Gods of Death [Hardcover]

Yaron Svoray (Author, Contributor), Thomas Hughes (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 1997

In this real-life, explosive thriller, investigative journalist Yaron Svoray documents the reality of a subject that both horrifies and fascinates--the international underworld industry of the snuff movie: a video of an act of sex in which someone is actually killed. of photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Legal scholar and anti-pornography activist Catherine MacKinnon approached journalist Yaron Svoray about "snuff films," because he was the only person who'd said in print that he'd seen such a film (while undercover investigating neo-Nazis for his book In Hitler's Shadow), in which a girl was raped and murdered. "It is my misfortune," Svoray says, "to have been born with a need to look under the carpet." After a bit of soul-searching, he undertook the investigation described in this book--a series of adventures with many dead ends and mishaps, some of which are quite funny. (This reviewer was impressed by his tenacity.) The writing, while sincere, is overdramatized and synoptic, leaving the reader to decide whether to believe Svoray's hair-raising tales. This book is important for what it says about how (in Svoray's words) "blood sells," and it will no doubt spark much discussion among those who doubt the existence of snuff films.

From Library Journal

Investigative journalist Svoray, a former Israeli detective, described his infiltration of Germany's neo-Nazi movement in In Hitler's Shadow (LJ 10/15/94). The present work launches a one-man investigation into the netherworld of the "snuff" film?a pornographic video in which someone is actually killed. Hopscotching around the world, Svoray finds scant evidence, barely described and none of it retained. Given that almost all the names have been changed (Svoray's claim that he showed a snuff video to actor Robert De Niro is a startling exception) and that other omissions are admitted, credibility becomes an issue here. There is much padding with cloak-and-dagger and family-life episodes. Because the author concludes that there was "no source" for what he was seeking, his material might have worked better as a feature article. Not a necessary purchase for most libraries.
-?Gregor A. Preston, formerly with Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (September 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684814455
• ISBN-13: 978-0684814452
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,101,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shooting for the stars..., December 13, 2003

By 

T. Willitts "Jackass of all Trades" (Deltona, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gods of Death (Hardcover)

...this endeavour narrowly avoids plummeting to Earth.

As it is, it's just not all that good. By all means, do not pay full price for this book. Like the other reviewers, I will not spoil the 'ending', and I will also say that there is hardly a shred of evidence or compelling presentation to make you really believe this is all true.

It's not investigative journalism. It's not entirely schlock, but it certainly is not the compelling story as promised by the slipcover.

The story is littered with all sorts of events, but not a shred of documentation; he even states that he avoids a lot of truth by changing names, places, times, events. Sadly, this also destroys what little credibility the story has. Even the name-dropping he does, doesn't carry much weight (and you'd think Robert De Niro's name would carry some weight, no?)

It's not a waste of time... but it's not the gripping story that one hopes it would be.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over the top, lacks real insight, but compelling, December 23, 2001

By 

"revoltaire" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gods of Death (Hardcover)

Admittedly reads more like a potboiler thriller at times, and I strongly suspect it was written with the big screen in mind - understandable, since much of the book is comprised of the author's financial concerns & what his obsession with finding out the truth behind snuff films drives him to do and spend, both monetarily and emotionally.

When his investigation came to end, the author had a problem (another reviewer already gives away the ending, so I don't think I'm divulging any secrets): he hadn't managed to come up with the goods - he'd finally gotten his hands on a tape, but it was stolen from him while he was detained in a Serbian police station. So what do you do? His answer is to make a book out of the subjective experience of hunting down the truth - what he goes through, how it affects his family life, his psychological state, the potentially life-threatening situations he encounters, the characters he meets & how he gets on with them. This makes some sense, because the reader wants to understand the mental and moral state of people who could actually make, enjoy, or be in any way involved with these films, as well as what effects such images have on 'normal' people - as Svoray says, once you've seen them, there's no going back. Unfortunately Svoray doesn't have the psychological insight to make much of this (a much better example of real insight into monstrosity and evil is Christopher Browning's "Ordinary Men," which looks at a single battallion in Poland as a case study to understand how so many people could have committed the Holocaust) - great credit to him for his investigative skills, but his constant efforts at casting himself as moral judge disallow him from genuine understanding, and his portraits come straight from stock characters from standard thrillers. This problem potentially undermines the book's veracity, but one can also argue that he merely understands these people on the same terms borrowed from Hollywood, or that his co-writer (a screenwriter) compressed his character portraits to make for a fast read.

The book is a very quick read and compelling at times, and the reader must admire the author's bravado. So, in the end, does his claim to have seen real snuff films stand up? What proof does he offer? Here's something: he claims to have set up a viewing for the actor Robert De Niro and a friend of De Niro's; he recounts a conversation between the two men in which they say they believed the film was real; and De Niro's press agent has confirmed the viewing. So, while Svoray couldn't come up with any hard evidence, the De Niro story is pretty convincing that such films do in fact exist, and that there is indeed pure evil (in Svoray's terms) in the world.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Entertainment=1 star, Information=0 stars, February 18, 2002

By 

Matt (Damnation) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gods of Death (Hardcover)

That "Gods of Death" [is] a sensationalist puff-piece written like a very slow spy novel.
There is a lot of speculation over the validity of snuff films and while there's certainly a possibility that they do exist Mr. Svoray doesn't present a very compelling argument. The one thing he NEVER acheives is to convince us of a worldwide underground for this stuff. More to the point, he actually acheives the opposite with his bumbling investigation, which is convince the reader that snuff films are not so much an industry unto themselves but rather an isolated occurance.
Throughout his investigation he askes the reader to accept a lot without giving us any real incentive. The "I know it doesn't look like much but you'll just have to trust me" method is the main device that is employed throughout this book.
While you certainly won't find any meaty informative value in this book one might be so inclined as to read it just for morbid curiousity, especially in the light of recent movies like "8mm", and I can tell you in all seriousness that it falls flat in that avenue as well. "Gods of Death" [is] more or less like a pulp spy novel. The only problem is that it is too dreadfully paced and full of macho bravado to even entice the most desperate spy novel geek. And as it pertains to its main character, Mr. Svoray, he tries to put himself over but instead comes across like an irredeemable [idiot].
While I'm certain that some reviewers are of the skeptic camp I'm also sure that there were a great many more that were like myself who went into it with a "show me" attitude. I was willing to accept a possible theory as long as there was sufficient evidence to back it up. Needless to say, there wasn't. As it seems "Gods of Death" makes its entire case on hearsay.
If you are waiting for an intelligent and believable look into the world of snuff pornography I suspect you'll have to wait a while longer. If it's just perverse entertainment you're into then rent "8mm". It's more enjoyable and ultimately more realistic than Yaron Svoray would have you believe.