One thing that struck me as I read this was the similarity between the description of Sobhraj and Bugliosi-Gentry's description of Charles Manson in "Helter Skelter". The author has such an omniscient style of adding sharp jabs of morality intermixed with a hands-off 'this happened - what can be added by stating anything other than the sordid facts' manner of writing. For any of you that have had parents warn about the dangers of traveling to Asia you’re contemplating, alone or maybe with friends or someone you’re dating, this guy was the worst of worst nightmares come true. But still, I soldiered on because I was reading a brilliantly written account of one of the most sociopathic, self-serving and evil conmen and murderer that’s ever walked this earth. But I don't blame anyone who stopped reading because they couldn't get through all of the meaninglessly dense descriptions.

It's worth the read, but man, the author sure does go out of his way to make it an uphill battle to get to the end. In 1968, he was paroled and taken under the wing of his kindly exasperated mentor- from whom he acquired a veneer of sophistication and charm- and managed to ingratiate himself with a young Frenchwoman who he married, impregnated and dragged off to Asia on many misadventures.

I applaud this book for the exceptional attention devoted to the victims, as it seems the author went to extraordinary lengths to interview family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors and construct faithful biographies showing the hopes, dreams and futures that eventually got extinguished by this selfish man looking for a quick buck. Morally bankrupt, unbelievably resourceful in a time when Interpol might as well have been a local council for the good it did and unscrupulous. I promise that this is not a read that will be done over the course of months, a few pages at a time. I genuinely count myself as sage when it comes to the rights and wrongs of the world but I felt this total fear absorb me when reading, would I have somehow fallen into the drugging trap (yes) and thereafter, joined an unmerry gang of thieves and accomplices as a means of saving my hide? Sobraj often surrounded himself with needy or vulnerable people who he used snd cajoled into helping him commit his crimes.

I still can't believe that this one person was capable of so much evil and wickedness and yet was able to outwit his captors for so long. I would have given this book five stars but it was a little too long, maybe too much background on people who end up dying pretty quickly once they meet up with Charles.Milo’s independence has been compromised as never before, as the department pressures him to cater to the demands of a mogul: a hard-to-fathom, megarich young woman who is obsessed with reopening the coldest of cases—the decades-old death of the mother she never knew. Over the following years I read several news articles of Charles Sobhraj amazing escapes from prison. I give the mini-series a break on the constant skipping forward and backward because keeping up with all this maniac Sobhraj's movements around the planet, always using pseudonyms and usually the passports of the victims he and his thug crew have just viciously, murdered, it's virtually impossible to keep it all straight. I found myself intrigued by the story but also angry at the way people trusted Charles in a strange country.