The Search for the Green River Killer
by Carlton Smith (Author), Tomas Guillen (Author)
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Description
New York Times Bestseller: From the journalists who covered the story, the shocking crimes of Gary Ridgway, America's most prolific serial murderer. In the 1980s and 1990s, forty-nine women in the Seattle area were brutally murdered, their bodies dumped along the Green River and Pacific Highway South in Washington State. Despite an exhaustive investigation-even serial killer Ted Bundy was consulted to assist with psychological profiling-the sadistic killer continued to elude authorities for show more nearly twenty years. Then, in 2001, after mounting suspicion and with DNA evidence finally in hand, King County police charged a fifty-two-year-old truck painter, Gary Ridgway, with the murders. His confession and the horrific details of his crimes only added fuel to the notoriety of the Green River Killer. Journalists Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen covered the murders for the Seattle Times from day one, receiving a Pulitzer Prize nomination for their work. They wrote the first edition of this book before the police had their man. Revised after Ridgway's conviction and featuring chilling photographs from the case, The Search for the Green River Killer is the ultimate authoritative account of the Pacific Northwest killing spree that held a nation spellbound-and continues to horrify and fascinate, spawning dramatizations and documentaries of a demented killer who seemed unstoppable for decades. show lessTags
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Member Recommendations
by Luchtpint
Member Reviews
I like true crime, and The Search for the Green River Killer is one of the better books I've read about serial murder. The case, which the Seattle Police first noticed in 1982, did not come to a conclusion untl 2003, and Carlton Smith details every step, every mistake, every success that occurred in those 21 years. It was an interesting book, fluently narrated, but gruesome and upsetting as such books are. The Green River Killer, who was eventually convicted of forty-six (46) counts of murder of young female prostitutes, was a psychopath with no remorse over the way he treated his victims before and after their death, and it chills me to the bone that such people exist.
Just got this back from a friend, so I am able enter a review under the correct edition. "The Search..." is an excellent title as this covers the crime from the police investigators' view. The dead-end trails, sought for clues and hopes dashed amid managing a large task force and trying to embrace and benefit from early computer technology tell an intriguing story of a community seeking to remove a killer.
Unfortunately this one seemed all over the place and dull and monotone. Definitely not as interesting as I'd hoped.
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Author Information
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Gary Leon Ridgway; the Green River Killer; David Reichert; Robert Keppel; John E. Douglas
- Important places
- Seattle, Washington, USA; King County, Washington, USA; Portland, Oregon, USA
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government, History, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 364.15230979777 — Society, government, & culture Social problems and social services Crime Criminal offenses Offenses against the person Homicide Murder History, geographic treatment, biography North America
- LCC
- HV6533 .W2 .S64 — Social sciences Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Crimes and offenses
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 319
- Popularity
- 99,848
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.64)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 6
