Magnetized - Conversations with a Serial Killer
Carlos Busqued
Translator Samuel Rutter
Publisher: Catapult
Summary
A work of literary true crime, or a "nonfiction novel," in the vein of Emmanuel Carrère, Delphine de Vigan, or Javier Cercas, Magnetized is a hypnotic and unnerving text, in which popular Argentine writer Carlos Busqued gives free rein to the voice of one of Argentina's most notorious serial killers, Ricardo Melogno, who, thirty-five years ago, murdered four taxis drivers without any apparent motive. For readers who loved Maggie Nelson's The Red Parts or Haruki Murakami's Underground Magnetized is the condensed result of ninety hours spent in conversation with Ricardo Melogno, who has been incarcerated for these four murders for more than thirty-five years. Busqued edited these ninety hours, over 500 transcribed pages, into a slim volume in which Melogno’s voice is wide-ranging, candid, and unsettling, making for a riveting psychological portrait. Magnetized was well-received in Argentina and named a Best Book of 2018 by Clarín (the New York Times of Argentina); it was originally published by the Argentinian publisher of Bolaño and other major voices of Latin America. This unsettling, difficult to classify book includes transcribed interviews not just with Melogno, but also with the judge who presided over his initial trial and a psychiatrist who’s worked extensively with Melogno. Not quite memoir, and stranger than true crime, Magnetized incites reflection about both genres—and also about religion (Melogno is a practiced Satanist), spiritualism (his abusive mother was a well-respected spiritualist), life in prison and mental institutions, and mental illness—much of the book concerns the Melogno’s utter lack of motive for killing his victims, a statistical rarity in homicide cases, and especially in serial homicide cases. Much of true crime published looks at the hunt for serial killers, spotlighting the investigators and detectives pursuing a killer. Magnetized takes a profound and chillingly different approach—Busqued drops his reader into the mind, the voice, into the stream of consciousness of a killer, blurring reportage with autobiography and in turn making visceral the details of life that somehow amount to making the decision to commit a series of terrible crimes. This is not a murder mystery to be solved in the course of reading; instead, it is a mystery of why a young man would commit such violent crimes. There are visual elements in the book as well, newspaper clippings and other ephemera surrounding the cases. Busqued was connected with Melogno when Melogno’s team of therapists thought that in order to make sense of and organize the story in his head he should start to write about it. For two years Busqued visited Melogno in prison. Without imposing judgment, Busqued allows for the killer to describe his way of retreating from the world and explain his crimes as best he can. In Busqued’s own words, in reading Magnetized, “the reader enters the world of the serial killer and stays in the disturbing, empty room on the other side. A book about crime, but also about a way to inhabit the world or be absent from it.” Magnetized fits into the tradition of Rodolfo Walsh's Operation Massacre, a quick and captivating read for literary readers, critics, lovers of translation, and fans of true crime. Acquired by Catapult editor Kendall Storey and translated from the Spanish by Samuel Rutter. Author lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator lives in Brooklyn, NY. Bookseller Praise for Magnetized "I couldn't put this book down. I am so excited for it to be published in June so I can share it with everyone I know. Busqued had an opportunity not many people do—full access to a known and convicted killer. He somehow humanizes Ricardo Melogno, who murdered four taxi drivers in Buenos Aries, Argentina, in just a week in September 1982, while still making it clear that he is a criminal. Melogno fielded many diagnoses in his over thirty years in multiple prisons and hospitals, but most of them seem to not be quite accurate. Not only does this book share in Melogno's own words what he did and how he got to where he is, but it also delves deep into why the prison system might not be the right place for people like him. Great for those interested in true crime, prison reform, or psychology." —Abby Rubin, Pages Bookshop (Detroit, MI) "Such a thriller and oddly told tale. I can't compare it to anything else I've read in years. This book has reorganized my conception of evil and true crime. A perfect crash-through book." —Hans Weyandt, Milkweed Books (Minneapolis, MN) "Magnetized: Conversations with a Serial Killer is a killer of a book. A fast but deep read that will linger with you longer than you might first expect, given its brevity and sensational title. It's the final pages that truly generate the power in Carlos Busqued's work. Not simply a quick true crime read, but worthy of being called literary nonfiction." —Christine Havens, BookPeople (Austin, TX) "Ricardo Melogno is a criminal, a murderer, a serial killer. He’ll admit it, it’s a fact—in 1982, he took the lives of four taxi drivers. But was he sane? Is he now? How does a society choose to punish insensible, inexplicable acts like Melogno’s? How should it? In Busqued’s conversations with Melogno, the killer tells his story, but it is the reader who must decide: What fate does Melogno deserve?" —Talia Smart, Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, NC) "A gritty, mesmerizing one-sit read about a man who committed four murders, seemingly without motive. It's literary true crime and an example of why there should be more translated nonfiction." —Lesley Rains, City of Asylum (Pittsburgh, PA)