Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer [Hardcover]

David Reichert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2004

The riveting personal account of one sheriffs epic hunt for America's most heinous serial killer. For eight years, Sheriff David Reichert devoted days and nights to capturing the Green River Killer--the most notorious serial killer in American history. He was the first detective on the case in 1982 and doggedly pursued it as the body count climbed to 49 and it became the most infamous unsolved case in the nation. Frantically following all leads, even as more bodies surfaced near the river outside Seattle, Sheriff Reichert befriended the victims families, publicly challenged the killer, and risked his own safety--and the endurance and love of his family--before he found his madman. But Reicherts hunt didnt end when he finally cornered a truck painter named Gary Ridgway. It would be yet another 11 haunting years before forensic science could prove Ridgways guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. CHASING THE DEVIL is the gripping firsthand account of Reicherts relentless pursuit--a 21-year odyssey full of near-misses and startling revelations. Told in vivid detail by the man who knows the whole story--the man who has stared into the eyes of absolute evil--this is a page-turning real-life suspense story of unparalleled heroism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Several years after Ted Bundy’s killing spree began in Washington, the deadliest serial killer in U.S. history embarked on a murderous rampage that would remain unsolved for two decades. Both preyed on young women but, while Bundy’s victims were often college students, the Green River Killer pursued prostitutes: runaway teenagers and women whose precarious lifestyle, Reichert says, made them easy targets for a murderer. The author, then a homicide detective in the King County Sheriff’s Office, was the lead investigator on the Green River case from the beginning, when the bodies of three women were found in and near the Green River in suburban Seattle in August 1982. Twenty years later, DNA testing linked Gary Ridgway to his first victims, and he eventually confessed to killing 53 women. Reichert, by then the county sheriff, finally got to close a case that many thought would never be solved. His absorbing account offers an in-depth look at the obstacles and the frustrations, the leads that went nowhere and the prime suspects who were eventually cleared. In this straightforward, just-the-facts approach, Reichert downplays some of the more sensational aspects that TV has seized on, such as detectives calling on the imprisoned Bundy for help and using an FBI profiler. He illustrates how policing evolved during the course of the case, thanks to new technology, and only occasionally slips into defensiveness. Reichert vehemently stands up for his office, which was constantly second-guessed by the feds, criticized by the press and mistrusted by the victims’ families, who thought the police would have made a greater effort to find the killer if the women had been more respectable. A great book for true crime fans, Reichart’s account gives readers a chance to see the hard work that went on behind the scenes.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Front-and-center account by the first detective assigned to Washington State's notorious serial murders, who later became King County sheriff and arrested the now-convicted killer. The most engaging feature of Reichert's mainly straightforward though sometimes awkwardly embellished narrative is that he lets his interior monologues bubble up; he needs you to know he's a straight-up guy who hopes, for instance, killers are headed for hell and who never once believed that prostitution was a victimless crime. He chronicles friction with associates, frustration with the system and his superiors, and petty jealousies that spilled over with the involvement of a big-time FBI "profiler," which was not even a recognized specialty when the first victims were discovered in 1982. (Robert Keppel weighed in with his own Green River book, The Riverman, in 1995.) With professional pride not quite suppressed by the modesty he knows he should project, Reichert writes at one point, "You would be surprised how many cases are cracked when we simply pick up the most likely suspect and take him in for a conversation . . . you say things like 'I can understand if things just got out of hand . . . just tell us what happened.' Eventually, one of these questions is like a pinprick on a balloon." It wasn't quite that way, of course, with Gary Ridgway, who finally confessed in 2001 to the murders of 48 women, almost all prostitutes, and who remains the prime suspect in perhaps dozens more cases as bodies still turn up. Reichert unflinchingly depicts the endless hours of interviews with pimps, whores, johns, and the taxi drivers often sought as objective chroniclers of doings on the street. Likewise, as Ridgway's grotesque compulsions play out, there seems no way to dance around necrophilia with euphemism. Ultimately, the epic hunt turns into a nightmare of gnawing anxiety relieved by the stupefying banality of yet another corpse. As gruesome as guilty pleasures get for rabid crime readers. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1ST edition (July 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316156329
• ISBN-13: 978-0316156325
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars One Perspective on a Big Story, September 8, 2004

By 

Daniel H. Bigelow (Cathlamet, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer (Hardcover)

David Reichert was the first homicide detective assigned to the Green River murders, and he was in charge of the sheriff's office nineteen years later when the culprit, Gary Ridgway, was finally arrested. He has the advantage of an insider's view of the case that defined his career. He exploits this advantage, giving the reader new tidbits of information about the killings and the investigation. He also gives a feel for what it was like to be in the pressure-cooker of media and political scrutiny during an expensive manhunt that was fruitless for so many years.

As all the Green River Task Force's hard work finally began to pay off with the advent of new DNA technology, Reichert manages to build some suspense and emotion. I felt the swell of pride he was obviously going for as the Task Force's efforts were vindicated. However, most of the book suffers from Reichert's dull writing style. At least he does not overreach; he keeps his syntax clear and tells the story simply.

It's Reichert's story, though, and not the story of the Green River killer or even the investigation. Reichert does little journalism: the things he did not do or witness, we get little information about. This means that we get only a single angle on the investigation (albeit a good angle).

Readers will also find out very little about the killer himself. Aside from noting that Ridgway is basically prosaic, insignificant, and sick (a lesson that needs to be taught again and again to a nation that appears to believe serial killers have super-powers), Reichert gives us very little information about the man. There is a single chapter detailing his brief months in the sheriff's custody, and a couple of pages devoted to Ridgway's own untrustworthy account of his early life, and that's pretty much it. Again, this seems to be because Reichert is not interested in researching anything outside his own perspective. Also, Reichert is up front about not wanting to do anything to aggrandize the contemptible Ridgway. Thus, incongruously, Ridgway is a marginal character in the book.

I knocked Chasing the Devil off in a few hours, and that is about as much time as it is worth. Reichert's perspective on the Green River case is valuable, but it does not approach definitiveness, nor is it well enough written to be read solely for its entertainment value. I recommend this book only to the completist or the interested fast reader.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 20 year search., February 10, 2008

By 

J.L. Populist (WI,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer (Hardcover)

This book reads like a crime novel. Unfortunately, it's a true story about the worst serial killer in American history.
The Prologue was an almost "folksy" introduction to David Reichert,the man who would spend 20 years working on the Green River serial killings.

Mr.Reichert details some of the problems with the investigation from media involvement to the class of the victims. He makes the distinction between Ted Bundy's victims who were college girls and the Green River victims who were prostititutes,some in their teens. He does a good job of emphasizing the fact these victims were no less human and were missed by loved ones. They were often dificult to trace and sometimes identification was not easy.
Another problem the task force dealt with over time was financing. A long investigation was not cheap and there was the perception that the killer had stopped or moved when the discovery of corpses declined temporarily.
This aided the decision to cut back on staffing.

Another interesting factor was technology. Over the life of this investigation DNA testing and computer technology "came of age" and were instrumental in eventually solving the case.
Where these tools helped,the polygraph didn't. Ridgway passed multiple polygraph tests.

The tough decision for the County Prosecutor was his decision to ultimately abandon the pursuit of the death penalty in exchange for more details and locations of more victims.

Some of the things that this book highlights are the dogged dedication of David Reichert to bring the killer to justice and the heavy toll it took on the team. The strain that the investigation put on Reichert and his family isn't something you would normally think about.
If you want to read a book about the Green River killings,I highly recommend this book

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average non-fiction type account, there's better stuff out there., December 29, 2008

By 

Michael Bird (Yorba Linda, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer (Hardcover)

I've read Ann Rule's account of this crime spree and the eventual apprehension of Ridgeway. I think she does a much better job of writing about the case as she is an experienced writer and researcher.

That said, for any really interested in all the different points of view and insight, this book is an interesting read.

I'd definitely recommend reading Rule's work first, and then come back to this if still interested.

Because it's written from one man's perspective, and that one man was part of the story, it's hard to tell exactly is his perception or opinion and what isn't. It's also obvious that he left a lot of information out (because of how much more information Rule covers).

It's not a long or difficult read, it's edited well and basically reads like someone is telling the basic story. That's it's strong point and also a weak point if you're interested in a more in depth account.

All that said, I give a mild recommendation to someone that is interested in the case.