Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14572 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-21
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Fortean Times, August, 2002
'The book's reputation is well deserved, so you should seize this additional opportunity of acquiring your own copy at a very reasonable price.'

Synopsis
A comprehensive account of London's celebrated East End killer, revised and updated. The murders in London between 1888-91 attributed to Jack the Ripper constitute one of the most mysterious unsolved criminal cases. This story is the result of many years meticulous research. The author reassesses all the evidence and challenges everything we thought we knew about the Victorian serial killer and the vanished East End he terrorized.

Customer Reviews

meticulous balanced account
Having read a book on Jack the Ripper by a less competent investigator, of which I have provided a less than complimentary review (see my other Amazon reviews), I was given this book as being the best account of the Ripper facts.

This book is indeed a comprehensive account of the surviving documentary evidence on the Whitechapel murders, starting out with an open, balanced and factual view rather than with a conclusion to be proven.

Sugden chronicles each of the murders in detail, talking a little also of the relevant social factors within the community, as well as the contemporary politics working within and around the investigation. He concludes by providing an interesting analysis of the case against each of the favourite Ripper candidates.

My only criticism of his approach, is that for Ripper amateurs such as myself, who are less familiar with the incidents, it is easy to become lost amongst the facts of different murders. There is little overview of the case and sometimes it becomes difficult to see how the facts are associated to one another, in order to build a case within one's own mind.

Nevertheless, this is an excellent compilation of the facts of the Ripper case. Sugden is balanced and does not resort to grandiose claims of having solved the mystery, instead meticulously tackling the facts on their own merit. Although its strength is in the comprehensive detail, those new to the subject might be wary that this in itself might be a disadvantage to them.

Fantastic historical account of the Ripper murders
I actually bought this book because of the reviews of fellow customers and those reviews were indeed proved right. A fantastic read that I couldn't put down, even on a sunny holiday in Florida. It tells of the murders attributed to the Ripper as well as those disputed of.

The great thing about the book is that it never presumes to name a suspect as the Ripper, instead weighing up the evidence of all the suspects and doing its best to pronounce them unlikely or likely candidates. It never veers from the facts either and fully investigates other authors' theories of the murders.

The book's greatest asset is the actual series of crimes itself - this stuff could never be made up, especially the stories of the possible sightings of the Ripper. And in conclusion the book left me very frustrated. Not because of its content - it is excellently written - but because the simple fact is, there has never been any definitive evidence that one person was actually the Ripper and we are unlikely to ever be able to pronounce somebody as that man.

Excellent!
If you only ever read one book about the Jack the ripper murders of 1888, make it this one. Even readers that have studied the ripper for years will find new nuggets of information here. Superbly written, it sweeps you along on a tide of facts and theorys, you wont be able to put it down. I can't recommend this book enough, superb.