Death in the City of Light
Author: David King
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Date of Publication: June 5, 2012
Pages: 462 (Trade Paperback Edition)
Death in the City of
Light is a disturbing look at a fascinating side story to the Nazi
occupation of Paris. It begins with a
grisly discovery of dismembered bodies in various stages of decay in an
up-scale neighborhood of the 16th Arrondissement of Paris. This discovery sets off a search for the
strange and puzzling owner of the building who promptly disappears.
The book is an
attempt to define or describe Dr. Marcel Petiot. He is a medical doctor whose past as well as
his life in Paris is cloaked in mystery.
The author has done painstaking research into Dr. Petiot’s entire life
story in order to help the reader try to understand the incomprehensible. He also includes many contemporary accounts
of the investigations of the despicable crimes for which the doctor was
eventually tried and convicted. The
author cleverly leaves unanswered (as does history) the conundrum of which of
two stories is true. The first story
(expounded at the criminal trial) is that the doctor was a merciless killer who
lured innocents into a trap by promising them a road to freedom from the
Nazis. He instead stole all of their
belongings, tortured them and then dismembered and disposed of their
bodies. He had a history of mental
illness and there arose some question as to whether the doctor was in fact
insane. There was speculation that he had
indeed also killed his first wife years before.
The second story as told by the doctor as his defense is that he was a
master of deception, working for a faction of the French Resistance, did indeed
help people escape to Argentina and was framed by the Gestapo. There is some corroboration of the Doctor’s
version of events. The author presents
all of the available evidence for both stories.
There are other notable characters whom the author fleshes out in detail, including the police inspector, Dr. Petiot's wife and brother (accomplices or naive relatives?) as well as many of the victims who disappeared. These secondary characters add a lot of texture to the story of Dr. Petiot.
It is very interesting to read of the attempts at justice
and proper police investigation by the French during the chaos of Nazi
occupation. It is also interesting to
read a about a murder investigation which took place many decades before the
availability of forensic studies such as DNA analysis which we so take for
granted. Death in the City of Light is a fascinating book, although at times the author
sacrifices pace and readability for comprehensive reporting. The character of Dr. Petiot is portrayed as
somewhat of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
which rings true whichever story you as the reader want or come to
believe.
