Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert – Patricia Cornwell

From New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell comes Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, a comprehensive and intriguing exposé of one of the world’s most chilling cases of serial murder—and the police force that failed to solve it.

Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art—as well as extensive evidence—points to another name, one that’s left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material—including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause—and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.

Incorporating material from Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed, this new edition has been revised and expanded to include eight new chapters, detailed maps and hundreds of images that bring the sinister case to life.

I have read Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell as well. This book was very similar. She received a lot of criticism for the initial novel. Many were upset that she was insinuating that Walter Sickert was the killer based on the evidence she discovered. She was sent death threats for the misconception of how she obtained her evidence. False rumors spread, saying that she destroyed evidence. She later had to come to the public and refute those egregious claims.

This novel presents the same information Cornwell’s previous book did but adds additional pieces. In this novel she chooses her words carefully, ensuring she does not blatantly say that Sickert is the ripper. Instead, she says things such as ‘it is highly likely but not for certain’. I feel she gives sufficient evidence to support her claim. She delves into Sickert’s past employment and relationships. She provides evidence that should make one stop and consider the possibility of truth in her theory.

As far as her circumstantial evidence goes, what do you expect for her to use for this cold case? About 90% of the Ripper case evidence has been either destroyed or is missing. There was no concept of DNA evidence in that time period. There will never be any hard evidence such as blood spatter analysis or DNA comparison due to the lack of advanced technology or ideas at that time. The only thing anyone researching Ripper claims has to go on is primarily circumstantial evidence. There have been many court cases closed using only circumstantial evidence.

There was one reason I would only rate this book four stars. That would be the repetitiveness and lengthy explanations on unnecessary information. An example of this is the two or three pages used to discuss the type of lanterns used at that time. I feel that was too much. One page would have sufficed. The same information was repeated numerous times as well. The redundancy was something that I, as a reader, do not enjoy. It makes me want to put the book down and leave it unfinished.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book. It gave so much information into who Walter Sickert was, supporting her theory that he was likely Jack the Ripper. We will never truly know who the real culprit of such horrendous crimes was. All we can do is read as much information regarding the case and possible suspects as we can and form our own conclusions. There is a plethora of theories out to look into, some more credible than others. Don’t use one book to form your hypothesis, read many…read ones that have conflicting arguments. Take all you read with a grain of salt. This is a great book to read for all those looking to cure their hunger for curiosity on this subject.