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Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper -- Case Closed (Berkley True Crime) | 
 enlarge | Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Berkley
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  604 reviews
Sales Rank: 25801
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 0425192733
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523092
EAN: 9780425192733
ASIN: 0425192733
Publication Date: October 28, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Now updated with new material that brings the killer's picture into clearer focus
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| Customer Reviews: Read 599 more reviews...
 portrait of a killer December 31, 2008
"Portrait of a Killer" purports to have finally uncovered the identity of the enigmatic Jack the Ripper. Sure enough, Patricia Cornwell had me convinced that Walter Sickert, a contemporary painter, was indeed the Ripper. . . . at least while I was reading the book. Cornwell's book reads more like a thriller than a legitimate investigate. For being a page turner, I give this book 4 stars. Cornwell is very compelling in her argument, & I truly did believe that Sickert was the Ripper while I was reading this book.
The problem is that all of her evidence if circumstantial. Taken together, the evidence (if fact) does make Sickert look like an ideal candidate for the Ripper. Unfortunately, there are several other candidates for the Ripper who are just as compelling. Cornwell does not mention these, so Sickert seems like a foregone conclusion. I've done a fair bit of reading on Jack the Ripper, including visiting the murder sites on a trip to London, & I just don't believe that Cornwell has finally unearthed his identity. I don't think anyone ever will.
 DNA validated--well done December 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought this was well done. The author proves rather well the guilt of a very very ugly and dispicable person.
 Cornwell's Obsession December 5, 2008
This book isn't really about Sickert - it's about Patricia Cornwell's relentless obsession. She has committed the worst error any murder investigator can commit; to develop a purely gut-level hunch about a suspect, and continue to believe in it regardless of the actual facts. Besides that, her hunch is illogical and doesn't make sense - she hasn't thought it through.
She says she became convinced of Sickert's guilt because of his paintings, in particular a painting which bears an uncanny resemblance to Eddowes' mortuary photo (NOT a crime scene photo, a MORTUARY photo - there's an obviously major difference).
Cornwell says Sickert painted it to re-live and fantasize about his crime. If so, why would he paint the mortuary photo and not the actual scene itself? Eddowes' appearence at the crime scene would've looked quite different from the mortuary photo, after her remains had been sewn up, washed and laid out for the moruary photographer.
The obvious answer was Sickert didn't commit the murders, instead, it was well known Sickert was obsessed with sleaze and crime, as well as tabloid journalism, and he probably saw the mortuary photo somewhere and painted from the photo - not the actual crime scene. Sickert wasn't necessarily interested in violence per se, instead he was interested in the way violence was being portrayed in the media at the time.
Cornwell's assumes Sickert was the Ripper because his art was so strongly suggestive of the Ripper murders (and of violence toward women generally, says Cornwell), but if this psychological notion of hers were true, then ALL artists who portray violence, from painters to filmakers like Hitchcock (does "Psycho" prove to Cornwell that Alfred Hichcock was a serial murderer?), and even crime writers like Patricia Cornwell all should be suspected of murder. After all, Cornwell herself is known for graphic descriptions of violence in her novels - maybe she is a killer, too?
Her relentless obsession over Sickert is deeply bizarre; I watched a BBC documentary about this, (from the series "Omnibus") and the program made a subtle but clear point: Walter Sickert was not nearly as crazy as Patricia Cornwell.
Besides, it's almost 100% certain Sickert was in France during the period the Ripper crimes took place. He clearly wasn't the murderer, yet she continues her crusade against an long-dead innocent man.
She'll never admit she's wrong. She would look even more foolish than she already does.
An intriguing book October 2, 2008
I had a hard time putting this book down. I found it entertaining. I did not see all the connections between Sickert and Jack the Ripper, but there are many. I do not know all the facts, but she certainly did alot of research. This case will never be fully closed until DNA testing gets better and by then any samples will likely be too degraded.
 Jack the Rippper September 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was unhappy with this effort from Patricia Cornwell. I found it repetitive, hard to follow and didn't find her argument that convincing.
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