Lots of nonfiction authors compare themselves to Erik Larsen (Thunderstruck, Isaac's Storm), but most fall short of that comparison. King comes the closest of any I've read. And, I think the short fall is because of the subject - not the author.
This is the story of a French doctor who was convicted of killing 26 people during WWII (and who may have killed over 100). Unfortunately, the trial was a farce (even though he was convicted) and this makes the story a little difficult to read. Also, most of the information is contained in descriptions of testimony rather than the testimony itself and I think we would have fared better with direct quotes from the trial.
Even with the failings described above, this story was fascinating. King allows himself to speculate (in the Epilogue), based on a newly discovered memoir by a young man who survived his encounter with the doctor, what might have actually happened in Paris and explains why it's important all these years later.
This review is based on an uncorrected proof.