stormlightreader 's review for:

Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper by Michael Bilton

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"He has murdered the whole family, you could say"

My edition is an updated edition and despite its size (800+ pages), the pacing was really good. It felt like how an older style documentary would have laid out the details of the case. 

The author does a good job of giving you an idea of who the women were as people, rather than just sensationalising the Ripper himself. The author also follows up with what happens to the victims' family members following the deaths of the women. The descriptions of the crime scenes really give the reader a feel for the type of locations the Ripper was utilising for his crimes. I also really liked the brief discussion around whether

legalising brothels could have prevented the Ripper's crimes

. 

I could really have done without the extensive information on the detectives' personal lives. I really don't need to know that a detective had a preference for alcohol (shocker) or the age at which another detective bought a house. However, Bilton highlights errors made by the police that delayed the apprehension of Sutcliffe, ultimately resulting in preventable deaths. 

While the importance of local knowledge can't be disputed in a murder investigation, this mindset had a monumental impact on this investigation and made the detectives very blinkered. Anybody who lives outside of the northeast of England, thinks that

everyone from the northeast is a Geordie. This guy was clearly not a Geordie!

Sutcliffe must've become so confident after being questioned and released by the police so many times.

Note: The audio also includes an extra chapter (which is not in the extended paperback edition) including Sutcliffe's move to HMP Frankland and his death in 2020.

 I think this may be one of the best true crime book I've read. It felt like a comprehensive account of the case, without making sensationalising Sutcliffe or his crimes.