Audiobook Review: Doctor Satan, by Ryan Green

Blurb

In March 1944, as the Nazis occupied Paris, the French Police and Fire Brigade were called to investigate a vile-smelling black smoke that had been pouring from the chimney of 21 Rue Le Sueur for days. Inside the house, they were confronted with a scene from a nightmare. 

The thick black smoke was rising from a series of wood-burning stoves throughout the property that were stocked with human remains. In the basement, they discovered a furnace with larger body parts and a pit filled with quicklime and decay. There were suitcases full of the deceased’s belongings, and in the other rooms, they came upon something like a factory line of bodies. This was not mere murder – it was methodical processing of corpses. 

The homeowner was Dr. Marcel Petiot, an admired and charismatic physician. When questioned, Dr. Petiot claimed that he was a part of the Resistance and the bodies they discovered belonged to Nazi collaborators that he killed for the cause. The French police, resentful of Nazi occupation and confused by a rational alternative, allowed him to leave. 

Was the respected doctor a clandestine hero fighting for national liberty or a deviant using dire domestic circumstances to his advantage? One thing is for certain: The police and the Nazis both wanted to get their hands on Dr. Marcel Petiot to find out the truth. 

Doctor Satan is a chilling account of Dr. Marcel Petiot and one of the most disturbing true crime stories in French history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the listener into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller. 

CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of torture, abuse, and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to listen any further.

My Review

I received an email from the author yesterday offering me a free Audible code in return for a review. I agreed and have been listening to the book today.

I have reviewed several of Green’s true crime audiobooks, all narrated by Steve White, so I had a general idea of what to expect. This book follows Green’s usual structure; starting with an explosive event and then going back to the beginning, following the criminal through life and then to capture and death, with some discussion afterwards of the events and the person.

Petiot was a disgusting mass-murderer who took advantage of terrified people during a war. He was a horrible child with a burning intellect, a brave soldier who went mad, a doctor who killed his mistress, a mayor who committed fraud. He hoarded wealth, had no impulse control and is utterly culpable for his actions. He was evil. He chose to kill for profit.

I found the narrative interesting and well-researched, an incisive narration of Petiot’s life and crimes, except for the claim that Petiot’s mother died from an early case of Spanish Flu (1917-1921). She died four or five years before that pandemic arose on an entirely different continent.

I had heard of Dr. Marcel Petiot before listening to this book, so none of the information was new to me, except that in the afterword about The Pond, an unofficial agency of US intelligence services and his work for the Abwehr. The mass murderer actually did do some spying. How unexpected. I think I preferred this part of the book to everything else, because there is new information and it explores Petiot’s motives.

The narrator is very good although he has some weird pronunciations.

This is a decent narrative of the case. If you’ve never heard of Petiot, you can get all the details here.