Review by Violete -- Cold Serial: The Jack the Strangler...

[Violete]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Cold Serial: The Jack the Strangler Murders" by Brian E. Forschner.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In the early 1900s the community in Dayton, Ohio is being shaken by the news of an eleven year old girl, who was murdered and raped, meters away from a house full of people. This is how the book Cold Serial: The Jack the Strangler Murders begins telling the story of Ada Lantz’s death the first of five young ladies who would like her, become victims of a man who murdered and raped women.


The book starts by showing you what the life of these girls is from their perspective, what they do on their day to day life, their routines and what their feelings are right up to the moment they are attacked, from that point on it switches to the perspective of the family and that’s when we get to see all the despair, anger and helplessness they feel, which sometimes is just a couple of hours and other times a couple of days till the point when the body is found. From then on we see the perspective of the police in charge of the case; we see all the investigations, autopsies and interviews they do to suspects in a really detailed way.


I also appreciate the fact the author used 1900s mannerisms, not only in the characters' dialog and the way the public reacts to gruesome events like these, but it also shows the social culture of the people from the late Victorian era, how they ashamed women for being raped, in some cases the press would use terms like “Chastity” and “Modesty” to assure the public that the girls were “pure” and had not “led him on”.


The book does a really good painting a true picture of the life and aspirations of these young girls, and what they expected from life, their dreams and the relationships with their loved ones really giving you the opportunity to empathize with the characters. One thing I liked a lot and appreciated is that in some pages there are “pictures” of the girls, their homes, the detectives and the crime scenes, as well as some other characters and places and it gives you a sense of knowing these characters and it reminds you that they were in fact, real people, who went through something terrible.


I would also like to point out that the author Brian Forschner spends a long time investigating the cases of these victims, using any kind of material he had available (newspapers, death certificates, autopsies and trials as summarized by the press of that time) to show the true life and death of the victims in a really respectful and detailed manner.


I rate the book Cold Serial: The Jack the Strangler Murders 4 out of 4 stars, because of the way it makes you appreciate the life of these young girls who in the author's words: “Were forgotten, hidden or never told” you can tell Brian Forchner put a lot of effort on writing the book, to the point it almost makes you feel you wished you were there to help them, you get to care about these girls so much and even though you feel such a sadness and pain for what happen to them. It's definitely worth reading it, especially if you like real life investigations, suspense, real stories and historical events.

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Cold Serial: The Jack the Strangler Murders
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[Erin Painter Baker]

While this is not the genre of book I usually read, I have friends who love this kind of thing. I will have to recommend this book to them.