Until the Victim Becomes our Own

Until the Victim Becomes our Own is a composite novel by Greek author Dimitris Lyacos. Conceived as the book "zeroth" of the Poena Damni trilogy the book explores violence in its various manifestations, as a constitutive element in the formation of human societies and the eventual position of the individual in a world "permeated by institutionalized power"." Described as prequel to Lyacos' trilogy, Until the Victim Becomes our Own outlines a portrait of Western civilization, examined and reassessed from its Judeo-Christian foundations, through industrialization and the development of advanced forms of coercion, to a harmony imposed by cybernetic control. Employing alternating narrators the book's standalone chapters complement each other in a sequence akin to various techniques of cinematic montage.