TIME ’S #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF THE
YEAR “Patricia Evangelista’s searing account is not only the definitive chronicle of a
reign of terror in the Philippines but a warning to the rest of the world about the true
dangers of despotism—its nightmarish consequences and its terrible human cost.”—Patrick Radden
Keefe New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain “Tragic elegant vital . . .
Evangelista risked her life to tell this story.”—Tara Westover #1 New York Times bestselling
author of Educated “A journalistic masterpiece”—David Remnick The New Yorker For six
years journalist Patricia Evangelista documented killings carried out by police and vigilantes
in the name of then president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs—a crusade that led to the
slaughter of thousands—immersing herself in the world of killers and survivors and capturing
the atmosphere of terror created when an elected president decides that some lives are worth
less than others. The book takes its title from the words of a vigilante which demonstrated
the psychological accommodation many across the country had made: “I’m really not a bad guy ”
he said. “I’m not all bad. Some people need killing.” A profound act of witness and a tour de
force of literary journalism Some People Need Killing is a brilliant dissection of the grammar
of violence and an investigation into the human impulses to dominate and resist. WINNER OF
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY’S HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE CHAUTAUQUA PRIZE
AND THE MOORE PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WRITING • LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE A BEST BOOK OF
THE YEAR: The New York Times The New Yorker The Economist Chicago Public Library CrimeReads
The Mary Sue
