus népet Kazahsztánba és az ingusok földjét az oszétoknak adta. Kosztojevnek is része volt éhezésben, szegénységben és megaláztatásban, két testvére is elhunyt a száműzetés során, az anyját egy munkafelügyelő a szeme láttára korbácsolta meg. Belőle is lehetett volna kegyetlen sorozatgyilkos, de ő a benne rejlő haragot motivációnak használta és nem hagyta, hogy a gyűlölet irányítsa az életét és a tetteit.
Kosztojev egyébként mesterien csalta be Csikatilot abba a kelepcébe, miszerint esélye van arra, hogy beszámíthatatlannak nyilvánítsák, így elkerülheti a halálbüntetést, ezért Csikatilo részletes beismerő vallomást tett. Csak később jött rá arra, hogy csőbehúzták, de akkor már mindegy volt. Csikatilo igyekezett a lehető legtöbbször kisiklatni a tárgyalást, egy alkalommal pl. lehúzta a nadrágját, valószínűleg így próbálta elmebeteg benyomását kelteni. A tárgyalás amúgy is inkább hasonlított cirkuszi előadásra, mint tárgyalásra. Végül Csikatilot halálra ítélték, de sajnos csak 53 személy meggyilkolását lehetett rábizonyítani. Csikatilot 1994-ben végezték ki.

Összességében Richard Lourie könyvét érdemes elolvasni azoknak, akiket érdekel ez a téma, mert jól összefoglalja az eseményeket. Nem mondom, lehetne az ügyet tekintve részletesebb is. Sajnos a mindössze 236 oldalas terjedelem ellenére vannak a könyvben olyan részletek, amik szerintem nem tartoznak ide és teljesen felesleges volt írni róluk. Ellenben írhatott volna többet az áldozatokról (és itt nem a vérben tocsogós részek érdekelnének, hanem maguk az áldozatok), mert nagyon kevés szó esik róluk, a legtöbb még csak név szerint sincs megemlítve, ami szomorú. Tudom, hogy sokan voltak, de legalább annyival megtisztelhette volna őket a szerző, hogy a könyv végén ír róluk legalább egy listát minimális információval, mert ez az ő történetük is, nemcsak a gyilkosé és a nyomozóé.

[James Varney · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of two good books on the hunt for Andrei Chikatilo, one of history's most vile killers who preyed on youngsters and got away with it in the Soviet Union in the 1980s/1990s. Chikatilo dodged investigators for so long, in part, because the Soviet Union had layers of law enforcement (not unlike us these days) which did not always cooperate with each other and over which the Communist Party trumped all. Plus, the layers of paranoia the USSR's history coated everyone and every thing like a grim, heavy blanket. Lourie's hero is Chief Inspector Issa Kostoev, head of Russia's "Department of Crimes of Special Importance." As is so often the case in serial killer investigations, the bad guy has come up on the cops' radar before and for one reason or another, ranging from incompetence to ineptitude to bad luck, slipped past.

Between "Hunting the Devil" and "The Killer Department," the other main book on the hunt for Chikatilo, I don't see a lot of daylight. Both are reasonably well written, both have a fascinating topic, and both unfold over a landscape of poverty and fear. For true crime or Russian history fans, both books should prove worthwhile.

[Matilda Persson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tjikatilo är onekligen en intressant mördare att läsa om och det var framförallt delarna om morden och förhören med Tjikatilo som fick mig att vilja läsa vidare. Men hela storylinen med Kostojev ger jag inte mycket för. Vet inte riktigt vad jag ska göra med informationen om hans bakgrund, familj och liv. Och hela ”Nu ska vi berätta lite om hur det såg ut i Ryssland på den här tiden” läste jag bara för att komma vidare i boken.

Skulle säga att ”Massmördaren” (som egentligen borde heta Seriemördaren...) är en helt okej bok för att få veta mer om Tjikatilo, dock får du även veta väldigt mycket annat som du inte riktigt bett om. Boken var inte skriven på ett spännande sätt utan snarare en uppraddning av information. Men jag har fått en helt ny bild av hur brutal Tjikatilo var så jag skulle inte rekommendera boken till någon äckelmagad.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's scary to know people like this exist. I wouldn't say its a gruesome read, but the few murders he describes in detail are brutally horrid. It's your usual good true crime book. Well written and interesting. A little slow at the beginning. Gives a little more info on the detective and his past than I cared to know. But once it got to the main story it started rolling. Plus it had good balance. Didn't spend to much time on one particular event. One of my biggest problems is when a author spends to much time on the trial. I don't care about every little detail in court. This book flowed well from the history, to the men involved, the events, the interrogation and trial. Good true crime book, if you can handle the brutal nature of the crimes.

[Plamen Enchev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Андрей Чикатило – име, добило култов статус сред хората, интересуващи се от темата серийни убийци. Неуловимият призрак, тероризирал в продължение на 12 години Ростовска област. Сексуален садист и канибал, отнел живота на над 50 деца и млади момичета. Като човек, който има подчертан интерес към темата, бях чел доста за Чикатило, бях гледал и един от филмите за него – Citizen X. Сега дойде време да се върна към познатата история от друга гледна точка – тази на Ричард Лури.

Пълната рецензия: https://flame16.blogspot.com/2022/02/...

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creditable version of the hunt for, and capture of, Andrei Chikatilo. Focuses more on the twisted poetry of the events than "The Killer Dept," which leans more towards looking at the bureaucratic hassles involved in solving a serial-murder case in Soviet Russia.

[Milan Říský · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Tenhle muž nebyl šílenec. Někdy jako by to ani nebyl člověk, ale přízrak vystupující za noci z ruské, krví zborcené země, sovětský Drákula,“ charakterizuje autor Richard Lourie nejznámějšího sovětského sériového vraha a kanibala Andreje Čikatila. A stejně bravurně píše celou dobu.

Zátah na ďábla je rekonstrukcí případu táhnoucího se roky, líčí urputnost a častou beznaděj v týmu vyšetřovatelů pátrajících po „rostovském rozparovači“ a cíleně pracuje s obrazem dvou stěžejních osobností - vrahem Čikatilem a vyšetřovatelem Issou Kostojevem. Staví je do kontrastu, ačkoliv oba měli komplikované dětství, jeden se vydal na dráhu bestiálního vraha, druhý se stal machrem v kriminalistickém odvětví. Závěr, výslech táhnoucí se napříč několika dny, je jako napínavá šachová partie, kdy oba zkouší lsti a manévry - jeden aby nedostal kulku do hlavy, druhý aby získal přiznání monstra.

Lourie neshrnuje jen postupný vývoj případu, vše zasazuje do kontextu doby, bouřlivých dějin Sovětského svazu, odhaluje všudypřítomnou korupci, bídu a zločinnost. Ostatně během pátrání po Čikatilovi, který byl odsouzen za 52 vražd, Kostojev postupně pochytá několik dalších zabijáků. Fascinující se i vhled do fungování tehdejšího policejního aparátu, který na sebe vršil chyby, autor popisuje například vykonstruované obvinění, kdy za Čikatilovu první vraždu popravili nevinného.

Forma, kdy Lourie používá beletristické prvky v podobě dialogů a zároveň čerpá z ohromného množství materiálu, je optimální. Faktograficky vše sedí, ostatně měl k dispozici zápisy z výpovědí, video a audio záznamy výslechů a mraky dalších oficiálních dokumentů a kniha vznikala ve spolupráci s Kostojevem. Díky tomu je Zátah na ďábla vynikající true crime knihou, která sice není vyčerpávající studnicí všech podrobností, ale rozhodně patří do kategorie must read.

[Cititoare Calatoare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I avoid this book for 2 years, because it's a real case. I knew what the subject was about, but a sick mind has no limits.
An impressive story, fluent, captivating and at the same time scary. An intelectual man, a model husband and father, a grandfather... you get to feel sorry for him at some point... but in him lies a real devil, sexually deviant, cannibal, molester, murderer.
I still have a paragraph in my mind. If by the end of the book I was still not sure which side to put him on ( to believe that the facts belong to a sick man, or one who knowingly did everything ), his statement made me to understand. Some are even born monsters, it all depends on time, when, where and how they will manifest.
" - They took me to the shower this morning. There were more of us. One of the detainees was walking around and flaunting on: "- they brought me here because I killed five.". I didn't say anything. How he would feel if I had have told him, I had been brought there for 55? said Cikatilo, laughing contendently and relaxed."

[Gustavo Adrián Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran crónica periodística de la captura de Andrei Chikatilo, el asesino en serie más prolífico de la URSS. En un par de años, cometió 53 asesinatos (o más bien 55, y hasta 70, cifra que él misma declaró en el juicio). Sus víctimas eran mujeres jóvenes, niñas y niños, o los cuales cometían atrocidades en los bosques de Rostov y de otras ciudades por las que anduvo deambulando. Era padre de familia, esposo ejemplar y hasta miembro del Partido Comunista. Pero tenía esa otra cara, que sabía ocultar muy bien.
Y también veremos al héroe de esta historia que es el investigador Kostoev, un hombre inteligente que debe luchar contra la policía corrupta y el sistema judicial soviético.
Imperdible. Buena lectura 👍

[Jessica Ahlros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jag läste den svenska översättningen som heter Massmördaren. Intressant inblick i en mördarens värld, och i hur polisarbetet gick till I Sovjetunionens Ryssland. Man får många gånger äckel känslor av denna mördare, att han kan ha kommit undan så länge på grund av inkompetens och att man bara vill ha det snabba svaret.

[andrew y · Rating 1 out of 5]

8/50
In 2023 I am going to dust off and read fifty books from my to-read list.

Let's just assume I was on a serial killer kick seven years ago and this guy seemed interesting and the author actually had direct connection to the case and its documentation.
But then the book turned out to be eighties-style schlocky narrative true crime except published in the nineties.

[Billie-jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a interesting book on how inspector Issa kostoev hunted and brought down the Russian ripper Andrei chikatilo who murdered 50+ women and children and who was hard to catch a must read if you like true crime

[Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Paige Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serial Killer in Russia in the 1990's

[Jenny Hellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luin yhdessä päivässä.
Ei herkille!

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm totally uninterested in the detective's side of the story, but it plays heavily in this book.

[Kenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, however it felt like a crash course.

[Sierra Klotz · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who enjoys true crime, this was my first true crime book and it was a hard story so a hard read. Good book but difficult story

[Zuzana Zábranová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zajímavý náhled do světa, ve kterém řádil nejen ďábelský Čikatilo. Popis vyšetřovatelovy rodiny mě moc nebavil. Avšak popis politického pozadí i obvyklé policejní práce byl velmi přínosný.

[Anduska S · Rating 5 out of 5]

mňamozní

[Ana ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Případ Andreje Čikatila jsem poprvé zahlédla ve spojitosti s filmem Ghoul od Petra Jákla. Že je o něm i kniha, to jsem netušila, ale díky @dudychovajitka jsem měla šanci po ní sáhnout v mé poslední štafetě!

Dvanáct let brutálních zločinů a deset dní na usvědčení pachatele! Přizná se nebo bude propuštěn?

V knize jsem hledala doplnění informací o případu, který jsem neznala nijak do hloubky, ale bohužel nenaplnila úplně má očekávání.

V první řadě je určitě důležité zmínit, že Čikatilo nebyl vrahem masovým, nýbrž sériovým, proto není informace uvedená přímo na obálce správná.

Těšila jsem se na podrobný průběh výslechu muže, který nepochybně ovlivnil kriminální sféru.

Velmi mě mrzí, že se kniha věnuje převážně Čikatilově a vyšetřovatelově mládí, zabíhá do podrobností, ale k samotnému procesu se toho tolik nedozvíme.

Na druhou stranu bylo fajn dozvědět se něco o samotném inspektorovi Kostojevovi a jeho myšlenkových pochodech během vyšetřování, i když toho nemuselo být tolik.

S menším odstupem si myslím, že šlo o takový průměr. Kniha je doplněná fotografiemi a pokud se o tento případ zajímáte, určitě si ji užijete.

Já čekala něco jiného, ale byla to fajn zkušenost.

[Sarah Browe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and informative read on an extremely twisted and evil man.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chikatilo was one messed up cat, 50+ murders and he didn't appear to do much to remain evade the police, in fact he was arrested and questioned right at the start of the case, he didn't go out of his way to ensure the bodies wouldn't be found and sometimes covered them with nothing more than newspaper, I suppose his method was to hide in plain sight.

As is often the case with these types of books the police come across pretty poorly and it seems that they could bought Chikatilo to justice a lot sooner than they did, a lot of this appears to be down to the politics in Russia at the time (something which I won't profess to being overly clued up on)

I think one of the most disturbing things about this book (Chikatilo aside) was just how many other peodophiles, murderers and rapists there seemed to be in Russia who the police seemed to stumble upon accidentally and at times haphazardly.

The book is wrote almost as a story, it isn't bogged down with fact after fact and is fast paced, I have to admit that I would have almost preferred it if it was just more of a case study on Chikatilo as the story telling kind of makes him feel like a fictional character, he's like a much less charming version of Hanibal Lector.

I would definitely recommend this if you are into your gruesome serial killers and are looking for something a quick fix.

[Razvan Zamfirescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Infiorator studiu...
Datorita politicii de marketing pe care americanii o fac cu proprii criminali in serie, eram ferm convins ca cei mai mari si violent ucigasi pe banda rulanta erau pe teritoriul SUA.
Ei bine, m-am inselat.
Macelarul de pe Rostov, Red Ripper, Rostov Ripper sunt cateva dintre supra numele pe care acesta si le-a atras pe buna dreptate.
Volumul ii este dedicat acestuia cat si detectivului Viktor Burakov care l-a vanat si prins, pana la urma, pe Macelar. Richard Lourie creeaza o poveste antrenanta, un fel de poveste de si cu detectivi despre un caz real.
Fascinatia americana fata de criminalii in serie este recunoscut, prin urmare, viata lui Cikatilo a avut parte de doua ecranizari, amandoua anoste: Citizen X si Evilenko.
Studiul lui Lourie este foarte bun, se citeste precum un thriller si nu-l lasi din mana, documentatia este foarte bine pusa la punct si vasta, insa nu este recomandabil oricui datorita subiectului extrem de delicat pe care-l abordeaza.