The definitive investigation into the life and unspeakable crimes of the Nazi "Angel of Death" explores how he rose to power in the Third Reich and how he evaded capture since World War II

Now that Mengele's remains have been exhumed and identified, we can expect a number of popular biographies. Astor spent several years preparing this loosely documented study. As to the ``Angel of Death's'' motives and inner psyche, the author has few thoughtful answers. The Auschwitz chapters are predictably shocking and melodramatic; it is only when Astor focuses on Mengele's decades of evasion in South America that the story becomes taut and meaningful. For it is only then that the aging and impenitent Nazi achieves those human qualities that make him seem plausible and understandable