2 comments about Hunting The Devil.

1. Andrei Chikatilo was the most infamous Russian serial killer of all time, and with good reason. His reign of terror was as long as his court antics were bizarre. He is in the first rank of cannibal killers, right up there with more familiar monsters like Jeffrey Dalmer and Ed Gein. Although within the police state of the Soviet Union he was able to operate much longer. But this book is as much about the pursuer as the pursued, indeed Inspector Issa Kostoev really takes center stage. The story is told from a cop�s perspective and even details the politics that surround the investigation. Especially interesting are the appearances of other less well-known deviants that Kostoev encounters along the way (like Anthony Slivko). Also of interest were the cat and mouse techniques that Kostoev used to break Chikatilo during interrogation, and how the killer�s party affiliation helped him early in his career. There is a lot of interesting stuff here, but those seeking understanding of the why of what Chaikatilo did must look elsewhere.



2. I'm not a big fan of the serial killer genreóbe it on the thriller shelves of the bookstore, or on film (Se7en and Manhunter are the only two serial killer movies I've ever really liked). However, this story about the hunt for Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo is fascinating, despite not being particularly well written. I had never heard of Chikatilo, but from the late '70s to late '80s he killed at least 53 women and children in the Rostov province of Russia. His methods and predilections were particularly gruesome, as he favored slowly stabbing or hammering his victims to death before eviscerating them, masturbating over them, and sometimes cooking and eating part of them. This is a man who left the house every day with a knapsack containing a knife, change of clothes, and small cooking pot, just in case the opportunity presented itself.
   
   Longtime Russian expert Lourie tells the story mostly through the eyes of Issa Kostoev, the special investigator who led the years-long quest to bring Chikatilo to justice. The investigators were hampered by the randomness of the killings, the relative lack of research into DNA in the Soviet Union, the lack of criminal psychology as a discipline, as well as the laziness and sloppiness of local police, who had botched previous efforts (at one point they had actually arrested Chikatilo, only to release him). Since Lourie relies on interviews with Kostoev, it's hard to know how accurate the picture of the investigation is, but the story he tells is compelling and will certainly appeal to those with an interest in the procedural aspects of criminology. The investigator's own life story is fascinating; an Ingush from the Caucuses, his family was deported to the Kazakh steppe during WWII by Stalin. There, he lost brothers and sisters to famine, and his thirst for justice was bred. By the book's end, he has been made a General and is being asked by his countrymen to come home and lead the political struggle for full restoration of the homeland.
   
   Lourie's reliance on the single source is sometimes a fault, as Kostoev's own preoccupations are given precedence. There is rather an overemphasis (and occasional repetitiveness) on the thought processes involved in the interrogation and getting a confession from Chikatilo. A writer more experienced in writing about crime would likely have cut some of the fat here. One also feels like there might have been a little more drama wrung from the hunt, not to mention a greater vividness to the details. These might be found in one of the three other books written about the case (none of which I've read): Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer by Mikhail Krivich, The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer of Our Times by Robert Cullen, or Red Ripper: Inside the Mind of Russia's Most Brutal Serial Killer by Peter Conradi. There's also a film called Citizen X that's been made about the hunt, although it's hard to to imagine Irishman Stephen Rea passing himself off as Ingush!

No comments about THE RED RIPPER: INSIDE THE MIND OF RUSSIA'S MOST BRUTAL SERIAL KILLER.

No comments about KILLER DEPARTMENT, THE: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History.

No comments about The Killer Department: The Eight-year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer of Our Times.

5 comments about Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer.

1. This book is not for the timid. However, if you truely want to get into the mind of a serial killer, this is the book for you. Of all the books I have read on the subject, this offered the most insight into the mind of the actual killer. From the moment I picked it up, I could not put it down.



2. I was absolutly spell-bound by this book.Very well written.This book however is not for amatuer readers.Delves deeply into the whys and hows of this wickedly sick individual.Definatly not a bed time story.5 plus stars.



3. In November 1990, Russian police finally arrested the man they believed to have been behind the brutal killings and mutilations of several children and young men and women ranging from age 9 to early twenties. The man was Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo, a Ukraine-born supply clerk in his mid-fifties, who lured his victims with promises of a nice meal at his dacha in the woods, assaulted, stabbed his victims with knives multiple times, poked their eyes out, and calmly disposed of the body. Under questioning, he admitted to 53 murders, which could've been up to 70. This book traces Chikatilo's life, his reign of terror (1978-1990), and why he evaded captured for twelve years.

   Having been born during the man-created famine of the Stalinist USSR, and having witnessed the kidnapping of his older brother Stepan, who was eaten by starving peasants, and thus made to stay inside the house for fear of suffering the same fate, it's no wonder that Chikatilo grew up with a damaged psyche. His impotence and premature ejaculation no doubt led to further humility, humility that wouldn't have boiled into a rage of unfulfillment and thence to horrific murder, had medically curing impotency been legal in the Soviet Union. Indeed it was lucky enough that he and his wife bore two children, and that his wife was a modest, patient, and understanding woman. Alas, that wasn't enough, it seems.

   The book also examines the flaws inherent in the Soviet police system. People suspected of a crime on circumstantial evidence, yet having an airtight alibi can be made to confess. This happened to Aleksandr Kravchenko, an ex-con who committed rape and murder but was under 18 so served his time, had seen the error of his ways and was now a good citizen. Unfortunately, he lived on the same street as Chikatilo, his house was also near the river where Chikatilo's first victim was, and his wife, brought in on trumped-up charges of stealing, was forced to change her testimony regarding her husband's whereabouts. Further, Kravchenko was beaten up in prison and threatened with rape by a decoy used to elicit confessions, and confessed to a crime he never committed, for which he was executed.

   Another example is the immunity given to Party members from crimes. Party membership was quite a mark of status in the Soviet Union. And the emphasis of scientific evidence, then dated, worked for Chikatilo. The police was looking for someone of blood type AB, and due to a medical anomaly, Chikatilo's blood was A, with the B antigen more prominent in his hair and saliva--hence the evidence was enough to drop any murder charges against him. One police captain might have been credited with his capture, but he acted more on intuition and common sense (his seeing Chikatilo's behaviour at the train station and panic when asked to produce his documents), and that unfortunately isn't scientific.

   Comparisons/contrasts between him and John Wayne Gacy are interesting, as it highlights the difference between American and Soviet sociology. After Gacy was caught for his first offense back in the 60's, he served his time and was released, presumably cured (alas it was not to be). Chikatilo was known for fondling the girls at the school he taught and once was caught assaulting a 14-year old in a lake, grabbing at her, yet nothing was done about his behaviour--it was just seen as one of his odd quirks(!)

   The conclusion was that Chikatilo was three personalities in one. One was the ordinary family man, the other was the rapist/murderer, and the third was the one who acted insane when put on trial for his heinous crimes. The authors do a good job in maintaining the chronology and gathering of information, painting an effective portrait of Chikatilo, and using narrative reconstructions of two killings in gruesome detail, yet the lack of bibliography and sources makes the book somewhat questionable.




4. This is no doubt one of the best true crime books ever. It delves deep into the mind of Andrei Chikatilo and gives us information about why he did it, if there ever is a reason to do these horrible crimes.
   
   Worst of all is that if the police hadn't been so inadequate, Chikatilo would have been in jail after his first kill. They were so sure that Kravchenko, a man who lived in Chikatilo's street, was guilty of the murder. Chikatilo went on to kill 52 more people. The search for this serial killer was almost impossible, because the police didn't receive support from the Communist Party, who denied that there was such a thing as a serial killer in Russia. That only happened in America.
   
   As others have said, this is not for the weak hearted. It is graphic and uncensored, and you will be shocked. I know I was.



5. Like every other reviewer has said, this is a book not for the faint of heart or anyone with a weak stomach. This book is gruesome. The first chapter alone made me put this down for a month, it was so disturbing.
   
   Aside from the truly awful passages describing what Chikatilo did to his victims, this is also a story about how the Russian government repeatedly fouled up the investigation into the serial killer. There were too many incidents where Chikatilo ought to have been caught; instead, the police narrowly focused on other potential offenders, completely missing what was under their noses, either through incompetence or political pressure.
   
   Chikatilo himself is an odd man to get a grip on. He managed to maintain a semblence of normality with his wife and children, yet he was clearly very disturbed with dubious mental health. Much has been made of the evidence that he suffered from a sort of birth defect (in pictures, you can't help but notice the extremely flat back of his head) that may have contributed to his ability to disassociate himself from the horror of what he did to his victims. A small section of photographs is dedicated to pictures of his victims (while they were alive), one of the scene where a victim was found, the parents of the murdered children and the train station where Chikatilo picked up many of children he killed. There are also a couple of goosebump-raising images of the killer himself showing policemen the positioning of his victims using a dummy.
   
   I'm a fan of true crime books, especially the ones that are fortunate enough to have the killer alive and willing to be studied. Chikatilo showed a remarkable willingness to talk extensively about his crimes. The book finishes with the bizarre courtroom drama of Chikatilo's trial, where he was actually caged and put on a show of incomprehensible ravings that brought into question his mental state and competence to stand trial. In our American justice system, someone like Chikatilo would most likely have not been competent to stand trial and would likely have been shipped off to a mental health facility to await the continuation of his trial.
   
   Russian law is less nuanced than ours, and the judge allowed the trial to continue until the ultimate verdict which is likely to be appealed. At the time, Boris Yeltsin was still in power and unlikely to grant any sort of appeal. With Medvedev as President now, with the rumored influence of former President Putin, it's probably even less likely that any appeal will be granted.
   
   While not as graphically disturbing as this book, for fans of this genre I recommend the story of Richard Kuklinsky, The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

3 comments about Red Ripper.

1. Bizzare on both ends, the killer as well as the cops. If you like serial killer books this is unbelieveable!



2. What makes Chikatilo fascinating is that it took so long for him to be caught, and the reasons for this delay. He was incredibly lucky, in some ways, but the structure of laws, customs and means of communication in the Russia of the time are the real reasons for his long career as a killer. Conradi explains all of this clearly. What is not so clear are the details of how all of the info he presents was acquired. Did the author have access to confession documents, or interrogation documents? If so, the readers would sure like to see them included in the book. Overall, a very readable, informative book.



3. Conradi's book is not too bad. My biggest problem with it is that it is subtitled "Russia's monster serial killer and the men who stopped him." This is somewhat misleading, as there is very little about the policemen and the detectives who stopped him.
   
   On the positive end though, one will find few books anywhere that spend so much time discussing the mindset of a killer in such detail. Conradi does a masterful job recreating the horrific crimes. And even though the psychiatric interview at the end is extremely tedious in the first couple of pages, the summary is well worth the time.

4 comments about Hunting the Devil/Pursuit, Capture and Confession of the Most Savage Serial Killer in History.

1. This is the story of Andrei Chikatilo, a sadistic sexual serial killer convicted in Rostov of 53 murders of women and children (although he undoubtedly committed more). Lourie focuses on detective Issa Kostoev, who led the years-long investigation that finally caught Chikatilo, but not before an innocent man was executed for his first murder.
   
   This book provides an interesting insight into the Russian legal system as it struggled to capture Russia's very own "Jack the Ripper."



2. The subject matter of this book - Andrei Chikatilo - is extremely interesting, though unbelievably dark, and the book itself lives up to the task. Chikatilo was one of the most terrible serial killers in history, with 53 official victims (and a few unofficial ones more), and certainly one of the most savage and furious. Here is a man who had orgasms while mutilating genitals and used his knife as some sort of [...]replacement, not to mention the rest.
   
   What I especially appreciated in the book is how is the narrative is shared between the killer and those looking for him, more especially Issa Kostoev, the man in charge of arresting the "Rostov Ripper". As the title of the book suggests, you will learn quite some interesting things about how the pursuit of this killer was led, and what kind of problems the hunting had to face; and that will be quite stunning. Corruption, treason, base sexual desires, etc, etc. While hunting for the Devil, there will be many demons on the way: police officers abusing their functions to beat and rape arrested people, all sorts of mentally challenged perverts thought to be potential killers, etc. The whole thing has a feeling of intense dystopia and is quite stunning.
   
   Both lives this book is concerned with, Issa Kostoev and Andrei Chikatilo, are cast against a background of falling empire, as the USSR slowly went to its demise. It's almost eerie how Chikatilo's own fall coincides with that of the Soviet Block. It's very interesting, because in a way, it all begins with it, and ends with it. Kostoev, as a child, suffered from Stalin's unjust removing and persecution of his whole people (in which he lost many a sibling) and Chikatilo as a child had to go through hard times too (though not quite comparable).
   
   Richard Lourie does a great job of not only exposing the facts of the affair (and he had a ton of document for this, as well as having been with Issa Kostoev personally, attending Chikatilo's trial, having all the documents of the case, including audio-tapes and all) but also in putting all of it in perspective and giving the reader a good insight of Russia and of a society not quite functioning, and changing. The reader is made to follow Kostoev in that long pursuit of that demonic killer which took many years, and many lives.
   
   The writing is gripping; I read the whole book in two readings, reading for 5 hours each time or so. This is truly the best kind of "true crime" I have read, because it does not lose itself into cheap novelisation while suing narrative devices to shape the whole thing into a convincing and riveting book.
   
   I haven't read any other book on Andrei Chikatilo, but this one is definitely a classic on that killer, if only for the documents available to the author, who speaks Russian and knows Russian culture, a fact that is very important and whose impact you can feel reading the book.
   
   The range covered here is impressive: the killer, the dysfunctions of the system, the life of Kostoev as he pursues Chikatilo, Russia, history, etc. It's always relevant and very informative. However, none of these overshadow the gruesomeness of the killings, and you won't be spared details, so not a book for the faint-hearted.
   
   Most definitely one of the best books of the kind, and undoubtedly among the very best books on Chikatilo, if not the best.



3. You will not sleep well after reading this book...that is how shocking, sad, demented, and torturous the subject and the man of this book is. What a horrible fiend who killed for his own deranged reasons, which are disgusting and terrifying at the same time. Wickedness comes in many places, and this man was truly awful. A very interesting and well-written account.



4. This book arrived promptly and in good condition. I've not yet read it.
   
   I'm extremely pleased with both the vendor and the product.
   
   Dr. John E. Touchton Sr.

5 comments about The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Seria.

1. It is a very good book, but the sentinces seem to last forever, and ever with its never ending desciptions. But, Im not saying you should'nt buy it. Even though the sentinces run on, I was still interested by it; with its' amazing sense of thrill, and excitment. Buy it if you like long thrillers.



2. The gut-wrenching angle = "Its been 2 weeks.He's due another.He may even have a live child with him right now, who's moments away from being left like this one."(mutilated+killed 53+)NON-FICTION/TRUE-CRIME.
   Of course there are gory visuals thru-out.But the psychological context given to the deeds, is terrifying.
   The police are followed (via fieldwork and paperwork)thru their horror of what they keep coming across, and their desperation of having no clue how to make use of it.
   Their are endless mess-ups and frame-ups leading to unforgivable injustices to innocents, and close-calls with the killer.One incident will make you violently livid toward those who let him to the streets again, inspite of the most blatantly damning behaviour imaginable.
   The 'confession'(at end of book)in the killer's own words, is amazing in that it gives his angle of scenes dealt with from the 'unknower's' angle thru-out the rest of the book.He himself knew that at least 30 of his kills should never have seen possibility.

   Some chapters are far too incidental.(some would rightfully drop it a star for that)But, most of it just makes your heart drop - at the deep suffering of an unknown man, being such that he is always losing against his froes of deep rage, so ruining children beyond recognition.
   (bonus in this book=u get great feel for the harsh everyday life in Russian society)




3. Led by the brilliant movie "Citizen X" I was compelled to read the book, and the only solution to a ten-year hunt of secondhand bookstores was of course Amazon. The real Viktor Burakov is more hard-boiled than Stephen Rea's portrayal in the movie, Burakov's portrait on the back cover is wreathed in smoke amidst piles of decadent Soviet paperwork. Chikatilo is one of the most savage psychopaths to have roamed the twentieth century, and thrived amidst a strange miasma of the non-existence of the serial killer in the perfect Soviet society, and the armies of incompetents drenched in vodka that served for Russian law. The book is brutally frank in an almost professionally-detached coroner's way, but by getting into the minds of the participants, author Robert Cullen still manages to imbue the book with emotion and feeling. It is a rare occasion when the movie may be even better than the book, but "The Killer Department" is certainly one of the most unique insights into Soviet Russia's underbelly. The book is also a snapshot of the USSR as it transitioned into Glasnost and Perestroika, but ultimately it is about an eight-year duel between two minds, one a classic hard cop, and the other the deranged product of the cannibalistic Ukrainian famine who suffered from bed-wetting and brain short-outs.



4. This was a chilling book and a good read! The vendor shipped it promply and it was in good condition. I was extremely satisfied.
   
   Dr. John E. Touchton Sr.



5. An excellent account of not only the political and investigative process but also the hardships these people faced growing up in Russia.