Serpentine

By: Thomas Thompson

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

There was no pattern to the murders, no common thread other than the fact that the victims were all vacationers, robbed of their possessions, and slain in seemingly random crimes. Authorities across three continents and a dozen nations had no idea they were all looking for the same man: Charles Sobhraj, aka "The Serpent".

A handsome Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian origin, Sobhraj targeted backpackers on the "hippie trail" between Europe and South Asia. A master of deception, he used his powerful intellect and considerable sex appeal to lure naive travelers into a life of crime. When they threatened to turn on him, Sobhraj murdered his acolytes in cold blood.

Between late 1975 and early 1976, a dozen corpses were found everywhere from the boulevards of Paris to the slopes of the Himalayas to the back alleys of Bangkok and Hong Kong. Some police experts believe the true number of Sobhraj's victims may be more than twice that amount.

Serpentine is the "[G]rotesque, baffling, and hypnotic" true story of one of the most bizarre killing sprees in modern history (San Francisco Chronicle). Edgar Award-winning author Thomas Thompson's mesmerizing portrait of a notorious sociopath and his helpless prey "[U]nravels like fiction, but afterwards haunts the reader like the document it is" (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).

©1979 Thomas Thompson (P)2018 Tantor

Fantastic book - horrible narration

What a great read - I had to read most of the book though as the audible version was just terrible - the book itself - with all the narrations and well researched background of all the different people who came across Charles Sobhraj and especially also the wonderful descriptions of all the places made me feel like I was traveling truly the world again. I enjoyed this book tremendously even though of course the subject matter is very dark. But I don't understand Audible or whoever is in charge to choose narrators - the squeezed voice and poor performance of the narrator made it very hard to listen to. Such a pity!

Good but Exhausting

This is one long book. Overall I liked it but it was way too long.
If you want to know what became of the title character do a Google search.
The ending was rather abrupt so I followed up on my own.
I thought the narrator did a fine job.

Gripping story

Took a minute to get past the narrator’s voice- reminded me of David Cross as Tobias Funke. Couldn’t put it down once I was engrossed with the story. Well written, and compelling.

real storry that seems like fiction

Was a facinating listening. I thought it was fiction at first, and then realised this was based on real people/events.

GOLD STANDARD

lol this book got my daughter into Audible. I read the book as a kid (!) and it’s just as crazy and fascinating as I remember. The reader is very neutral but he really grew on me and I loved all about it. Highly recommend