When Fear and Disbelief Take Flight (2nd Edition)

The title of the first volume of the five-part series Panopticon of Sexual Murders, which covers 77 criminal cases from the history of the Czech Republic, is based on a snippet from a poem by Victor Hugo: "When you touch my eyelids lightly with your palm, terror and disbelief will fly from beneath them."
This comparison is amply fulfilled by the cases of serial killers - Mrázek (chapter The Grim Reaper Roams the Countryside), Štěpánek (House of Horrors) and Hojer (Girls Left for Dead). The echo of their horrific deeds comes to life in the authentic memories of those who survived or were drawn, often against their will, into the ever more destructive vortex of cruel events.
Together with the author, we become detectives, sifting through old files of criminal "monuments", real or merely apparent (Who Murdered the Noctule? or Covered Tracks). We become witnesses to intimate confessions or clever lies, playing out the drama of an attempt to escape the hangman's gallows (Heart of Stone). We will delve into the gloomy silence of remand cells, into the strange world of psychiatric rooms (The Secret of the Cross).
Some cases, their horrifying circumstances and monstrous details, waited for many decades in the archives to be published. Together with commentaries from experienced criminologists Col. Markovič and Col. Valerián, readers can expect a sensationally, yet professionally and honestly, crafted history of domestic sexual murder.