Fantasy and real crimes
The Life and Crimes of Charles. Sobhraj. By Richard Neville and Julie Clarke. Cape, 1979. 352 pp. $21.95.
(Reviewed by Barry Holland)
“The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj” is a book that could well carry a literary equivalent of the cinema advertisement warnings to the sensitive. It is a vivid, sometimes grisly, illustrated portrayal of the life of Sobhraj . that includes, the raw materials of nightmares. Sobhraj grew into crime from an insecure upbringing, treating it as an adventure that helped him realise his fantasies. His method of drugging and then robbing' tourists led to his - eventually killing them as well after, rendering them semi-conscious.
Co-author Richard . Neville tries, but
fails, to discover Sobhraj’s motive for the killings. Sobhraj’s’ explanation, that he was paid a fortune by a drug ring in Hong Kong on behalf of China, .does not impress Mr Neville or,'probably,; most readers. It is consistent only with the'world of fantasy into which the Jekyll .and Hyde ' Sobhraj often drifted. ' . . ' ■ The book is a bizarre biography and more.. It tells stories of the hunted and the hunter, of the terror of those who discovered his. deadly work and then of the attempts to. close in on Sobhraj. His freedom ends. in a black comedy when he tries unsuccessfully to drug 60 young French tourists and steal their passports in an Indian hotel. This creates chaos when they become ill en masse thanks to his drugs. Mr Neville and . Miss Clarke also give a critical commentaiy on the inefficiency of the Thai police, British dipiom a t i c masterly inactivity, American indifference, and the corrupt and castial . Indian prison system. Perhaps even more clearly/they draw a picture of the emptiness of the lives of many rainbow - chasers. But the reader cannot remain aloof from the world of Sobhraj for no doubt part of the proceeds of the story which the self-centred killer sold to Mr Neville and Miss. Clarke’s American publishers have helped-td pay for his. defence.
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Bibliographic details
Press, 9 August 1980, Page 17
Word Count
334Fantasy and real crimes Press, 9 August 1980, Page 17
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