The Brain of an Ordinary Killer: How Good People Become Monsters

You would never think that murderers and rapists could be your neighbors, acquaintances, colleagues, or relatives — ordinary people.

A husband shot his beloved wife… A mother strangled her newborn child… An unremarkable clerk became an executioner…

Each time, this caused disbelief and astonishment in everyone. However, the author does not attribute such actions to madness.

Daniel Zagury, who personally interviewed hundreds of criminals, is convinced that the mechanisms leading to monstrous acts are hidden within each of us. This book is devoted to answering the question, “What serves as the trigger for the most insane violence in the most ordinary people?” A separate chapter is dedicated to critiquing and complementing Hannah Arendt's concept of the “banality of evil.” Daniel Zagury is a leading forensic psychiatrist in France and a senior expert at the Paris Court of Appeal.

More than 15,000 copies of his essay “The Brain of a Serial Killer” have been sold. “Daniel Zagury is consulted every time a crime shocks public opinion either with its horror or because it destroys commonly held beliefs.” — Le Monde