Intrigue and obsession: the life of Robert Graysmith
Jennifer Vazquez
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Tempo
When you think of losing your life to a serial killer, only one thing typically comes to mind: death. Brutal and gruesome as it may be, a violent death seems to be the only way to lose your life to a multiple murderer. However, if you take a step back, it is easy to see this is not necessarily true. Obviously, families of the victims are affected and their lives are irrevocably changed. But what about the detectives assigned to the case? Or the reporters who are assigned to cover it? How are their lives changed?
Zodiac by Robert Graysmith was first published in 1986 after years of careful dedication to the Zodiac murders. As depicted in the recent movie of the same name, Graysmith was a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He always had an interest in codes and ciphers. When the Zodiac murders began, Graysmith took an active interest in the case almost immediately. Each new murder seemed to bring more unanswered questions and clues that no one could add up. Graysmith dedicated his life to piecing together an insurmountable amount of clues, which seem to lead everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The novel is a culmination of over a decade's findings reprinted for the world to see in an extremely detailed format. Each chapter is named by a victim or a suspect in the case. The chapter then details all of the evidence surrounding that person. Exact times to the minute are used when known. Transcription of telephone conversations and exact reprinting of letters that Zodiac sent are included as well. There are diagrams drawn by Graysmith of murder scenes and composite sketches of what Zodiac may have looked like included within the chapters.
Graysmith writes the book extremely effectively. It will leave chills running down your spine, do not read it before bed if you are easily scared. The exactness of the details of some of the murders brings all too vivid images to mind. Graysmith talked to dozens, if not hundreds, of people to get as many facts as possible. So many times the friends and family's voices are included in the profile of a particular murder, along with the hard facts that the police reports lent. This coupled with the Zodiac's own words and Graysmith's personal input on the situation brings you back to a time when a madman had the whole San Fransisco Bay Area in a panic. Graysmith has a talent for not allowing the novel to become dry, though the technical processing could have lent to very boring passages. It is almost as if he puts all the facts out there hoping that you can somehow solve the case that has plagued him for years. Following the more formal part of the novel are several appendices which list the sources, references, common facts in the cases and an index.
Zodiac by Robert Graysmith was first published in 1986 after years of careful dedication to the Zodiac murders. As depicted in the recent movie of the same name, Graysmith was a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He always had an interest in codes and ciphers. When the Zodiac murders began, Graysmith took an active interest in the case almost immediately. Each new murder seemed to bring more unanswered questions and clues that no one could add up. Graysmith dedicated his life to piecing together an insurmountable amount of clues, which seem to lead everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. The novel is a culmination of over a decade's findings reprinted for the world to see in an extremely detailed format. Each chapter is named by a victim or a suspect in the case. The chapter then details all of the evidence surrounding that person. Exact times to the minute are used when known. Transcription of telephone conversations and exact reprinting of letters that Zodiac sent are included as well. There are diagrams drawn by Graysmith of murder scenes and composite sketches of what Zodiac may have looked like included within the chapters.
Graysmith writes the book extremely effectively. It will leave chills running down your spine, do not read it before bed if you are easily scared. The exactness of the details of some of the murders brings all too vivid images to mind. Graysmith talked to dozens, if not hundreds, of people to get as many facts as possible. So many times the friends and family's voices are included in the profile of a particular murder, along with the hard facts that the police reports lent. This coupled with the Zodiac's own words and Graysmith's personal input on the situation brings you back to a time when a madman had the whole San Fransisco Bay Area in a panic. Graysmith has a talent for not allowing the novel to become dry, though the technical processing could have lent to very boring passages. It is almost as if he puts all the facts out there hoping that you can somehow solve the case that has plagued him for years. Following the more formal part of the novel are several appendices which list the sources, references, common facts in the cases and an index.
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Elizabeth Raver
posted 11/10/08 @ 6:26 PM CST
Does anyone know if there is truly a list of code books missing from the San Francisco area libraries as mentioned in the movie? I would love to find this list. (Continued…)
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