Book Review

The Zodiac by Robert Graysmith

The Zodiac is about one of the most famous serial killers in American history.  The Zodiac, as he identified himself, was mostly known for striking couples at night.  These puzzling and often gruesome murders took place in and around the San Francisco area in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  No one is exactly sure how many people the Zodiac murdered.  The Zodiac was very attracted to the attention he received from his acts.  He would frequently send details of his murders to newspapers in San Francisco.  After a while the Zodiac began to take credit for murders that in no possible way he could’ve committed.  It was at this point that detectives began to question the mental stability of the Zodiac.  However; the most elusive aspect of the Zodiac is that he was never caught.  At the beginning of the investigation there were over 2500 suspects, but that list quickly dwindled to a select few.  Robert Graysmith, the author of this book, received weekly phones calls from the person believed to be the Zodiac.  The caller would breathe heavily into the phone in a way that sounded like the wind.  This evidence is compatible with the fact that back in the 1970’s; the Zodiac would call the families of his victims and do the very same thing.  The main suspect, a man named Arthur Leigh Allen, died in 2000.  After his death the phone calls stopped, but the legend of the Zodiac was still palpable.  The Zodiac had faded into obscurity in the mid 1970’s and most of the surrounding police departments closed their Zodiac investigations.  The case still remains open in some police departments, but since most of the original witnesses are dead or in hiding, speculation seems to reign supreme in the Zodiac case.  The fact that it was never solved leaves it open to the imagination of people who can pick an ending they see fit.

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