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judefire33's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Firstly huge thanks to the lovely Mel at AdLib for so kindly sending me an early copy of this book, a personal interest to me!
Now being in my mid 50's I can clearly remember the latter years of Peter Surcliffe's crimes and his capture in early 1981. I was 14 and already had a huge interest in true crime, and badly wanted to be a Police Officer. From then on, I've always had an interest in this era of our history.
Years later I met a new friend through our mutual love of guinea pigs and found out that one of the suspected Sutcliffe victims (Lynne Weedon), was a school friend of hers, so when I saw this new book I was even more interested.
I must firstly say, that I won't be using the moniker of 'The Yorkshire Ripper', this is just my own feeling that it brought terror to so many, and still does, so I will refer to him by his name.
So onto the book! Wow, what an absolutely in-depth, eye-opening and honest account of Peter Sutcliffe and his killings. This book starts from way back when PS was young and takes us through all the attacks and murders that are pretty clearly attributed to him. I've read a lot of books and articles on PS and this is the first one that actually does highlight how intelligent, forensically aware and calculating a killer he really was - not as he later portrayed, an insane man who heard voices! You will learn in-depth about his modus operandi, how he was able to travel all over the UK and Europe committing attacks, and murders on men, women and children and because he was so forensically aware and clever he pretty much ran rings around the inept Yorkshire Police of the time!
This book is the most eye-opening and honest account of the Sutcliffe reign, and how this still impacts our Police Forces today.
As an ex-traffic warden and Police Civvy from 1990 - 2002, it was also interesting to learn how the use of computers and HOLMES was still in its infancy when I joined Surrey Police, something I've not really thought of before. And the fact that even in the early 1990s Surrey Police were still using index cards in the Intelligence Offices!
So my rating is a massive 5 stars, if you like True Crime, then this book is a must-read. If you want to learn what Peter Sutcliffe was really like, you must read this book. After the recent TV show ( The Long Shadow) why not read what it was really like for the victims, and how, even now this vile man still has an impact on them, their families and friends and even the Police Officers who dealt with the Investigation.
And finally, I want to thank both authors for trying to publish the truth and trying to give some form of closure to all Sutcliffe victims. Bravo.
casanovamacleod's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.0
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