The Master of Confessions: The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer

Journalist Cruvellier (Court of Remorse: Inside the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) turns his attention to the matter of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, the one-time director of S-21, one of the many prisons run by the Khmer Rouge during their bloody control of Cambodia from 1975-1979. Cruvellier portrays Duch as both perpetrator and victim, butcher and penitent defendant, monster and schoolteacher, in a contradictory manner which exemplifies the banality of evil and the flexibility of the human spirit. Leaving no detail untouched, Cruvellier takes readers in a meandering tour of Duch's life, the corpse-filled reign of the Khmer Rouge, the vicissitudes of the trial itself, and the legacy created. It's a sobering story of a horrifying episode in recent history, rich in detail and thoroughly-researched. In raising the question as to whether Duch was a man caught up in a struggle to survive or a genuinely evil person, Cruvellier tells a complicated, disturbing tale. However, at times the tone shifts from oddly poetic to detached, lending the text a distractingly varied amount of emotion, sympathy, and outrage. The result, though, is an unforgettable, overwhelming, exploration of a tragic period which shouldn't be forgotten or overlooked. Agent: Susanna Lea, Susanna Lea Associates. (Mar.)