Whilst the story of Charles Sobhraj is an interesting one, this book could have benefited from being shorter, in my opinion. The author did a excellent job of researching and fact collecting, but the book was so bogged down by minutia that at times, it became boring and the flow of the story was lost on me.

Even so, if you can wade through the many details, you will likely find this book very interesting. The early life of serial killer Charles Sobhraj was recounted in such a manner that you can get a clear and concise portrait of his mental struggles, including his co-dependent relationship with his mother and his fiery temper, often fueled by the fair-weather relationship with his biological father.

As the book progresses and Charles ages, it becomes clear that he has a very elastic sense of right and wrong and that he lives his life as he chooses, with only his own satisfaction in mind. His moral sense is absolutely misguided and the author makes this perfectly clear.

If you are looking for a true crime book that will make you stop and think about nature Vs. nurture, this is a good one to choose. Overall, I thought it was very entertaining.

This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Serpentine is a long book but it doesn't actually read like one. The writing is so detailed and engrossing, it pulls a reader in from the very beginning. The story is about Charles Sobrahj, a French national of Vietnamese and Indian parentage born in Saigon. He had a troubled early start and things never much improved, as the book details his early life and family problems and lays out some clear themes that obviously influenced some of his later actions and crimes.

Sobrahj is described as a serial killer but I don't think he fits the general, common definition that most people would associate with that label. He's more of a con artist who had no qualms with killing people who were no longer valuable to him. A lifetime criminal, he built himself up mostly by stealing gems, cars and identities, until going on a scamming and killing spree throughout Southeast Asia in the 1970s, finally ending in New Delhi in 1976. There he was caught thanks to an older, notorious case of hostage-taking and gem robbery at the Ashoka Hotel, a scene that's thrillingly, tensely written up in the book.

He has a remarkable ability for conning people, gaining their trust and exploiting it to his own financial benefit. He also benefits from the companionship and feeling of being needed, even if that's all thanks to his own creation and manipulation, so that's where his childhood abandonment issues come in. In the last wave of crime in South Asia, Sobrahj and his main associate at this time, Marie-Andreé Leclerc, a lovesick Canadian medical secretary who fell under his spell, drugged and robbed money, valuables, passports, and anything else they could swindle from a string of foreign tourists, enlisting some others along the way to play parts in their schemes.

It's a feat of investigative journalism, an incredibly impressive one. Thompson's author bio states that in order to research the book, he flew around the world three times and spent two years in Asia. I was still astounded at how much detail he was able to glean about certain people or events. It's a remarkable accomplishment, narrative nonfiction at its best. And it's compellingly written, so for that alone I'd recommend the book especially to those who aren't usual true crime readers. The serial killer aspect of the tagline is actually a minor element of this story, it's much more about the world he inhabited and how he bent rules, laws, and people to fit his own idea of what he deserved and others didn't.

My only gripe is that for all the build-up, the ending was somewhat abrupt. Despite his notoriety, I'd never heard of Sobrahj before, and I couldn't leave the story where it ended, I wanted to know what became of him and Leclerc. There was so much foreshadowing throughout, always an undercurrent of how evil and morally corrupt this person was, but it often felt like elaborate write-ups of the events and climate around them without much of the aftermath, albeit richly written. It's very much worth it for that, the story is captivating and it's impressive that a nearly 600-page book can be sped through and feel like the reading of it was over quickly. Be prepared to do some followup Googling and become much more suspicious of anyone you meet while traveling!

Thomas Thompson has the ability to write a true crime story that reads like a novel. This is a story about a serial killer who preyed on travelers throughout Asia. Since the crime scenes and victims were scattered it was very hard to try and tie the murders together. The killer was a very charming psychopath who killed for his own monetary gain. Thompson has done a lot of research and does of very good job of setting the time and place. This book was written in 1979 but it does not feel dated. The book is very suspenseful and I read it very quickly despite the length. Even if you are not a true crime fan you will enjoy reading this book.