Certainly not a masterpiece as writing goes but entertaining nonetheless. The author thoroughly convinced me that there were only 4 true Ripper murders then goes on to include as many others as necessary to support his current point, sometimes 5, sometimes 6. It seems to me that once you establish something you should stick with it. Lynch also spends a lot of time “proving” that the murderer was left handed, then all but abandons this line except for one suspect. Like most Ripperologists Lynch plays fast and loose with the facts and primary sources, highlighting those he wants and all but ignoring those he doesn’t care for.

The most interesting aspect of the Whitechapel murders is how they were one of the first instances of the media becoming a huge part of creating the story and myth behind the news, whipping the public into a frenzy. After all four murder in the squalid East End of London was no big deal in the overall scheme of things. There were plenty of murders before and after this unrelated but ignored. In fact, the media was largely responsible for tying murders to the Ripper that he was almost surely not responsible for in a frenzy to sell newspapers. Many of the purported Ripper letters to the police were fabrications by journalists. ( )

This is an appalling book which misuses the available evidence. It is also extremely repetitious. The author also claims to know more than anyone else alive on the subject - and that is in the Introduction! ( )