3 comments about The Lyncher in Me: A Search for Redemption in the Face of History.

1. Warren Read is the great-grandson of Louis Dondino, one of the ringleaders of a riot in 1920 Duluth that led to the lynching of three circus workers accused of raping a young girl. In an effort to make amends, the city of Duluth dedicated a memorial to Elmer Jackson, Elias Clayton, and Isaac McGhie. Warren Read spoke at the ceremony, apologizing for what his great-grandfather did.
   
   Read follows Michael Fedo's (author of THE LYNCHINGS IN DULUTH) lead in disguising the names of the two young people responsible for the lies that resulted in the murder of the three blacks. If you're hoping for "the why" you won't find it here.
   
   Read provides some interesting anecdotes, mainly Elmer Jackson's rather casual response to his own hanging. Just before he died, he surrendered a pair of dice, saying "I guess I won't need these anymore."
   Another touching narrative was Louis Dondino's friendship with Black Bill, a railroad worker he knew later in life after he moved to Washington state. Warren Reid also spends most of the book complaining about his own dysfunctional family. His father also did time in prison for molesting his own children, and his stepfather seemed to revel in psychological if not physically abusing Warren. There's even a somewhat humorous incident involving a twelve-year old black girl who bullied Warren for an entire school year after he insulted her hair-do. Also, during the summer, Warren and his sister Karen would escape to their grandparents home in Wisconsin. Read does an excellent job describing what sounds like rural living from the nineteenth century. His grandparents had no indoor plumbing or electricity. They took sponge baths and got their water from a nearby spring.
   
   After his speech at the ceremony in Duluth, Read tracks down Elmer Jackson's relatives in Topeka, Kansas, and in Marshall, Missouri. His historical account of the all-black community of Pennytown near Marshall is extremely compelling. Coincidentally, while staying at a hotel in Topeka, Read, a gay man, just happens to run into a demonstration by The Westboro Baptist church led by Fred Phelps, the virulent homophobe, that picketed Matthew Shepherd's funeral in Laramie, Wyoming, and funeral of fallen Iraqi War veterans. Call me a cynic but this seemed like an awful coincidence.
   
   Much of Read's book is rather self-congratulatory, especially after he apologizes for his great-grandfather's part in the lynchings. It's easy to apologize for somebody else's mistakes. Read's version of the Lyncher in himself, was his hatred for the black girl who'd bullied him in his band class. If he'd confronted the Phelps demonstrators, I would have been more impressed.



2. This is an unusual book in that it's both a memoir and an interesting look at American history. Read manages to retell an event in compelling "true crime" fasion while laying the possible effects that event had on his family in the traditional "family dysfunction" memoir style. The fact that he seeks out the family of the victims for a kind of reconcilation might puzzle some people, but I thought it was a pretty amazing thing to do and the perfect ending to a powerful story. I thought the connection to Fred Phelps in Topeka was a timely reminder of intolerance today(I've been in Topeka and that family is out in the streets constantly, so the author very likely did see them). There were moments that struck me as "preachy" but maybe that was just my interpretation. This is a different kind of book--a real story where the author does more than just "tell", he dissects and reflects on his experience, so the reader needs to be prepared be more than just an observer of someone else's life. I didn't realize the lingering effects of this book until well after I put it down. A strong companion to other books written for this genre.



3. Lynchings of black Americans was a form of terrorism that existed too commonly in our country years ago. It's a legacy that still has a hold on society today and anyone who doesn't see that is fooling themselves. Read looks at the idea that the tendency to create violence--in society, within our families--is a reality that most of us could relate to. The writing in "The Lyncher in Me" is poetic and evokes stark images of dysfuntion, violence and, ultimately, redemption. The criticism that Read is "self-congratulatory" or "preachy" is absurd. I was able to hear him speak at a reading and from what I gathered upon meeting him, nothing could be further from the truth. He might be proud of what he's done, but after having heard and read about his experience, I think he's earned that right. He not only shoulders the task of trying to make amends for his family's role in the lychings, he goes above and beyond to try and put out a story for one of the victims.
   
   The final third of the book really delves vividly into the story of Elmer Jackson (one of the men lynched--Read wasn't able to find any leads on the other two men). It's clear in reading this portion that Read has taken great pains to meticulously research and reconstruct this man's life and history, including all things related to him. It's fascinating and impressive. I'm not sure that I would have the tenacity and determination to stick with something so daunting (especially since Read apparently is not only a writer, but a school teacher and a father to three growing boys).
   
   For those of us who come from family violence, it's a wonderful lesson in coming to terms with the humanness of those ugly parts of our family that we too often like to pretend are buried and forgotten. A beautifully written book, highly recommended.

5 comments about Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story.

1. I finally got around to reading this memoir this summer and was in awe of the author's narrative gifts. This story reads like a novel and is full of plain human wisdom, an emotional openness combining humility and pride, wry humor, sharp political analysis, and a can't-put-it-down story line that comes to terms with America's number one cultural problem: racism. This is a book of local history that gets at the human condition, and a work of history that reads like great literature. I'm telling everyone I can to read it, and that includes whoever reads this. Don't pay attention to any of the so-called "corrections" made by some other reviewers here. This is a must-read historical work that shows an astute and perceptive ability to understand its widely varying participants' points of view and experiences, while not shrinking from the moral and historical obligation to draw judgments. There is only one word to use: *brilliant.* (I'm not one to use that lightly when talking about either autobiography or
   history.)
   
   Disclaimer: The writer of this review is a professional historian with a Ph.D., but one who has never met Timothy Tyson.



2. Blood Done Sign My Name is a non-fiction work that combines the personal memoirs and research of Timothy Tyson, Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin. The most striking aspect of the novel is the description of Dickie Marrow's murder from the points of view of different citizens of Oxford. This unique feature makes the book appealing to many age groups. Teenage readers can relate to Tyson's personal anecdotes about growing up in rural Oxford, North Carolina. Even if younger audiences do not understand the symbolism behind the text, they can still enjoy the well-developed characters and eventful plot. Adult readers can gain insight into many themes concerning race and white supremacy. Tyson elegantly expresses the naiveté of children on the issue of morality and treatment of other races. This is best conveyed in the passage where young Tyson taunted a black child solely because his friend had started an insulting chime. The author describes that it was fear--not hatred--that bred the twisted idea of white supremacy. Parents can also connect with the decisions and actions of Vernon and Martha Tyson. The Tysons believed that their children should be exposed to many different opinions yet respect all races. The difference in perspectives in the work allows readers of all ages to enjoy and understand the truth behind the Civil Rights Movement.
   The book contains a few minor flaws that diminish the lucidity of the text. The plot is rather erratic; from time to time, the events are not connected perfectly. This technique may be Tyson's personal style of writing, but it proves to be rather confusing at major points in the plot. For example, Tyson usually explains a personal memory of the murder and follows it with completely unrelated information about another character. These discontinuities in the plot make the book difficult to comprehend at first. Gradually, however, the reader gets acclimatized to this original form of writing. The gaps between personal stories build suspense and enable the reader to process a feasible prediction for the sequence of events. The novel also includes many extraneous details about minor characters that play an insignificant part in the plot. Tyson extensively describes his mother's childhood, even though his mother does not affect the sequence of events in any fashion. This extra information, however, does not detract from the book's overall theme. Though the story contains a few negligible weaknesses, Tyson maintains his overall claim and presents it in an interesting and distinctive manner.
   Blood Done Sign My Name is an enthralling story that expresses the moral wrongs of racism. To call it a mere story does not do Tyson proper justice; it is more fitting to call the book a documentary. By citing several engrossing stories throughout the novel, Tyson maintains the reader's attention and successfully proves his thesis. Other than its occasional lack of continuity, Timothy Tyson has written a classic non-fiction work for readers of all ages.



3. I recommend this book not only to those of us who lived through the time but also to younger adults who care about racial issues in America. The author's personal account allows readers to experience recent history through his eyes. The book is informative and a very good read!



4. I read this book for a college course and found it shocking and heartbreaking. I grew up very close to where the event of the story take place. After I had finished the book I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Tyson. This is when I began to become suspicious. I also met the offspring of people involved in the story. They, along with many other residents of Oxford confirmed what I already suspected. Much of this story is COMPLETELY MADE UP! Some of the events did actually happen, but are blown WAAAAAY out of proportion, and the means by which Mr. Tyson acquired some of his information are very shady. So my verdict: as a piece of fiction I think it's a beautifully tragic piece of fictions. As a "true story" this novel loses all credibility and so does Mr. Tyson for any of his other work and he should be prosecuted for his slanderous words.



5. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending a week with Dr. Timothy Tyson as part of a Civil Rights Tour in Alabama with my public school district. Although I was "required" to read this BEFORE the tour, I did't pick it up until after I had returned home. Reading Tyson's words in print doesn't compare to listening to him in person, but the book is extremely powerful and eye opening to say the least. My parents were of the segregationist baby boom in Alabama and little mention of the civil rights movement was ever made to me during my childhood in the deep south. It is my opinion that most Americans are of the impression that it began with Brown v. Board and ended with the assassination of MLK. The book is only the beginning of an unearthing of long-buried truths about the struggle for racial equality and the unsung heroes who continue the fight.

2 comments about Pure Evil.

1. I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK 4 1/2 STARS, BUT THERE WERE NUMEROUS ERRORS IN PRINTING (IT WAS ANNOYING), I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THEIR SITUATION, SO I CAN'T COMMENT ON HOW I WOULD HANDLE IT. I'M NOT SURE IF BEING BITTER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IS CONSTRUCTIVE, IT SEEMS DESTRUCTIVE.



2. This book is full of typos and bad grammar, but more that that, it is full of lies. It was my dearest friend whose daughter heard all the screaming in the road and at whose house Tracie Andrews turned up and spun her lies. It was my friend, who is ex-police, that alerted the police officers to the knife shaped blood stain on Andrew's leg. She also said that Tracie had been badly beaten up (so much for the "gentle" son Harvey tries to depict). My friend is a solicitor (attorney) and said that Andrews would have got a much lighter sentence if she'd admitted it was a domestic row that got out of hand. What she and I will never forgive Maureen Harvey for is revealing my friend's daughters' name. She is still on a protected list of witness and Harvey has blown it. Apart from anything else, it is badly written and and full of hatred - do yourself a favour, save your money and don't buy the book!

5 comments about The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime.

1. This is an interesting tale of a writer getting lost. The author embarked on a mission to find the story of a thief who stole valuable maps from right under the noses of unprepared rare book collections. While he was well on the journey, he found his subject to be uncooperative and not particularly interesting. Nonetheless, the writing flows, and the book gives a brief but interesting look into cartographic history, the antique map-dealing subculture, and the gentle madness of map collectors. The book does seem a bit stretched, and it is more the story of the author's quest to write the book than the nature of cartographic crime, but I liked the diversions, and the writer does an excellent job of making a foriegn topic accessible. The book is both engaging and meandering, and doesn't go where you think it is going.



2. Look at the distribution of ratings reviewers are giving this book: as many readers give it five stars as one. Or two, or three, or four. This tells me everyone's take is different. Reading the reviews, I get the impression everyone's expectations were different when they picked the book up.
   
   I gave it five stars. The book is not only exquisitely written, it met my expectations. Here's why: I'm a professional cartographer. I know that in order to tell the story of an infamous map thief you have to tell the story of map collecting. And map history. And, yes, map production. You have to provide contexts, otherwise you're just relating the tale of a weirdo who slices dusty pieces of paper out of dusty old books.
   
   Miles Harvey told his tale exceptionally well. His writing style is superb. His contexts are appropriate; he didn't wander around aimlessly, as some reviewers claim, instead he provided the necessary background for readers to make sense of the map thefts, of the bizarre world of antique map trading that made those thefts lucrative. To accomplish what he did in 350 pages (minus notes and index) is a remarkable achievement. I couldn't put the book down.



3. Like many reviewers here, I had a hard time finishing this book yet this was a book I wanted to love. The story isn't a thriller - it's about a man who steals rare maps from rare books - but it doesn't have to be boring. What makes this a very dull book indeed is the fact that it IS a book. Harvey is clearly fascinated by his subject and good for him. This leads him to pack in details where broad strokes would be better and, worse in my opinion, he inserts himself into the story. (Sometimes hilariously, as when Harvey marvels that some map dealers didn't want to talk to him. He just can't believe anyone wouldn't want to talk to him.) He's so busy telling the reader what the story means to him that he never bothers to make the story mean something to the reader.
   
   Miles Harvey hauls out every single pad-out-the-story tactic. Discursive stories about the libraries that map-thief Bland pillaged? Okay, it's a little related. Tangential tales of people who pioneered map making? Getting farther afield. Imagined thoughts of great explorers? What's that doing here? Strange attempt to draw parallels between John Charles Fremont and Bland? Did Harvey's editor quit halfway through the book too?
   
   I was hanging on by a thread until Harvey trotted out the Fremont business. That was bad enough but then he insisted on referring to Fremont as "the Pathfinder" instead of by name, which is simply annoying.
   
   In fairness, Harvey did have a tremendous obstacle: he was writing a book about a man he never met, never spoke to, didn't have access to any of the man's private papers and couldn't get an interview with any of the man's close friends or family members. He's reduced to door-stepping Bland's neighbors one of whom wisely suggests that Harvey give it a rest. Bland remands, well, bland and unknowable. But given his fascination with maps, Harvey should have known better than to try to sell a map with a giant hole in the middle.



4. Maps are precious. Their extraordinary power is only equalled by the lengths to which humans will go to in obtaining them.
   
   In this book, Mr Harvey gives an interesting informative overview of the history of mapmaking, an insight into the world of map storage and trading, and attempts to chart the shadowy exploits of Gilbert Bland, map thief.
   
   The journey through the book is fascinating, especially those aspects that deal with the making of maps, and their role in history, discovery and politics. Ultimately, we don't get any real sense of Gilbert Bland's motivation. He remains in largely uncharted territory. Perhaps some things are beyond mapping.
   
   Jennifer Cameron-Smith



5. The story at the core of the book is interesting, and would have made for a decent short story, or perhaps a series of magazine articles. The problem with this book is that it appears to be a few incomplete ideas all rolled into this very brief and yet interesting story of a map thief, and his travels through institutions, razor in hand, relieving valuable and venerable manuscripts of some of their pages, destroying more than that in the process. There were times when I got extremely frustrated at yet ANOTHER digression about this obnoxious map dealer, or this librarian, or this ancient cartographer that, while possibly interesting in its own context, simply served to annoy due to its placement. The book was fairly well-written, aside from its meandering.

5 comments about The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century.

1. Howie well knows,but chooses to ignore,the truism that a grand jury can always be persuaded to indict a ham sandwich. But try as they might All the Kings Men be they federal, state or local could not get a rubberstamped indictment of Billy Bulger and this fact gives Howie an ulcer. And all the kings men also includes congressional committees who basked in their public investigation of Sen Bulger and came up with scratch. Poor Howie: all full of righteous thunder and a sack full of yellow journalism.
   Jim Whalen



2. The Publisher's Weekly review and the audio file review are very good descriptions of this narrative. Two brothers in Boston, one a politician and the other a mobster, shaping politics and crime in Boston for decades. Whitey Bulger, who is still an international fugitive, makes an excellent precursor, if not template, for Jack Nicholson's role in the film "The Departed". The author is an award winning newspaper columnist who clearly knows Boston intimately, along with who is connected to whom on both sides of the law, however, it can be a little confusing for the reader to keep up without a table of organization or flow chart. Frequently, Carr states facts or describes events that it is assumed he acquired from court transcripts, police reports and street sources but the reader is often left to take it simply on faith because the hard evidence or source isn't referenced or cited. Still, it's an interesting saga of the backrooms and chicanery in Boston over the past five decades.



3. I love this book it has details of my fathers death and my uncle joe as well finally a real book on the true crime and the sick bastards that took so many life's fathers humans and friends form south Boston and Medford Mass.



4. Great take on one of the great true crime stories in America. A must read if you are interested in the story of Whitey Bulger, and how can you not be?



5. Absolutely jaw dropping. Reading this book made my hair stand up. Couldn't put the book down!

5 comments about Made Men (Seven Brothers).

1. I am on the fence with this one. It wasn't bad but there wasn't necessarily anything that was good about it either. Smith attempts to piece together the 1,000 hours of evidence with the known history in order to show us the downfall of the DeCavalcante family. We see it; we see the Mafioso family crumble under the weight of its degenerate members, so Smith succeeded there. But it is his telling that hampers this book from being an out right winner.
   
   One thing that particularly frustrated me was that you would be reading along and Smith would describe something. It would seem as though it came out of nowhere and didn't really belong, but you shrug your shoulders and take it as part of the story. Then further into the book he would talk about that exact same scene, word for word. With no explanation. And this didn't happen just once. It happened repeatedly. Why he did this I could not make sense of it. Additionally, he would have some scenes where you know there is not a wire and Smith could not have known what was said. For example, when Joey O, Anthony Capo and I think Gallo were waiting in a stolen car outside Majuri's house to whack him we are given a word for word recital of their conversation. Yet they were in a stolen car and the three people in the car were not informants, so how does he know this? This was where Smith would try to recreate the scene, which is also where a loosely based scene was turned to fiction in order to further the book. This happened several times.
   
   There were some redeeming qualities. For one, Smith has a dry sense of humor and you can sense it throughout the book as comments are dropped in between the mob's conversation. Additionally, we would read some of the conversations that were going on and can't help but laugh at these violent men. Some of their conversations are hilarious, and I give credit to Smith for strategically interspersing some of these amidst other such despicable acts throughout the book. It adds a comical element to the DeCavalcante crime family, and other crime families, that are usually glossed over.
   
   All in all, a decent rendering of a fall of a crime family. I would read other books first, such as The Valachi Papers, Wiseguys and Underboss, but this is a good addition for anyone looking to read more about organized crime.
   
   3.5 stars.



2. I have to say that I must agree with the comment in the Literary Journal review, above, that the writing in this book is disjointed and repetitious. It was so broken that in many cases it was hard to follow. The author jumps from person to person with little background and less connection from one part of the book to the next. I was all ready to like this book. I've been a big fan of The Sopranos, so I was very interested in this book. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy. It also lacked the saving grace of those little bits of insider information that can be so fascinating. It just wasn't there.
   The author could have taken the approach of directly linking the people and events in the book with Sopranos people and events. In fact, it looked like that was exactly where he was going. At one point he mentions several events from real life that directly coincide with Sopranos events. But then the book disappoints by not linking people, beyond the most general terms and far too seldom to enjoy.
   Overall, this book was a big disappointment. I can't recommend it at all.



3. Fun, but a bit dull ... Flashes of real humor here, and some insight into how the mob of the '90s worked. But I was expecting the story to build to a real climax, and since it never ended in the trial of the protagonist (antagonist?), there was no resolution. This isn't the fault of the author, necessarily, because he probably had to work against deadlines.
   
   But if you want to know the real story of the DeCavalcantes, it's more interesting to read the NY papers' accounts of the trial in 2003. Among the sensational revelations that never made it into this book -- the head of the family was rubbed out for being gay! (This inspired the famous story line in 'The Sopranos' centering around gay Vito.)



4. I don't know about this one folks. Starts slow but makes up for it with an even slower finish. Up until Vinnie Ocean is made boss, this book was like watching grass grow. Sorry fellas, but don't waste your time.



5. Im 85 pages in and nothing has happened. I dont know where its going or even what its about.

5 comments about Portland Confidential.

1. As a Portland area resident, I was really exited to read this book. I was somewhat disappointed. . . Phil Stanford is a journalist, and the book reads like a collection of news clippings. The characters are colorful and interesting, and the photos added a lot to the book, but overall, I felt his coverage was somewhat cursory. I wanted more information, more historical background and more perspective. To be fair, however, I read this book immediately after reading The Devil in the White City. There, Eric Larson took a time in Chicago history, and created a masterpiece. Imagine the Portland Confidenital story/characters in the hands of a writer of that caliber!



2. Longtime residents of Portland will probably find Portland Confidential a quick, enjoyable read because they'll recognize the places and names Stanford peppers his story with. Portland residents will be less put off by Stanford's "conversational" narrative voice, as they have been reading him for years in his role as columnist for The Oregonian, and more recently the Portland Tribune. I suspect that out of towners and would find very little for them here.
   
   Using a wealth of sources, anonymous and credited, Stanford revisits a time Portland civic leaders have long tried to forget: the corruption filled 1950s. In short, digestable, one newspaper column sized vignettes, Stanford generally cuts right to the chase: Portland was a bad, bad town.
   
   The photographs chosen for this story are marvelous; they bring the story to life and really reflect the tone Stanford seems to be trying to achieve.
   
   The story itself (if one can call it that, it ends up more like a long ramble that often doubles back on itself) is compelling. Like one of the other reviewers, I can't help but wonder how another writer would tell this tale.
   
   That said, Stanford has spent his entire life cultivating the leads and the inside information that led to the publication of this book. Few others would have the wealth of infomation necessary to tell this tale. It serves as a reminder that the Golden 1950's had almost as much tarnish on them as the 2000s do.



3. my grandfather was Frank Tatum. He was murdered before I was born. It was a very good story. Now I have to find the obituary.



4. A very well written look into Portland's dicey past.Its informative for any newcomer to to learn about the cities past,and a must for any native to read.



5. My grandfather was a health inspector during this time and eventually quit because he refused to take bribes to look the other way regarding various establishments in Portland. This book is a quick and enjoyable read. The journalistic tone fits the subject matter and is, I think, a deliberate tone to suit the style. It is NOT a text book of the history of Portland. It is an entertaining look into the seedy past of a city not usually known for seediness. Though even today Portland has more strip clubs per capita than Vegas or LA, or any other city in the nation.

No comments about Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide (Social Problems and Social Issues).

No comments about Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective.

5 comments about "This Is the Zodiac Speaking": Into the Mind of a Serial Killer.

1. Michael Kellehers book on the Zodiac killer is well worth the time and effort and money to obtain and read!
   Having researched the Zodiac case since 1987(zodiacmurders.com) I would say his book is a crisp tight narrative that fully lays out the case with exactness as he makes the story interesting while giving the reader a multi-faceted view into all aspects of the killers mind and criminal activities.
   Many have related they just 'couldn't put it down' until they read the entire book!
   One correction I would like to make- while STILL focusing on this fine work-is that it says Bill Nelson wrote a book on the possible connection of the Zodiac to Charles Manson and some of his associate/s.Only a small portion of the book presents this link.The majority of the content in Nelsons (now out of print) book, is about the Manson Family.It is my book ,The Zodiac Manson Connection, that has, as its MAIN theme,a possible link to the Manson Family.
   Get Kellehers book is all I can say-a must for the true crime buff and members of law enforcement!



2. Flowing prose and a penchant for sticking to the established facts make this book a must for anyone interested in the Zodiac. DEFINATELY read it if you think that the recent film ("Zodiac") is some type of definitive presentation of the what really happened in this truly remarkable case.



3. This is a fine book for those who know nothing about the Zodiac case. It presents only the most "accepted," "dispute-proof" evidence. In that regard, it is the polar opposite of the Graysmith books, which often contain "facts" from a large array of sources, not all of them reliable.
   
   But does that make it a good Zodiac book, one that gives us possible insight into the true identity of this most notorious killer? Ah, no. In fact, it does just the opposite. It obscures the truth, rather than attempting to shed any light on it.
   
   It's approach is classic criminal-profiler textbook murder-by-numbers. Data is compiled and analyzed, but drawing conclusions seems to be much too much of a stretch. Perhaps the authors fear reprisals. Perhaps they don't want to be wrong. For as much criticism as Graysmith has, at times, earned, he at least takes a stand and states an opinion based on what he has compiled. These guys don't take a stand on anything. If it doesn't follow their profiler recipe, they're lost.
   
   And such is the Zodiac case.... disjointed, fracutured, plagued by rumors, apparent coincidences, and theories. And never solved.
   
   Profiling may be a very effective tool for the top percentile of seriel killers, but Zodiac broke patterns in a very consistent way, even within his string of "claimable murders" in '68 and '69. When another murder or event comes close to fitting these patterns in many such cases, it's immediately dismissed by Kelleher and Van Nuys as "not fitting the pattern," yet they argue tirelessly that an incident such as the Kathleen Johns case (which many dispute the validity of) is somehow worthy of inclusion. That David Fincher took Kelleher's word for it and included it in the film version takes the story into bad made-for-TV movie hubris for the scant minutes we suffer through it.
   
   The Bates killing, where the handwriting was positively ID'd as Zodiac's, and contained numerous other similarities to the Ferrin case; The Domingo-Edwards slaying back in 1963; and even the Santa Rosa hitch-hiker murders in the early '70s contain more similarities to Z than the Johns case. Yet this is intelligent detective work? To ignore all possible clues except that which fit your own preordained rigid template based on the psychoanalysis of the Z letters' text by an author who admits that, prior to doing the analysis, that he knew NOTHING OF THE CASE WHATSOEVER!???!!!!
   
   Oh, and let's not forget that one sentence on the man many believe to be the prime suspect, the man who had reams of circumstantial evidence littered around him, who can be placed near the scenes of nearly every Zodiac crime (confirmed and speculated about) --- Leigh Allen. Yes, much of the evidence is circumstantial, but how much evidence do you ignore until you begin to cast some serious, reasonable doubts?
   
   A truly intelligent sociopath, while rare, can sometimes outsmart the police, at times merely by playing to their own weaknesses. And the profilers, like Kelleher and Van Nuys, fit the description of Zodiac's dupes very well. They seem to fall back on cliches such as "let the evidence fit the suspect" so often that they end up drowning in their own paralysis. One approach does not a well-rounded investigation make, whether you are dealing in psychiatry or criminology. Would you go to a doctor who only diagnosed you based on physical symptoms?
   
   If nothing else, these near-sighted investigators have an iron clad alibi on why the case was never solved. Their approach provides them with the ultimate excuse for their own inepititude. After all, it's easy to do a job you never have to finish.



4. "This is the Zodiac speaking" is an investigation into the Zodiac killings.
   What makes this book interesting is the psychological analysis by Mr. Van Nuys,chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma state University.
   
   A quote from page 6 lays out the objective of the book- "We will begin this fascinating journey with facts-solid irrefutable facts and nothing more."
   With that in mind,the authors avoid speculating on the personal identity of the Zodiac killer.
   
   The authors explain the differences in the Riverside and Zodiac letters. They make a compelling argument for different writers based on the style of the letters with a different emphasis. By that reasoning,the man who murdered Cheri Jo Bates was not the Zodiac.
   
   The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders were examined for possible links to the Zodiac. They seem to be un-related on various levels.
   
   It's obvious from the aftermath of the Stine murder that luck played no small part in the Zodiac avoiding discovery and arrest. You get the sense that he never recovered from his close call with the SFPD immediately following the cab driver's murder.
   
   "Overall,it appears that Zodiac was deteriorating psychologically and had now relegated himself to engaging in a strange fantasy dance with the media."-page 140.
   
   The British language connection was intriguing. Although witnesses state that he had no accent,one has to wonder where that connection came from. Were one of his parents of British origin?
   
   The change in tone in some of the letters,notably three from 1974,was examined. This "denoted a change in Zodiac's psyche that probably related to his ongoing and significant psychological disorder." He may very well have had two personalities. Another interesting theory has the change in tone as a positive result of therapy or medication.
   
   This book doesn't solve the Zodiac killings,but it does shed light on the psychology and evolution of the killer.
   After reading this book I have to wonder if Zodiac didn't succomb to suicide or by some means become more psychologically stable?
   We may never know the answer. I recommend this book as a clear,sensible investigation of the Zodiac murders.



5. A strange book. Starting with an engaging premise - the author worked with the Chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma State University to create a profile based on Zodiac's letters to various newspapers - Michael Kelleher proceeds to swamp his book with potboiler-level prose. The psychologist, David Van Nuys' analyses maintain a degree of detachment that I appreciate with this sort of book, but his conclusions don't aid in understanding of the case or its perpetrator. Most of Van Nuys' conclusions seem facile, on the order of "He must have had a terrible childhood. Perhaps he was abused. He had great rage toward women and fear of male authority figures". In the end, though interesting, the book doesn't add anything to the literature about the case.