The scene is Treblinka; the character is Franz Stangl. The theme is the mass extermination of men, women and children. As commandant of Treblinka, Stangl was imprisoned for life. Gitta Sereny covered the trial on behalf of a London newspaper. Fascinated by the prisoner, she decided to make an effort to get to know him better, to delineate him more deeply... For seventy hours he answered questions. A conscientious journalist, Sereny checked his answers and statements by extending the scope of her enquiry: she interrogated dozens of men and women from all over who had had the slightest contact with the man who had been monarch of the kingdom of the dead. She interviewed his wife, his children, his friends, his judges, his accomplices, his victims - that is, the rare victims who had survived. The result is a report - a portrait? - that from the first pages opens out onto an abyss in which one cannot breath, or move. It is not the murder in Stangl that terrifies us - it is the human being. For that matter 'terrify' many not be the right word. Most often one is sick to one's soul. Yes, that is the word needed, a word from Sartre - one os gripped by a profound existential nausea" - Elie Wiesel

Based on more than two years of extensive research and numerous, widely ranging interviews, this book portrays child prostitution in Europe and the United States through composite portraits of twelve youngsters of diverse backgrounds who turned to prostitution