The Mind of a Madman Audiobook By Richard Orange cover art

The Mind of a Madman

Norway's Struggle to Understand Anders Breivik

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The Mind of a Madman

By: Richard Orange
Narrated by: Gary Dikeos
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About this listen

Anders Behring Breivik killed more people in his twin terror attack in Norway last year than any lone gunman ever had in peacetime before him. When he was arrested, he claimed to act on behalf of the Knights Templar, a militant network sworn to protect Europe from Islam. But Norwegian police could find no evidence such a group existed.

Was Breivik a genuine terrorist, driven by far-right ideology, or a deluded madman? Over the next year, this question would draw in police specialists, lawyers, psychiatrists, and experts in the far-right, culminating in a trial that ceased to be simply about guilt or innocence. Instead, the court would confront a more troubling question: how could such brutal acts become possible for a young man brought up in some of the most privileged parts of Oslo?

In Mind of a Madman, journalist Richard Orange draws on his own court reporting, three court psychiatric reports, police interviews, and transcripts from the trial to give the most complete account yet of a shocked society's attempt to understand the killer.

©2012 Richard Orange (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Criminal & Forensic Psychology True Crime Forensics
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Editorial reviews

On July 22nd of 2011, Anders Behring Breivik went on a killing spree that claimed the lives of 77 innocent people in Olso, Norway. The question everyone was asking was, "how could someone do that?" and "why?" Richard Orange's The Mind of a Madman provides a comprehensive look at the court procedures that followed Breivik's attack. Orange includes his own personal court notes, police interviews, three court psychiatric reports and transcripts from the trial in order to present a complete and non-sensational account of Beivik's attacks and the resulting court procedures. Gary Dikeos' voice is measured and somber, honoring Norway's struggle to make sense of what happened.

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Decent book, terrible performance

The narrator's reading of this book made it almost not worth listening. For a presumably american actor living in Los Angeles to try to put on a Norwegian accent for much of the book is just distracting and somewhat offensive. Not only do the characteristics of the accent change during his reading, but they are super inaccurate to begin with.

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Surprisingly worthwhile

The narrator's ill-fated attempt at accents notwithstanding, this book was a real surprise and an easy recommendation. The path of enquiry for court-appointed psychologists takes some interesting twists and turns and, for someone like me who has studies right-wing movements, it is easy to see early on where they erred. Extensive use of court transcripts places this book somewhere between psychological primer and court drama.

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Can’t Get Past Narration

Dear Audible,
Please do not let narrators do accents. They are always distracting and rarely good.

I couldn’t stick with this book though it seemed interesting.

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