Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert

This was not entertaining . good if you are obsessed with knowing all the possible scenarios for what might have helped make ripper be who he. Was . I did not enjoy reading this book it felt like work .

"Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert" is a well written account of the Ripper case. Cornwell does a masterful job of linking Sickert into the Ripper crimes. Of course, the evidence at this stage is largely circumstantial but in my opinion compelling. He was clearly a disturbed and troubled man who was definitely capable of committing the Ripper crimes.Will the conclusions of this book be accepted by the Ripperologists? No. The Ripperology community has a vested interest in protecting themselves and their own particular theories and will not accept any finial conclusion to this case. Is Sickert guilty? Possibly, but we will probably never know for sure. Having read several books on this case what disturbs my mind is the fact that there were a number of people who we can look at and truthfully say that they were capable of committing these crimes. That my friends is scary.

I highly recommend this revision of Patricia Cornwell's classic, Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper Case Closed.

The evidence is irrefutable, but the story lags once we're convinced.
Excellent forensics, as always, from a real forensic pathologist. The entire genre could learn a thing or ten from this maestra.

Interesting evaluation of the Ripper cases, although it seemed at times Ms. Cornwall used the evidence that would validate her hypothesis. Also, while the "Kindle in motion" was fun it really didn't add much to the book and caused the download to be rather slow.

This work is typical Cornwell. Well researched an a interesting topic. It is very technical and at times hard to follow. If you are a die hard Cornwell fan it will be greatly satisfing but overall dull.

Cornwell's resarch. .is beyond convincing. having read and been convinced by her first Ripper history I'm even more on the jury that agrees with the prosecution.
The K fire art work in motion is GREAT.

Patricia Cornwell has done her homework. She has written a great argument for who she believes is Jack the Ripper. She has me believing it as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it wholeheartedly.

Well written, but a stretch that Sickert was the Ripper. Evidence such as his mentor believing he was in London during one of the Ripper murders smacks of trying to force unconfirmed suppositions to conform to the Ripper murders, and this is just one example. Another being paintings that supposedly depicted Ripper killings, and his attending shows at the dance hall that would have him walking the streets where some of the murders took place (not mentioning that other people were on the streets at the very same time (witnesses to the actual killings, others attending the shows, etc.). The biggest problem I have though is that the monstrous fiend that committed the the butchery of the Mary Jeanette Kelly murder, was at this point totally out of control and probably would have escalated even further in future murders causing him to be eventually caught. The author tries to suggest that murders that happen after Mary Kelly's (which most seem to believe was the Ripper's last) and were more similar to earlier Ripper murders (indicating some deescalation on his part) could also have been done by Sickert, yet no strong evidence is really provided. I believe he wouldn't have stopped and would have most likely escalated where as Sickert seemed at this point not to be very strong on the authorities radar. This author's theory, seems very similar to the unbelievable American Ripper documentary series now On the History channel, which in my opinion, is also making vague suppositions to fit in as stated facts (i.e. H. H. Holmes may have been in London during the Ripper murder time frame because no documentation could be found during that time placing him in Chicago. They don't mention that this could apply to millions of others that also couldn't be proved not to be in London during the same time period). In closing this review, if you like conspiracy theories, then this book may be of interest.

If Walter Sickert, Patricia Cornwell's candidate for Jack the Ripper, was in prison for the Ripper murders today, the DNA evidence developed by Dr. Jari Louhelainen would set him free. Dr Louhelainen offers a 99.2% match with a Polish immigrant, Aaron Kosminski, the DNA found on a scarf owned by Ripper victim, Catherine Eddowes, was purchased in a London auction in 2007. Ironically, Kosminski was also identified in 1988 as the most likely Ripper candidate by FBI behavioral expert, John Douglas and several other forensic specialists on the 100th anniversary of the Ripper reign of terror.

While I did enjoy Cornwell's study of the Ripper killings and possibly she is right about Sickert being the author of at least one of the so-called Ripper letters, her steadfast confidence in her theory throughout the book (Case Closed!) makes it a little ridiculous in the face of current information. Just based on what we know today about these types of criminals, Sickert was an injudicious choice even when Cornwell was writing the book. He was a prestigious person, well-known in London society if not yet famous. He became fairly famous in later life. Obviously people like Sickert do commit murder from time to time, but they don't commit these types of murders.

In my opinion this books undermines Patricia Cornwell's true crime credibility for the future. Her fiction, of course, is always entertaining.

Having been a fan of Cornwell for many years and having read the Case Closed book years before I was amazed at the amount of investigative work that went into the
latest Ripper offering. Makes her case and doesn't shy from admission of shortcomings in the theory. Really brings the reader into the time period a d investigative techniques of the day. I was glued to it. Absorbing and disturbing at times