Thursday, February 23, 2012

Review - Green River Killer (A True Detective Story)



Summary of Green River Amazon


Throughout the 1980s, the highest priority of Seattle-area police was the apprehension of the Green River Killer, the man responsible for the murders of dozens of women. But in 1990, with the body count numbering at least forty-eight, the case was put in the hands of a single detective, Tom Jensen. After twenty years, when the killer was finally captured with the help of DNA technology, Jensen and fellow detectives spent 188 days interviewing Gary Leon Ridgway in an effort to learn his most closely held secrets-an epic confrontation with evil that proved as disturbing and surreal as can be imagined. Written by Jensen's own son, acclaimed entertainment journalist Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story presents the ultimate insider's account of America's most prolific serial killer. Green River Killer is bound to become a well-recognized member of the crime-genre graphic novel family, including titles like Darwyn Cooke’s The Hunter and Alan Moore’s From Hell.

My Review - 4 1/2 Great to the last drop
 
This is my first experience reading a Graphic Novel, I was intrigued the whole time.  The minimum text and art work gave all that was needed to make this a successful project. I quite liked that it was all in black and white and not coloured pictures, it gave the feel of newspaper articles, the old meeting the new and colour may have been to much detail for some, this was very classy for such a topic.
 
What an amazing honour this novel is to Tom from his son Jeff Jensen.  You get glimpses of the serial killer Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer but the focus is on Tom as the Detective, father and husband. 
 
I enjoyed the different parts of the book, all the time frames included to give a true feel of the journey to find The Green River Killer.  Years of frustration came over perfectly, the searching, evidence, interview families of victims and also Gary was done so well.  In less than 300 pages you were able to take away an overall feel of a 20 year plus investigation and how so many were affected.
 
Jeff is obviously very proud of his dad and what a memento to have for life, your son writing your true story of your career.
 
This book will be enjoyed by those that read memoirs, non fiction, crime, suspense and of course graphic novels.  I recommend you give it a try.
 
Overall, I enjoyed the experience of reading a Graphic Novel but don't think I will look out for others.  If one sounds good I may go for it. 
 
I read this after 2 bloggers reviews.  Sandy's blog You've GOTTA read this..... and  Ath's blog Reading on a Rainy Day
 
 
 
 

8 comments:

  1. Interesting! I am seriously going to check it out. A true story depicted in a graphic novel is very intriguing. Thanks for the review :)

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  2. I love graphic novels and used to read tons of true crime, so I have a feeling I'd like this book.

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  3. I'd read about this on Sandy's blog and it stuck in my mind as one to check out. You just retierated that feeling!

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  4. I love true crime but I'm not sure about the whole graphic novel thing. It's an interesting combination. If I run into it I'll likely pick it up on your recommendation, though.

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  5. I had read a little bit about the Green River Killer (I think maybe mentioned in a John Douglas profiling book?) and this sounds interesting! Too bad my library doesn't have it.

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  6. I'm not a true crime fan, usually, but the concept of true crime and a graphic novels looks good to me.

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  7. I've never read a graphic novel, but I love illustrated books so I'm sure I'd enjoy them. And I love true crime books, so I might have to give this one a look.

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  8. I have enjoyed the graphic novels I've read, so I'd be interested to give this one a try. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have it. I'll keep an eye out though!

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