Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This book is amazing; not only does it detail the eight year investigation/hunt for a serial killer, but it gives the reader a picture of the political climate in Russia and how the soviets actually made it easier for a killer to evade capture for so long. I didn't like all of the investigators, but most of them were hard working, intelligent men who had to worry about working the system as much as they had to worry about working the case. Even after the killer is caught, the book continues to interest the reader by outlining the various events that shaped the killer's mind; events that were significant to the politics of the country.

I'm an avid reader and I have a personal top 100 list for books I've enjoyed and read many times. This one is one it.

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)

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

A book for collection! Excellent for any student of Criminology. For reference and undestanding of one of the notorious killers.

If you purchased the book based on the movie, then you shouldn't have an issue. The two are almost interchanceable;however, as a former homicide detective (and no disrespect to Soviet law enforcement) the investigation portrayed in the film and in the book, to me, are beyond childish. I had hoped to obtain an insight into another madman's M.O. and the techniques used to identify him, but the book did not go into much detail that was not already widely available.

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.

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.