An Invitation to Join the Human Race

An Interview with Walter Kirn

Walter Kirn’s new memoir, Blood Will Out, chronicles his years-long friendship with convicted murderer Christian Gerhartsreiter—Clark Rockefeller to his friends. The book opens with Kirn driving a crippled dog across from Montana to New York and ends with Kirn facing Gerhartsreiter in prison, Gerhartsreiter having been convicted of murdering his landlady’s son.  

Though Blood Will Out is primarily about the murderer, it also offers occasion for self-examination—just how did Gerhartsreiter convince so many people for so long?—and an exploration of some larger human truths about identity and gullibility. Kirn does not let himself off the hook. Far from it, sections of the book are almost uncomfortable in the degree that he self-flagellates. But this isn’t a book requesting your pity.

It’s a book that examines, unflinchingly, the lies we tell ourselves and allow others to tell in the spirit of human kinship. It’s about a man willing to exploit that human willingness to play along in service of his own villainous intent. Spanning many years and crossing the continent several times, Blood Will Out is a book that demands attention and might demand that you not put it down once you’ve cracked it.

I talked with Kirn over the phone about deception, the moment he knew, and Gerhartsreiter’s love poem about the German electoral system.

—Michael Hafford

I. A RENAISSANCE OF VIRTUAL IMPOSTORHOOD

THE BELIEVER: This book is kind of all over the place.

WALTER KIRN: You never know when they’re going to be all over the place. Non-fiction beats fiction in that respect. It’s also a time now when people feel deceived by various government and corporate bodies, so the theme is probably relevant.

BLVR: It’s interesting. You cover this in your interview with yourself in the New York Times—

WK: [laughs] It’s not an entirely serious interview, but maybe I cover it. I don’t know.

BLVR: I was just talking about the fact that you really think that there couldn’t be a case of concealed identity these days because everything is so searchable.

WK: You’d think that but let me tell you something, Michael. I’m dealing this very second with concealed identities. I’ve been convinced that Christian Gerhartsreiter, a.k.a. Clark Rockefeller, has been writing one-star Amazon reviews. They’re all reviews where the reviewer has no history and makes the same point: “This book is too much about the author, not enough about the killer.” I just looked at saw that they all appear at the same time of day. I just saw another one and it used his famous initials, CC. He called himself at one point...