The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper - Softcover

Jakubowski, Maxim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0762433795 ISBN 13: 9780762433797

Publisher: Perseus Books, 2008

Synopsis

A full investigation into Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders from the world's leading Ripperologists, this collection presents 20 different arguments on his identity.

About this title

Review

Even for those disturbed by the phenomenon, it is impossible to deny the continuing fascination of Jack the Ripper. And we are not just interested in the historical Jack (whoever he was): as a source a grisly inspiration for writers, this most famous of serial killers has had a healthy afterlife. Legions of criminologists, professional historians and amateur investigators have produced a variety of fascinating solutions to the unsolved mystery of "Saucy Jack". Some of the proposed wielders of the knife have been bizarre choices--from the painter Sickert to even more blue-blooded candidates. But the 16 compelling arguments contained in this volume (one of whose editors is the crime specialist Maxim Jakubowski) could be said to close the book on Jack as comprehensively as possible. This hefty read, as gripping as anything by Thomas Harris and the like, is fascinating not least for the wildly contradictory theories put forward by such writers as Colin Wilson and Peter Turnbull. We are also, of course, given the historical facts in the first 100 pages and as well as ensuring that the reader will be firmly engrossed, Jakubowski and Braund allow us to make up our own minds. Perhaps the continuing interest in Jack is a result of the fact that we will probably never know his identity for sure. --Barry Forshaw

Review

Closes the book on Jack as comprehensively as possible (Crime Time)

Edition details

• Publisher: Perseus Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0762433795
• ISBN 13: 9780762433797
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512