When terrorists shoot into crowds in Paris and murder dozens of people, when the guardians of virtue during the French Revolution behead thousands to realize Enlightenment ideals, and even when Dostoevsky's "Demons" kill because their nihilism robs them of any moral sense - what goes on in their minds? Why do people make themselves masters over life and death - and thus become like God? Even if they invoke God or a political ideal, Walis's provocative thesis suggests that the opposite is true: What drives all these murderers is the fascination with violence, the feeling of absolute power, the desire to spread deadly fear, and to destroy the social foundation of trust.