Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City

 

Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City, is the story of two crimes, the death by air pollution of thousands of Londoners in 1952, and from a serial killer.  The book paints an excellent portrait of post-War Great Britain; it was the victor in WWII, but in economic and social shambles.  The city is gritty, unsafe, and dirty (look at pictures from that time).  Food and other items are rationed. George Orwell was inspired by the post-war decay of England when he wrote 1984.  This book does an excellent job counting the cost of victory for Great Britain.

I do not see much of a connection between John Reginald Christie’s murders and the killer smog, except that they both deprived people of air.  So, the two threads of this work do not necessarily belong together.  Still, the author paints an excellent picture of post-War London in all its grays and blacks; and the book largely succeeds on that count.