Serpentine

This acclaimed book reconstructs the bizarre, bloody journey of a mesmerizing but sinister young man named Charles Sobhraj. Journeying back and forth over half the globe - from the boulevards of Paris to the slopes of Mount Everest to the underbellies of Bangkok and Hong Kong - Sobhraj left in his wake a trail of baffling mystery and inexplicable horror. He also led the police of a dozen nations on a chase that ended at least twelve and possibly twenty-four corpses later with a mere seven-year prison sentence in Delhi. Since when he has been released... In masterly fashion Thompson examines the lives not only of the intelligent, charismatic, conscienceless and thoroughly dangerous Sobhraj but also of the unsuspecting victims that he drugged, robbed, sometimes tortured and without a qualm killed. First published in 1979, Serpentine continues to offer a reading experience as frightening as it is unforgettable.