I Ate His Heart - by Nathalie Von Zelowitz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"I ate his heart," were the first words said to author and psychologist Nathalie von Zelowitz during an interview with a man convicted of killing and cannibalizing another man.

Between 2011 and 2021, French prison psychologist Nathalie von Zelowitz met regularly with a man who had been sentenced to a high-security psychiatric facility for a homicide and an act of cannibalism. Unlike most defendants in such cases, the man was found mentally sound and legally responsible for his actions and received a criminal sentence.

I Ate His Heart is a true crime confessional like no other--a darkly philosophical interrogation into the meaning of love, desire, and annihilation. This is not a Hannibal Lecter thriller.

Von Zelowitz's work explores the internal logic of the crime from the perpetrator's perspective. Using firsthand interviews, reconstructed dialogue, and excerpts from the subject's writing, she presents a detailed account of the psychological, philosophical, and emotional framework that led to the killing. She neither sensationalizes nor excuses. Instead, she allows the subject's words and justifications to speak for themselves, offering readers a rare view into a case that defied common explanations of psychosis or insanity.

Originally published in France to critical acclaim, I Ate His Heart arrives in English for the first time--a chilling, cerebral, and elegantly disturbing book that questions whether understanding evil can ever leave you unchanged.

Perfect for readers of: My Dark Places by James Ellroy, The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère, Come and See by Sarah M. Broom, American Psycho by Bret Ellis Easton, The Cannibal by John Hawkes, Without Conscience by Robert D. Hare, Mindhunter by John Douglas, The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone. . .and those drawn to literary horror, transgressive psychology, and criminal obsession.

Inside you'll find...

• Details of a criminal case involving consensual homicide and cannibalism.


• Expert analysis and insights by a prison psychologist with ten years of direct access to the subject.


• Includes reflections on criminal responsibility, consent, identity, and pathology.


• Relevant for readers interested in forensic psychology, criminal justice, and abnormal behavior.

About the Author

Driven by her passion for cinema and crime novels, Nathalie von Zelowitz began studying psychology in the late 1980s, intrigued by topics that were considered marginal at the time: serial killers (which were not yet widely discussed; Stéphane Bourgoin's first book, Serial Killers, was published in 1993), sex offenders, sexual perversion, and more. While interning at the Fleury Mrogis Prison in France, she had the opportunity to participate in a national research project on sex offenders after the Van Geloven case shocked the public. Virtually nothing had been published on the subject, and she wrote her master's thesis on rape and her second master's thesis on pedophilia.

She has been a clinical psychologist, specializing in psycho-criminology, for thirty years. She holds a DESS degree in clinical and pathological psychology and a DEA in psychoanalytic studies. She also graduated from the Paris Institute of Criminology well before the existence of university degrees in criminology, which are often overly simplistic. She chose to work in a unique prison in France, the Château-Thierry Penitentiary, which houses "difficult cases" who would be unmanageable in other so-called "normal" establishments due to their behavioral problems or mental illness. Many of these prisoners have made headlines and have even been the subject of true-crime TV shows. At Château-Thierry, she took part in a research project on severe psychopaths. She works there as a clinical psychologist, seconded from the local psychiatric hospital, and intervening at the patient's request, while respecting medical confidentiality. She has been treating some patients for over 10 years. She is also a registered expert psychologist at the Amiens Court of Appeal (the jurisdiction of her workplace), where she is regularly called upon to provide expert system, exempt from professional secrecy.