Samuel Little (June 7, 1940 - December 30, 2020) was an American serial killer who was convicted in 2012 of the murders of three women in California between 1987 and 1989 as well as being convicted in 2018 of the murder of one woman in Texas in 1994. He claimed to have killed as many as 93 women, and investigators have linked him to over 60 murders. When the ingredients of a recipe are mixed, and put on the hob to boil, different flavors bubble to the surface. The horror-filled dish that is Samuel Little has only recently - in November of 2018, started to reveal its full range of unpleasant attacks on our senses. The essence of what is starting to emerge may well change over the coming weeks and months; it might get stronger and even less palatable, it may turn out to be a false concoction which, with the investigation, proves to still contain a bitter taste. One still unbelievably bad to those who have had the misfortune to find it on their plate, but (at least) something about which we already know. Because, if there is even a fraction of truth in what Samuel Little is currently saying, the United States is about to know the identity of its latest, biggest ever, serial killer.

著者ニダ・ビラルが描く本作は、アメリカ犯罪史上最悪の「怪物」サミュエル・リトルの深淵を、五感を刺激する比喩表現を用いて鮮烈に描き出しています。調理中の鍋から不快な香りが漂い出すような、真実が露呈していく過程の描き方は秀逸です。単なる記録を超え、長年伏せられてきた悪意が沸騰し、社会を侵食していく恐怖を文学的に凝縮した一冊と言えます。 晩年になって語られた膨大な殺人の告白は、読み手の道徳観を激しく揺さぶります。沈黙という蓋が外れた瞬間に溢れ出す負のエネルギーは、我々に人間性の極北を突きつけます。著者は、この煮え立つような事実の連鎖を通じて、失われた犠牲者たちの尊厳と、暴かれなかった悪の正体を執念深く追跡しており、その筆致には震えるような情熱が宿っています。