Customer Reviews

Solving the Zodiac: The Zodiac Killer Case Files

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Of the two reviews currently online, I agree with "Alex" in his
summary of the book.

The lack of an editor during the brief writing of Symons is apparantly obvious. The spelling errors, poor phrasing and poor research should be obvious to anyone who has a good education.

Symons further displays his poor research in his opening remarks
about "films and books which are myth." Using the example of the Kathleen Johns case, Symons states that during her encounter with
the (alleged Zodiac) abductor, there was never a statement made
about killing her or "throwing her baby out of the car" and uses the police reports as evidence. However, if Symons actually read Mr. Graysmith's book "Zodiac," he would have discovered that Mr. Graysmith interviewed Ms Johns and she stated that those phrases did occur, whether or not the police reports included them.

The two questions to consider about this book are (1) "Should I buy it?" and (2) "Is it worth the price?"

The first question is a subjective one - I would say "it depends."
The book is a valuable source to have all the offical supporting
documentation, but all this is available on Tom Voight's excellent site, [...] plus a lot more information. Symons' book is helpful for research use, although the FBI and police reports contain many more pages than what is in Symons book.

As to the second question, I would say that the [...] price plus shipping outweighs the information available in the book. I recommend waiting until a used copy in good condition appears and
buy it for a fraction of the price.

I rate this book as a "1." It does contain material useful for either a beginner on the subject of Zodiac killer or for someone doing research, but a lot more information is available for free on line. As to the background of the murders, written by Symons, this subject is available in more details in Mr. Graysmith's book "Zodiac."

Finally, one plus fact to this book is that for those folks who have vision problems may find the use of the police reports easier to read than the on-line version at Mr. Voght's site. It is handy to have when referring to maps and/or other books. As I stated, the writing is poor, unsupported and contradicts itself to the police reports (especially the Betty Lou Jensen-David Faraday murders on Lake Herman Road) and the services of an editor are very much needed!
I have graded high school and college term papers which were better written than this book. If it were not for the police reports, I would say don't buy it - again, try to get a used copy, as it is helpful to have the reports in hand when comparing to other sources. For the addresses crossed out, the police reports often list a residence with the address intact, but the street name deleted - in this case, Mr. Graysmith's book "Zodiac" comes in handy as the streets the victims and friends lived on are mentioned. Graysmith's book is far better researched, but lacks the supporting evidence contained in either this book or the Tom Voight site.
(The contents of this review may not display online as it was intended to because of HTML formatting).

The author either wrote the other review him or herself or had someone do it; clearly it paraphrases the books foreward and is not genuine. This book can only be described as a poor practical joke. From the typos in the foreward that continue throughout (claims Arthur Allen Leigh was an "escape goat"?), lack of any editing whatsoever, and mistakes throughout, it leaves one wondering whether the author's retyped police reports are accurate at all (did Darlene Ferrin's sister really refer to her as "Charlene" in a police interview?). At times it is a direct plagiarism of Graysmith's book, then falls into simply being a supposed representation of photos and police reports. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, I really can't believe anyone published this thing. Wait, there is no publisher, no mention of who this author is, this book is nothing but a second rate waste of time. I am really shocked Amazon wouldn't have standards in place to prevent readers from buying this on the basis of a phoney review.

Evidence is the core basis for solving any homicide and ensuring a conviction. Without strong evidence, the prosecution will never accept a case because they know a jury will never convict. As an investigator it is your responsibility to research, locate, analyze and tie physicial evidence to a suspect. In the case of The Zodiac, this has never been accomplished. Instead, there have been dozens of suspects, many who have been tried in the court of public opinion, yet none whom have been tied to any physical evidence. Conspiracy theorists, amateur sleuths, reporters and even law enforcement authorities have named suspects as the killer, but nobody has ever been able to bring The Zodiac to justice.

Perhaps with this book you can take the foray into the evidence, by reading the police reports (typed up and yes, even redacted properly) perusing the crime scene photographs or perhaps even solving the 340 symbol cipher (good luck on the 340 cipher)

All of the information in the book is readily available elsewhere, like on Tom Voigt's site, however it's quite nice to have the police reports in a typed form and to have the letters and ciphers all in one handy and elegant book.

A full scale reproduction of the letters with the envelopes, because the envelopes have a story to tell and are also very important evidence. Also a more verbose bibliography and index would have been welcomed.

If you're familiar with the case, this book might not be for you, but for the beginner I can't recommend this book enough!