Your Next Must Read True Crime Book
Like many people I know, I'm a HUGE fan of true crime. If I'm in the car, I'm listening to a true crime audio book or podcast. Sometimes at night before bed I'll pop on the Investigation Discovery Channel and give myself terrible nightmares. I closely follow high profile cases in the news and try to come up with my own theories. I can tell you all there is to know about BTK, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy.... the list goes on.
Some of you might be reading all this thinking "yep, me too." Others are probably rolling your eyes at me. I know, I'm nuts. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with true crime, honestly. I just think that if I'm aware of all the different types of crimes people are committing out there, I can protect myself from them.
I recently took this test to figure out how likely it is that I'll be murdered. Good news, I probably won't be! Probably.
Anyway, I like to think I've read most of the great true crime books that are out there. However, a book recently came to my attention that I had somehow missed. It's not a new book - it's from 2014. And, it's about one of the most high profile serial killers known to man - the Zodiac Killer. Also, it's ridiculously good.
It's called "The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer."
HOW DID I MISS THIS?
Written by Gary L. Stewart, this TRUE story chronicles the author's search for his birth father.
The more Stewart learns about his father, the more he begins to believe that it's possible his father was the Zodiac Killer. I'm telling you... I was convinced within the first few chapters. Gary L. Stewart has cracked the case, people.
What I love is that Stewart isn't the typical True Crime buff who woke up one day and said "I'm going to solve the Zodiac case." He started an innocent search to find his birth father, and slowly connected the dots until it became too hard to ignore the similarities between his father's life, and the crimes of the Zodiac Killer.
By the way, if you don't know about the Zodiac Killer, read this article. It's an absolutely fascinating case, and it remains unsolved by the police to this day.
Until I read this book, I was pretty certain that Arthur Leigh Allen was the Zodiac. Now, I'm not so sure. I seriously can't stop thinking about this case now. I've been obsessively reading about it and thinking about it for weeks. I even re-watched the 2007 movie Zodiac starring Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Junior and Jake Gyllenhaal. (It's on Hulu btw. Trust me, you'll want to watch it once you finish this book.)
One thing you should know before you run out to order this book - I don't recommend the audio book version. I would only recommend reading the actual physical book. This is for multiple reasons.
The author, Gary L. Stewart, narrates the audiobook. It's a cool idea, but he isn't a professional narrator and he's a bit monotone.
There are certain things that you'll miss in the audiobook version that are much more clear in the physical book. For example, the Zodiac misspelled words in his letters, and that's not clear when someone is reading the letters out loud. Also, there are some timelines that don't translate well in the audiobook.
I'm not going to go into much more detail about the book than that because I don't want to ruin anything. You just need to read this book. It's not an option! Go read it now, please. Then comment below! I really want to know what you think.
