Portrait of a Killer: Jack The Ripper – Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a phenomenal and utterly disturbing book. I learned:
1) The identity of Jack The Ripper, with 98% certainty, is the British artist Walter Sickert, proven by intense forensic analysis.
2) He not only killed the prostitutes for which he is best known, but possibly 40+ others, including children, men and non-prostitute women, some of whom he hacked to pieces and possibly ate.
3) 1888 London was an absolute shithole and why anyone would have wanted to live in those conditions is beyond me.
4) Scotland Yard completely botched the Ripper investigation and because of them Jack The Ripper continued killing for decades after they called off the dogs.
5) Jack The Ripper was an even bigger sicko than I had ever imagined, and the root of his psychosis may have been related to the fact that, like many serial killers, he had a deformed penis and could not have sex.
6) This book is not for the faint of heart and I almost threw up a few times while reading it. Excellent research though. Shame they didn’t catch that pervert before he died in 1942.