Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell (2002)

By the time I finished this book, I almost felt like slitting my own throat!
This is a poorly written, disorganized, and disappointing book. It appears as if not one word was edited out of this ridiculous, plodding tome that could have been one third its current size. The book reads as if Cornwell took all of her voluminous research notes, taped all her little sticky notes together, and just typed it up using some kind of stream-of-consciousness technique known only to her. The fake, grainy, sepia-tone illustrations lost a great deal of important detail seemingly for the sake of uniformity and artsy design. Many of the important primary documents would have been more convincing and much easier to see if they had been carefully and professionally photographed. Cornwell jumps around, not necessarily discussing events in chronological order. In addition, maddening and irrelevant asides are thrown in between the important points she is apparently trying to make. She discusses probable additional victims, yet doesn't bother to provide any kind of comprehensive, dated timeline or chronology for the reader to refer to. The same kind of timeline or chronology should have been provided for the most important of the hundreds of letters the Ripper allegedly wrote. All of that said, I believe that Sickert did the awful deeds, but I don't think Cornwell even came close to making a case. The proof may be in there somewhere, but someone else will have to find it, and rewrite the book. I hope someone from Scotland Yard takes up the ball. In a library, this book is unfortunately classified as a non-fiction book. It should have been placed along side the rest of Ms Cornwell's FICTION! © 2003 S. Spika (rarebookwoman on eBay)

I have not yet read this book, so it's hard to write a review for it. I saw something about it on television, the author talking about it, and it certainly sounded like a good read! As someone who finds the Jack the Ripper murders intriguing, I can't imagine a more perfect book to read!

As a big fan of Partricia Cornwell's writing's, & having read several other books about "Jack the Ripper", this book was an obvious read for me. It's definently not for the faint of heart, as it contains some pretty gruesome details, but she tends to get off the subject several times during the book.

I think Cornwell really did a great deal of research on this subject & I truly believe she it right about her
final analysis of who the actual killer was!!!!!! I think OVERALL she did a great job on this book & I would give the book a rating of 8!!!!!!!!

I recieved the book and the seller is very good.The book itself is very interesting and it has some historial facts about it too.

humph90