Sebastian Fitzek was born in Berlin in 1971. After going to law school and being promoted to LL.D., he decided against a juridical profession for a creative occupation in the media. After the traineeship at a private radio station he switched to the competition as head of entertainment and became chief editor later on, thereafter becoming an independent executive consultant and format developer for numerous media companies in Europe. He lives in Berlin and is currently working in the programme management of a major capital radio station.
Mixed feelings about this one really, on the one hand there were parts of it that had me utterly gripped, and then other parts felt a little drawn out and unrealistic, and for all the animal lovers out there, you鈥檒l very likely find some references to animal abuse upsetting.
There鈥檚 someone at large, who leaves their victims catatonic, very much a living death, and absolutely terrifying. It鈥檚 a clever and atmospheric plot, that takes place within a snow bound psychiatric hospital, and I certainly didn鈥檛 guess who was responsible for inducing this catatonic state in their victims, but unfortunately I had no empathy with the characters, and that made it difficult for me, so will settle on 3 stars.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC. I have given an honest unbiased review in exchange *
Holy Moly what a start!! Two students are asked by a professor to study the transcripts of The Soul Breaker in order to conduct an experiment. The Soul Breaker leaves victims catatonic, their minds destroyed, all possessing a note which makes little sense and then the perpetrator seems to stop. About three months later a man with amnesia is found in the snow outside the exclusive Teufelsberg Clinic, they name him Caspar. As the weather deteriorates what unfolds is an exceptionally dark and gritty 鈥榣ocked in鈥� mystery which will keep you guessing and guessing!
I鈥檝e read several books by Sebastian Fitzek and find his novels absorbing and most certainly showing the jet black side of humanity. This one is terrifying in places, mind numbing and utterly chilling as the perpetrator is beyond devious, ice cold and the book becomes impossible to put down. At times the scary narrative seems surreal, it has a dreamlike, nightmarish under the influence of mind altering drugs quality to it and I wonder what dark world I鈥檝e stepped into!! The plot is an enigma, trapped in a puzzle and sealed with a code you can鈥檛 interpret - think JJ Abrams!!! It keeps you absolutely hooked from beginning to end. How the author manages to pull together all the complex themes and threads is extremely clever. There are multiple twists which keep you guessing (mostly wrong in my case!) and it jogs along at a fair old pace and you need to keep up! This is a really compelling page turner, it鈥檚 very different, you could even argue it鈥檚 a bit weird but did I like it? Oh yes! The plot turns keep on coming right until the very end.
Overall, if you like complex thrillers and don鈥檛 mind a dark theme then this one is for you!
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Head of Zeus for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
A Professor is offering 200 EUROS to any student who will take part in his experiment. It involves reading the transcripts of an authentic factual account, which reads like a thriller. The original is an old paperback with a greenish cover, and the title 鈥淭he Soul Breaker鈥� is in red lettering. The shadowy figure of a man hurrying through a snowstorm toward a dark building adorns the cover.
The factual account: The Soul Breaker destroyed three women, by leaving them alive but unable to communicate with the outside world, clutching a riddle in their hands-but then suddenly stopped.
Years later: A Man is found outside of a psychiatric clinic in the snow, with no recollection of his name, his career or how he arrived. The nurses call him Casper. But, who is he really?
And, now at this same clinic, long after his arrival, another snowstorm cuts the clinic off from the rest of the world just after an ambulance crashes, and arrives with another patient-the only snowmobile has been mysteriously and deliberately disabled.
The staff and patients are stranded.
Soon, the lead psychiatrist is found naked, trembling and traumatized with a slip of paper containing a riddle in her hand鈥�..
Has the Soul Breaker returned to strike again? Why now?!
As the bodies piled up, I made my guess as to WHO the Soul Breaker was. I was wrong.
As the students read the transcript, I tried to figure out what the experiment was. I was clueless.
I can definitely see why this popular German author has so many fans! Very Clever!
Now that his work is being translated to English, by John Brownjohn, see if you can figure ANY of this out on August 5, 2021 ! ( September for the U.S.)
I would like to thank the Head of Zeus for my gifted copy provided through NetGalley! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!
After a very confronting opening chapter the story begins in the present day. A Professor of psychiatry is conducting an experiment with some students who will be paid 鈧�200 for participating. All they have to do is read a transcript of some actual case notes. Simple yes? No!
The case notes refer to the past, to a diabolical perpetrator referred to as the soul-breaker. Three women had disappeared only to be found some time later, physically unharmed but catatonic - dead inside. They all have pieces of paper with obscure riddles clutched in their hands. The attacks stopped suddenly after three victims were found. Then, three months later, the action moves to an exclusive psychiatric facility. A man is found close by, near death through exposure so he is brought to the clinic. He is fine but suffers amnesia. Since they don鈥檛 know his name, the man is referred to as Caspar.
One night a few weeks later an ambulance carrying a man who stabbed himself in the throat crashes into the phone box near the gates of the clinic. Of course a blizzard is underway. The patient and the paramedic are brought to the clinic by snowmobile. And that鈥檚 when it all starts to blow up. The psychiatrist treating Caspar, Dr Sophia Dorn, is found in a bathtub, in a catatonic state clutching a piece of paper with a riddle on it in her hand. It seems the soul-breaker is back!
This was dark, very dark. From the time Sophia is found things get crazy at the clinic. There are few residents as it is Christmas Eve. But those that remain and the staff on duty are subjected to an increasingly terrifying experience. It turns into a bit of a locked room mystery with a dose of madness thrown in. It was actually quite creepy and scary and I don鈥檛 say that often!
The setting, the isolated clinic, lent itself to this story very well. The blizzard highlighted it鈥檚 remoteness. The characters were well portrayed although you didn鈥檛 get to know any of them particularly well. This story was all about the Fear (with a capital F). It was almost a character in itself and it was superbly done. I was afraid! Although definitely a bit creepy and very suspenseful I enjoyed this book a lot.
The book was originally published some years ago but, I think, only recently translated and re-released in English. I have read a few books by the author and find them all very different and all having a sense of creeping menace. This book certainly amped up that factor! Thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for my free ARC copy which I have reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
After enjoying my first venture into the world of Sebastian Fitzek, I thought that I would return with something equally chilling. Another psychological thriller that appears to have divided the reviewing world quite effectively. A mysterious person kidnaps women and leaves them in a state worse than anyone can imagine, psychologically empty and apparently soulless. Now, in a psychiatric facility, the perpetrator is loose and there are plenty of victims on which to 鈥榝eed鈥�. Souls will be broken, but will anyone be able to put them back together?
A spree of three missing women who turn up in a catatonic state, each with a riddle. They were not killed or raped, or even tortured, but one dies soon after being found. The psychopath who did this appears to have pushed them into a vegetative state, more chilling than anything seen before. It鈥檚 all the rage across Germany and yet no one has any answers.
Labelled 鈥榯he Soul-Breaker鈥� by media outlets, this person lurks in the shadows, awaiting their next victim. After being transported to a psychiatric clinic in a snowstorm, the Soul-Breaker is set to strike again, unbeknownst to those inside. With a handful of patients and staff locked in, it will not only be a battle to protect those who are trapped within, but a race to neutralise this psychopath before more souls are lost and additional damage is wrought.
Add to this, another narrative that includes a group reading the summaries years later, under lose medical watch. Might the Soul-Breaker case be one that will be studied for years by those in the field, or is this just an experiment performed on clueless students?
I needed a little something to bridge my audiobook listening selections and thought this short novel would do just the trick. Using the Audible dramatisation, I figured the story would come to life for me. It did, to a degree, though I appear not to be as riveted as some who got their hands on the actual text. Fitzek does well with the premise, offering something eerie and chilling, though perhaps my listening as I did what I usually do while streaming an audiobook lessened the impact. All that being said, I liked it for the most part and will surely listen to more Fitzek to see if I can continue to enjoy his work.
Kudos, Mr. Fitzek, for another good publication. While I have only the Audible dramatisations to use as reference, you do seem able to really offer a chilling tale with a number of key characters offering varied perspectives.
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Segundo libro que leo de Sebastian y creo que puedo decir que me encantan sus psicothrillers. Su ritmo es endiablado como un coche cogiendo velocidad, ascendente hasta el estasis final. En este caso no has sido menos, cap铆tulos muy cortos, toda la historia tiene lugar en una noche, d谩ndote la sensaci贸n de estres. Bueno esta es la sinopsis: De la mano de su profesor, dos estudiantes de psicolog铆a participan en un experimento que consiste en estudiar el expediente m茅dico de un paciente de una cl铆nica psiqui谩trica privada de Berl铆n, donde hace a帽os tuvieron lugar escenas de horror y que, actualmente, se mantiene cerrada al p煤blico. En medio de los acontecimientos se hallan el joven Caspar, un paciente que sufre amnesia, incapaz de recordar qui茅n es, y tambi茅n un asesino en serie conocido como el Destructor de almas. Tras el ataque a tres mujeres, el Destructor de almas centrar谩 ahora su objetivo en el centro 辫蝉颈辩耻颈谩迟谤颈肠辞. Cualquiera puede ser la pr贸xima v铆ctima... Ha habido momentos en los que parec铆a una pel铆cula de terror-thriller, con el asesino y las victimas en un 煤nico lugar, luchando por sobrevivir, jugando al gato y el rat贸n. Me ha parecido brillante como el autor juega con los conceptos de la amnesia y la prisi贸n que puede ser el cuerpo dejando a una persona incapaz de comunicarse con el exterior (ni hablar ni escribir) pero que sea consciente de las cosas, (espeluznante la verdad) que es lo que les hace a sus v铆ctimas el destructor de almas, de ah铆 dicho nombre. Lo 煤nico que no me ha acabado de convencer es quien es el culpable o asesino, no me encaja mucho, a pesar de las explicaciones o razonamientos que hace el autor, por todo lo dem谩s muy adictiva. Por ese motivo no le doy mas estrellas. 8/10 Est谩 claro que seguir茅 leyendo libros de este autor.
First up, this book is the work of German writer Sebastian Fitzek and translated by the late John Brownjohn. As with any work that has been translated from its original form we lose something in the process. Mr. Brownjohn was, by all accounts, a highly revered translator but for all that I found the narrative to be, stilted, is the word that comes to mind. But that apart this had me on the edge on my seat, not always, but most of the time. Two student are asked to participate in an experiment. The experiment is to read a case history of a patient suffering from total amnesia. The point of this exercise is not explained to them the professor is only interested in their reactions to the case. They start to read and what unfolds is a horror story of harrowing proportions. The patient has no idea who he is or what he is, but every now and again he gets flashbacks that terrify him. He finds himself in a mental hospital where the doctors are trying to unlock his memory. How he came to be here he has no idea. But just as one of the doctors is about to reveal something that might switch the lights on in his head all hell breaks lose.
A psychotic madman has gained entry to the hospital with two objectives in mind. 1. Kill the patient. 2. Kill the doctor with the possible answers. Why? This is what the young students are about to discover.
For the most part this book kept me wanting more but there were times when it was just a stretch too far. As for the end I would defy anyone to predict the final twist, a jaw dropping moment if ever there was one.
The Soul Breaker was first published in 2008 in German (as Der Seelenbrecher) and its popularity has since seen it published in several languages and now in English, very ably translated by John Brownjohn. It鈥檚 a very dark and gothic thriller set inside a sealed psychological hospital, with the maniac known as the Soul Breaker on the loose.
The Soul Breaker doesn鈥檛 kill his victims. He destroys them. Leaving them paralysed and catatonic, reliving their worst nightmares over and over again, in a state from which they will never recover. So far, he has abducted and destroyed three victims, his calling card, a note containing a riddle, left in each victim鈥檚 hand.
鈥楥aspar鈥� is a man who was found lying in the snow outside the psychiatric hospital. Suffering amnesia, with no recollection of who he is or how he got there, he was named Caspar by the staff. He鈥檚 started to have some flashbacks and is convinced he must leave the clinic to get back to his life and someone he feels is waiting for him, but a brutal storm is closing in and the hospital becomes totally cut off from the rest of the world. Things take an even more sinister turn when Sophia, the head psychiatrist is found naked, distraught and unable to communicate, clutching a note in her hand. Another victim of the Soul Breaker.
With the Soul Breaker now locked inside with the handful of patients and staff left before at the hospital before Christmas, they must battle to protect each other, find out which of them is the Soul Breaker and prevent even more deaths. Caspar must also work out who he really is and why he was found outside the hospital. He also needs to work out who he can trust and there are those who are suspicious of him and his apparent loss of memory.
The setting of a near empty psychiatric hospital creates the perfect dark and creepy atmosphere for this gripping and at times graphic read. The characters are all well drawn, although none are ones you can empathise with as the fear and danger brings out the worst in them. The plot is clever and fast paced, with the action and suspense become relentless, with the feeling of a dark and twisted hellish nightmare where no one is safe. Definitely one for those readers who enjoy a chilling tale with more than a touch of horror. 4.5鈽�
With thanks to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for a copy to read.
Das ganze hin und her und die ach so vielen k枚rperlichen Schmerzen die der Protagonist hat, gingen mir ziemlich auf die Nerven.. Der Schreibstil war wie immer top & man kommt schnell durch, aber ich mochte die Story an sich einfach so. Hatte Potential, aber das wars auch schon.
A strange book. It starts with an intriguing atmosphere, then it gets a bit boring, then it gets too hectic and then it ends up slow. All in all I didn't like it. It seems to me the stylistic exercise of an author who wanted to see how much he could pull the string of suspense. In fact, in the central part the events follow one another so tightly that the suspense, instead of growing, decreases, because I began to think that too much is too much and putting a twist on each page, for dozens of pages, is really exaggerated. It is as if there were dozens and dozens of courses at a lunch in an exceptional restaurant: after the fourth or fifth course, the "customer" stops being pleasantly amazed and begins to be annoyingly astonished. This is what I felt reading this book: the plot is really too tight and therefore it becomes cloying, you perceive too much that it is a book and therefore you are unable to identify with the story, a thing that instead a great book can do, that is, make you believe you are in history and make you forget what you really have around in that moment: here, instead, it is too exaggerated and you almost wonder: what will the author invent on the next page: a monster coming out of the floor? No, I didn't like it. Even the characters are not great and none of them hit me for a particular trait or unique characteristics. A book to forget without any regrets.
So I can鈥檛 hold it against an author if I was expecting more from a book than it delivered. I should also clarify that opening sentence because I quite enjoyed this book but I had been so looking forward to it and I was so excited to get at it but it just was not a home run. Yet it was a solid read. I was just expecting more of a horror and though I have never read an Agatha Christie mystery this is kind of what I would imagine a Christie mystery to be though admittedly a bit more gory. There are even a few intriguing riddles that the killer provides for us and they are pretty cool. I also will take into account that I read this on a kindle and have about 100 pages earmarked with regard to notes. In fact I may review my review policy when it comes to a kindle book. I just may skip doing them if its too involved. Clearly for me, this would have been a better real copy read. And all those notes don鈥檛 even really help me out with regard to reviewing it as I don鈥檛 want to really spoil anything for anyone. Regardless I will try my best. So the premise is that there is a killer who is torturing and killing people. Simple enough but not really. As we learn more about this killer we learn how truly sophisticated a killer they really are. The victims are kind of put into a death sleep or sleep paralysis where there worst fears are realized and they are trapped in those fears infinitely as they cannot wake up. I should note that more and more modern literature and cinema allude to hell being just that 鈥� ones own worst fears being lived over and over. I for one really lean this way. I should explain that I suffer from night terrors and have suffered sleep paralysis. The feeling that I need to wake up and get up but simply can鈥檛. The monsters that imprison me when this happens are usually demonic but I have gotten so good at battling them as I sleep that I have seen them to be demons as well as star wars storm troopers -lol. The paralysis still scares the living hell out of me because as I sleep I can sense when they will happen but due to that my mind is usually able to avoid them altogether. Sometimes though they come on and I do take part in battling them mentally though this can go on for far too long and be too scary indeed. There are times I thought I would not be able to wake up! I say all this because this subject matter was right down my wheel house and still not a five star rating. Note as well that the author refers to this state of paralysis as The Fear. He uses the term The Fear to outline where in time a certain chapter is - like one and a half days before The Fear. So clearly I can buy into sleep paralysis as living hell but how the hell would a killer be able to use it against his captives? So I had a lot of skepticism built into me as I read the story. The story is quite good but I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 for everyone. There are some references to animal cruelty and there is a lot of timeline movement in the story though the author let鈥檚 you know where you are. So we start out with a young woman who believes she is being raped. We learn that she in fact dies along with several other women. We learn the monster behind the murders is known as the soul breaker as when the victims are found it is clear they have gone through hell but there are no signs of outright abuse or harm so how is it all happening? It must be mental. Years later things come to a head at a mental clinic and it is here where the story/mystery unfolds. Again I was reminded of a tv murder mystery I watch regularly. A little more intense, that鈥檚 for sure. It鈥檚 very hard to keep up with and there are a lot of twists and turns. And the murder mystery is an unfolding of an experiment by a professor involving two students who are reading an actual account of what happened this night at the mental hospital. It鈥檚 funny but you sometimes wonder how the hell the experiment the two students are doing ties into the book but it comes together nicely at the end. Actually the hole story comes together nicely. The author actually recounts what happened that night with all the explanations that account for what occurred during the murder mystery night and you know what 鈥� I had no issue with any of it. It is quite buyable. Again I鈥檓 not going to say to much about what happened and the reasons why those things happened. I will let you the reader explore for those answers. I think the book is aptly titled as it really stretches one鈥檚 mind. There is a lot to take in here but I like the fact that the author posits a very good explanation of everything. I may have had an issue with it as it was never ending. I kept looking at the kindle % where I was and there was no sign of it coming to an end, lol. Yet when it does come to an end it all makes sense. I should note that the author in his acknowledgement deals with the factual basis of how he came up with his theory of the soul breaker and it appears this scary subject matter is being looked at. That alone blows my mind. Again I can鈥檛 say what that is without spoiling things 馃槉 A different and interesting read. A solid four stars and I look forward to more books from this author.
Pi霉 che uno psico-thriller lo definirei una psico-cazzata. Anzi, una cazzata e basta. Quasi quasi mi vien da rivalutare Dan Brown. Il che 猫 tutto dire.
Este el segundo libro que leo de Fitzek un autor que se ha ganado a pulso su t铆tulo como maestro del terro psicologico, para muestra el primer acercamiento a "El destructor de almas", que honestamente te deja as铆:
Joder! Que manera de presentar a un personaje, y tambi茅n que manera de hacer que te interese otra historia y no la de est茅 macabro villano presentado al inicio (este punto aun hace que me debata si fue bueno o malo porque tienes a alguien que f谩cilmente puede tomar todo de ti y dejarte vac铆o, pero al arrojarte otro misterio que se siente m谩s personal deja de tener tanta importancia el primer enigma y el segundo toma mayor importancia para el lector).
El estilo es sencillo pero penetrante, el inicio no es acelerado, ni lo necesita, te presenta a los personajes y parte de los hechos, el punto de vista vamos leyendo es el de uno de los involucrados en toda esta vor谩gine de locura que es el hospital y el experimento, los dos elementos que conviven de manera inseparable durante toda el libro. Rapidamente quedas cautivado por el expediente que te presentan y logras creer en un mundo donde este estudio es real.
El detalle con esta historia es que varios de los giros pecan de ser imaginables, especialmente el 煤ltimo que se alcanza a percibir desde las primeras p谩ginas, pero los que el autor se guarda, sin esconderlos, son los que hacen que te salten los ojos tanto por su impresivilidad como por la posible obviedad de los mismos, con esto quiero decir que el autor realmente no nos esta ocult谩ndo hechos simplemente los presenta de tal forma que nosotros sigamos el c谩mino que el ya ha trazado.
鈥淣o fueron torturadas. No murieron. Les pas贸 algo peor...鈥�
Un thriller muy entretenido, con un final que no te esperas. A lo largo de la novela hay algunas situaciones que chirr铆an un poco, pero eso no hace que desmerezca la intriga de leer hasta el final y saber qui茅n es 鈥渆l destructor de almas鈥�.
Es una caja de sorpresas, primero porque es una historia llena de historias y segundo porque no deja de sorprender. Qui茅n es el destructor de almas? C贸mo elige a sus v铆ctimas? Qu茅 significan esos extra帽os acertijos? Durante la lectura de un expediente, dos estudiantes, tendr谩n que averiguar qu茅 ocurri贸.
As most of you know I tend to write my reviews in German whenever a book is not available in English. For this one I鈥檒l make an exception, just because I鈥檇 need to formulate my thoughts in English for the Wheel of Fortune challenge anyway. So enjoy reading about a book you will never be able to read if you鈥檙e not fluent in German...
To be honest, I was largely underwhelmed by this. I didn鈥檛 expect too much in the first place, but the first 75% of the book just didn鈥檛 grab my attention. Watching kids playing in the water, chasing around swans at the lake where I was reading this book was way more interesting. Having read he whole thing, the idea itself wasn鈥檛 too bad. It was actually pretty good. And I didn鈥檛 see everything coming. The execution was rather bad, though. Some things concerning the behaviour of the characters just wern鈥檛 realistic in my opinion. This took away from the read鈥檚 enjoyability. However, this book is 10 years old. Fitzek wasn鈥檛 a bestselling author back then and didn鈥檛 have too much writing experience. That鈥檚 why I鈥檓 willing to give one of his more recent books a try in the future.