Frankfurt Ripper - From the Life of a Serial Killer

To his young boss, he is simply a relic of days gone by that can be rationalized away without much resistance. To his neighbor, he's the kindly man who always lends her a helping hand. And for the kiosk owner around the corner, he is the loyal BILD buyer with whom it is easy to talk about current affairs. But behind the inconspicuous façade of 60-year-old Klaus Scholz slumbers a cruel monster. For the elderly gentleman from Frankfurt-Sindlingen is a serial killer who has only one goal: he wants to become a legend, a star on the Internet, whose Wikipedia entry makes that of Fritz Haarmann look like a well-behaved bedtime story. But so far his deeds have not been given any real attention by the media. But that is about to change. Scholz meticulously plans his next murders, which he describes in great detail in his frankfurtripper blog. And if that's not enough to finally become famous, then the murders will have to become even more outlandish and brutal...

The journalist, moderator and author Martin Olden alias Marc Rybicki delivers with "Frankfurt Ripper - Aus dem Leben eines Serienkillers" a successful mixture of bloody serial killer novel and biting satire on the society addicted to publicity and on the media, which promise everyone his 15 minutes of fame. When the Frankfurt Ripper describes his murders to his community down to the smallest detail, the reader must have a strong stomach at times. But the very matter-of-fact descriptions of the killings paired with the comments of the online users lend the whole thing a satirical undertone that at first seems to diminish the horror a little. But then you realize how close the at first sight exaggerated user comments are to reality, it runs down your spine again.

Naturally, the story is somewhat exaggerated, which is always the case with satire. But unfortunately, especially the internet comments and the conversations Scholz has with his fellow human beings turn out to be less exaggerated than one would like. Here the author has literally looked his fellow men very closely in the mouth. The only thing that really stands out is the fact that everyone Scholz gets into conversation with - no matter whether it's a taxi driver, an old people's nurse, a kiosk owner or a simple passer-by - immediately steers the conversation towards current political or social topics and proves to be extremely well informed there - or at least believes to be. These conversations do all sound very similar, though this could be explained by the fact that the story is told from Scholz's point of view and he retells the conversations in his own way. Even though the conversations are well written, a little less would have been more in this respect, as these dialogue scenes seem a bit repetitive in the long run, while the reader has long understood what the author is getting at.

The killer's sick thought processes, the jaded user feedback and the conversations marked by disappointment, anger, prejudice and disillusionment paint a picture of a very cynical society in which fame - however superficial it may be - seems to be more important than fellow humanity and ethics. Martin Olden has succeeded in writing a book that is at times very entertaining and amusing, but at other times really painful, whether because of the brutality or the often depressing view of a world in which apathy, indifference and jadedness are no longer uncommon. Embedded in well-described Frankfurt flair, "Frankfurt Ripper - Aus dem Leben eines Serienkillers" is an exciting and bitterly wicked book that can be recommended to all readers who like very bloody social satire with lots of local color. Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp