Helpful Score: 2
"Zodiac" is written by a political cartoonist from the San Francisco Examiner who was fascinated by the Zodiac's letters and ciphers and ended up spending over a decade researching the crimes, talking to suspects and witnesses, and working on his codes. Overall, the tale of the Zodiac killer is fairly creepy. The parts of the book that focused on the Zodiac's actual crimes and taunting of the newspaper and cops were fascinating. But chapters describing the late 70's and early 80's when the Zodiac all but disappeared and Graysmith focused more on dissecting various suspects and theories was boring. A stronger writer would've possibly made those chapters interesting, but Graysmith is a political cartoonist, not a reporter. Needless to say if you're into true crime novels, this book is a must read.
Helpful Score: 1
This is about th zodiac killer and how the detetctives have looked for the killer and how he played with the police by taunting them.
Helpful Score: 1
Robert Graysmith was on staff at the San Francisco Chronicle in 1968 when Zodiac first struck. In this book, he reveals hundreds of facts previously unreleased, including the complete text of the killer's letters.
While the story of the Zodiac killer is fascinating, this book was a bit of a "dry" read.
A brilliant detective story about horrific crimes. Graysmith is the ultimate puzzle solver.
Read this book before watching the movie that just came out at the theatres. This is the true story of what officials have gathered on the Zodiac. Good story.
The book reads like a case file and if you're looking for read like that you'll enjoy it. Personally I found the read uninteresting, it was mechnical and boring.
Some of the Zodiac killings happened very close to where I live. The fact that the killer was never caught amazes me to this day. The author really has his facts together and makes this a very interesting and thrilling read.
This is a very good book on the Zodiac killings.
A very scary book about some very scary unsolved crimes.
If you liked the movie, then you will like the book. It is well written, I've read other books by Robert Graysmith and he is very good at making nonfiction read like fiction. Gets you so into the story that once you remember this stuff actually happened it bring chills down your spine.
A sexual sadist, his pleasure was torture and murder. His first victims were a teenage couple, stalked and shot dead in a lovers' lane. After another slaying, he sent his first mocking note to the authroities, promising that he would kill more.
The official tally of his victims was six. He claimed thirty-seven dead. The real toll may have reached fifty.
He was never caught.
The official tally of his victims was six. He claimed thirty-seven dead. The real toll may have reached fifty.
He was never caught.
I love to read true crime books but this one is not easy to read, Very dry and wordy. I've been reading it for a few weeks now, I can't seem to get thru it.
my daughter loved it
This book held my attention regarding the serial killer that started in the 1960's. It contains copies of messages sent from the Zodiac killer and describes the steps taken to discover who he is and how he evaded capture. It is a good read.
Written in a newsreporter's format.
A good true crime read. The Author gives good insight to the crimes of The Zodiac killer.
The writing style took a bit of getting used to, but once I was in I was totally engrossed. Fascinating and scary book.
The writing was so/so, subject matter riveting, frightening and sometimes totally unbelieveable. I'm glad I grew up in the Central US instead of Northern CA.
Absolutely riveting. Couldn't put it down. What a sick s.o.b. he is (was?) I found the movie was a good companion to this book if only to help you keep the characters straight.
Very well-written book. Fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the way murders were investigated in the 60's and 70's. A must-read before seeing the movie, due out soon.
Interesting book on the Zodiac killer. It has lots of good information.
