I Go Searching: True Stories About Russian Maniacs

The new book by E.M. Merkacheva is dedicated to one of the most terrifying and disgusting types of crime – serial murders. Almost all episodes covered in it relate to the last decades (only the first chapter discusses events from... a century ago). The undeniable merit of the author (a manifestation of the traditional style of E.M. Merkacheva) is the documentary reliability of the "facts": a large array of criminal cases has been used, although, of course, the material is of such a nature that it assumes a reader with strong nerves.
However, the author's goal is not to present a sensational narrative about the activities of terrifying criminals. E.M. Merkacheva formulates her task as follows: "to help people become more conscious, so as not to join either the ranks of maniacs or the ranks of their victims." To do this, it is not enough to simply describe the "practices" of serial killers. One of the emphasized theses in the book is that maniacs are not born – almost all the "characters" underwent an internal evolution before resorting to serial murders, which those around them did not notice. The author repeatedly states that along with unfavorable natural and biographical predispositions, the formation of a maniac is significantly influenced by the indifference of those around them. A maniac is a deviation not only anthropological but also, to a considerable extent, social. This applies to the fates of those who have served their sentences and been released – many of them, as shown in the book, simply disappeared from the sight of law enforcement and social services, becoming "unsupervised" and effectively gaining the opportunity to continue their crimes.
Striving to provide an in-depth understanding of the personality traits of serial killers, the author, in addition to criminal cases, uses comments from psychologists and criminologists. But perhaps the most impressive fragments are the transcripts of conversations between Eva Merkacheva and her "characters", which make up the second part of the book. They add much to the "external" information about maniacs, introducing new accents. Although it is difficult to vividly represent the personality of such a subject, and to "immerse oneself" in it is impossible, but "bringing closer" to him can have a peculiar "preventive" effect on the reader. In particular, it helps to feel an important question that always arises in connection with a serial killer: is he healthy, sane, capable of being held accountable for his actions – or is it a disease that, unfortunately, is incurable. This problem is largely addressed in the third part.