Barbara M. reviewed on + 147 more book reviews
I've read a few of Cornwell's Scarpetta books--borrowed from my sister--and thought they were pretty good. The Ripper book was published in 2002. When I heard about it and that Cornwell had spent (by her estimation) $1 million on researching this, I was very interested in reading the book. My sister bought it for me. I read it way back when and thought Cornwell made a decent case for Sickert being the Ripper.
As I'm now downsizing, I am posting most of my books on paperbackswap.com. I found this book tucked away in an end table and decided to reread it before posting. I only got about halfway through and decided to hang it up. What I found most interesting was learning how the folks in the East End lived, how hospitals were places people didn't want to go, etc. Made me thankful that I live in more modern times.
Based on Cornwell's research of Sicket, he sounds like he perhaps wasn't a very pleasant man and rather an odd duck. Cornwell goes into great detail about Sickert's childhood (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and his physical problem that she's certain is probably the root of his behavior. Cornwell's conclusion that Sicket is the Ripper is largely based on speculation--she reads things into his paintings, says it's very possible that Sickert crossed paths with the police as he (Sickert) was leaving the scene of his murders, etc.
Cornwell goes into excruciating detail about the paper used to write the letters (and because Sickert apparently had the same type of paper that he used when writing friends, etc. that is one more piece of "proof" that he's the Ripper). She also talked in great detail about various things (can't recall a specific example) that really added nothing to her claim that Sickert was the Ripper. I wondered if she was including this extraneous information to reach a certain page length or if it was to impress the reader with how thorough she was in her research.
I got up to page 168 (book is 361 pages) where Cornwell is talking about doing DNA testing on envelope flaps and stamps. At this point I decided I was done. I could not continue reading her ad nauseum description of the testing (and after the first round of 55 samples yielded NOTHING, she decided to keep going with further testing).
As I'm now downsizing, I am posting most of my books on paperbackswap.com. I found this book tucked away in an end table and decided to reread it before posting. I only got about halfway through and decided to hang it up. What I found most interesting was learning how the folks in the East End lived, how hospitals were places people didn't want to go, etc. Made me thankful that I live in more modern times.
Based on Cornwell's research of Sicket, he sounds like he perhaps wasn't a very pleasant man and rather an odd duck. Cornwell goes into great detail about Sickert's childhood (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and his physical problem that she's certain is probably the root of his behavior. Cornwell's conclusion that Sicket is the Ripper is largely based on speculation--she reads things into his paintings, says it's very possible that Sickert crossed paths with the police as he (Sickert) was leaving the scene of his murders, etc.
Cornwell goes into excruciating detail about the paper used to write the letters (and because Sickert apparently had the same type of paper that he used when writing friends, etc. that is one more piece of "proof" that he's the Ripper). She also talked in great detail about various things (can't recall a specific example) that really added nothing to her claim that Sickert was the Ripper. I wondered if she was including this extraneous information to reach a certain page length or if it was to impress the reader with how thorough she was in her research.
I got up to page 168 (book is 361 pages) where Cornwell is talking about doing DNA testing on envelope flaps and stamps. At this point I decided I was done. I could not continue reading her ad nauseum description of the testing (and after the first round of 55 samples yielded NOTHING, she decided to keep going with further testing).
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