Marylynn P. (marylynn) reviewed Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (Large Print) on + 31 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good! Cornwell is a great writer and as usual covers this case top to bottom, very detailed. This subject has always been an interest to me and she answers so many questions and puts things together very well. Some of the pictures are pretty graphic. The drawings are astonishing. Really makes you think.
Roxie S. (scarlettolivia) reviewed Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (Large Print) on + 8 more book reviews
I would have to say this is one of the most interesting books I have read! Very well written and hard to put down.
Amber M. (yogagoddess) reviewed Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (Large Print) on + 59 more book reviews
Jack the Ripper still considered today one of Americas most famous killers. The pictures and drawings in the book are haunting. A good read.
Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper: Case Closed (Large Print) on + 491 more book reviews
I commend Patricia Cornwell for the effort she put into this book, for the research she funded from her own pocket, and for the new forensic testing she performed on the Ripper letters. She wrote a very good book and for anyone who is fascinated by the enduring mystery that is Jack the Ripper, this is one more book to enjoy.
However, the book gave me the impression that Cornwell got the cart before the horse. Instead of looking at the facts objectively and formulating a conclusion, she started out with her conclusion (that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper) and ever so gently bent her research to support that conclusion. She made a lot of assumptions, and failed to take seriously the fact that Sickert was out of the country during the time of the Ripper murders. It is true that Sickert was involved, that he did write a lot of Ripper letters, and that he depicted the murders in his art, but those things alone do not make him the killer.
For a more factual and objective look at all things Ripper, including a list of the most popular suspects, I recommend Paul Begg's Jack the Ripper: The Facts. It reads like a history book but is just what it claims to be, a book of pretty dry and unbiased facts. Begg suspects that the killer is a man named Kosminski, but as always, it is up to the reader to decide for themselves.
In all, Cornwell's book is good. It makes you think. It paints an interesting portrait of possibilities. But it is also not quite the 'case closed' argument that it claims to be, in my opinion at least. It's still a great read, and for that I still recommend it.
However, the book gave me the impression that Cornwell got the cart before the horse. Instead of looking at the facts objectively and formulating a conclusion, she started out with her conclusion (that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper) and ever so gently bent her research to support that conclusion. She made a lot of assumptions, and failed to take seriously the fact that Sickert was out of the country during the time of the Ripper murders. It is true that Sickert was involved, that he did write a lot of Ripper letters, and that he depicted the murders in his art, but those things alone do not make him the killer.
For a more factual and objective look at all things Ripper, including a list of the most popular suspects, I recommend Paul Begg's Jack the Ripper: The Facts. It reads like a history book but is just what it claims to be, a book of pretty dry and unbiased facts. Begg suspects that the killer is a man named Kosminski, but as always, it is up to the reader to decide for themselves.
In all, Cornwell's book is good. It makes you think. It paints an interesting portrait of possibilities. But it is also not quite the 'case closed' argument that it claims to be, in my opinion at least. It's still a great read, and for that I still recommend it.
