Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed

Cornwell, Patricia Daniels

ISBN 10: 0399149597 ISBN 13: 9780399149597

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group, 2002

Synopsis

The best-selling novelist turns her attention to the real-life, century-old series of crimes that terrorized London in the 1880s, drawing on meticulous research, state-of-the art forensic science, and insights into the criminal mind to reveal the true identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper. Simultaneous.

About this title

Review:

Few books receive the kind of pre-publicity that Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed generated. Some of it was good, some of it not so good, but all was calculated to get reader interest running at fever pitch. In fact, Patricia Cornwell's actions in trying to solve the world's most famous serial-killer mystery (just who was Jack the Ripper?) have been highly controversial, but since when has controversy undercut interest in a book? And who better than a writer whose name is synonymous with the scientific solving of crime to tackle London's legendary mass murderer?

Using the methods of her character Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell's forensic investigation has pointed the bloody finger of guilt at a figure who has long figured prominently in the Ripper files. The investigation here is an intriguing mix of the personal and the professional: as well as orchestrating a Scarpetta-like search for the identity of the Ripper, Cornwell involves several very personal connections with the task she has set herself, and this is no dry thesis. Needless to say, the more gruesome aspects of this famously grisly case give no pause to a woman who has taken us into the grimmer aspects of forensics with her unsqueamish protagonist, and we are spared no details here (but who would purchase Portrait of a Killer if they had delicate sensibilities?). The arguments here are intelligently marshalled, and laid out with the precision and attention to detail of Cornwell's novels.

In order to prove her thesis, Cornwell purchased (and made tests on) some great works of art, but the tale of how she arrived at her highly contentious conclusions is quite as fascinating as one of the Scarpetta books. You may not agree with her, but you will not put this book down. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

An excellent criminal case-study and a fine account of Victorian life. (Big Issue)

She has brought so much circumstantial evidence to bear that only a genuine posthumous confession by someone else will now be enough to clear Sickert's name. (Daily Mail)

The resultant book is absorbing ... Cornwell has written a great account of the Ripper era. (Time Out)

Fascinating. (Sunday Express)

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0399149597
• ISBN 13: 9780399149597
• Binding: Audio Cassette