The Persecutor

by Sergei Kourdakov

I was trying to come up with another good book to review for Halloween. I don’t typically read much horror, but THE PERSECUTOR kept coming to mind. It isn’t horror, but some of the events that happen in it are horrifying. The novel is an autobiography of Sergei Kourdakov, a member of the KGB who turned Christian. While there are debates about the accuracy of the book, there is no denying the emotional impact it left on me when I read it in college.

THE PERSECUTOR takes place around the 1950s in Russia. During this time Christianity was persecuted. Sergei was raised to join the KGB. Even from his childhood he was taught the best way to break people. As an adult he participated in dozens of raids that sometimes ended in death. During these raids he was often struck by how the Christians reacted. In turn this influences him to look beyond what he had been taught over the years to learn more about the people he persecuted.

This book doesn’t gloss over the violence, but neither does it glorify it. Instead it offers the facts. I remember being glued to the book, wondering what was going to happen next. The idea that one human being can be so vicious to another is terrifying. Whether the book is true or not doesn’t concern me, because it is a story that I believe could be true. The book was published in 1973 a few months after Sergei Kourdakov died suddenly, though there are a lot of theories behind that as well.