BOOK REVIEW:
Like
an extended police report, this cronological fancination to
the Zodiac killer
that made headlines in the San Francisco Bay Area. In random
attacks, he is known to have murdered six persons; in a series
of letters to newspapers, which sometimes included cryptograms,
he boasted of many more. For which to this day, the infamous
case remains unsolved and surprisingly little has been written
about it. Graysmith, a San Francisco Chronicle staff member,
was obsessed with the case from the beginning and he has continued
to investigate it as an amateur sleuth. Except for "Zodiac''
himself, the author now knows more about the case than anyone.
A very well-written, detailed book backing up with profoundly
disturbing murders in detailed graphic, from the surviving
victims experience. With deep insight into the mind of the
Zodiac, especially his letter to the detective, telling him
about how he stalks his prey, spying on each victim, what
is more intriguing, however, is to see how Graysmith's seriously
consuming interest in Zodiac manifests in this book; he draws
some connections that seem like pretty lengthy reaches to
me, and I'm not utterly convinced of the veracity of all his
reporting.
In a way this becomes a story not so much about a serial killer,
but about a man obsessed with one. It was in the scenes with
that element as their focus that Fincher's film became the
most cohesive, and interestingly, the places in Graysmith's
narrative where that subtext shines through are where it's
the most compelling as well.
CHOICE XCERPT:
"My God, he's got a gun!" cried Cecelia, squeezing
Bryan's arm. The stocky man had emerged from the other tree
and Bryan, out of the corner of his eye, instantly
became aware of a black, hulking shape over to his left side,
silently staring at
him. As the couple turned, the figure was walking straight
at them.
VERDICT:
Mundanely
riveting, a journey into a frustrating true crime epic into
one of the
most famous unsolved crime in California.
Review
by Lokman B S
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