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The Most Dangerous Animal of All
When Gary L. Stewart decided to search for his biological father at the age of thirty-nine, he never imagined his quest would lead him to a horrifying truth and force him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about himself.
Written with award-winning author and journalist Susan Mustafa, The Most Dangerous Animal of All tells the story of Stewart's decade-long hunt. While combing through government records and news reports and tracking down relatives and friends, Stewart turns up a host of clues—including forensic evidence—that conclusively identifies his father as the Zodiac Killer, one of the most notorious and elusive serial murderers in history. At last, all the questions that have surrounded the case for almost fifty years are answered in this riveting narrative—a singular work of true crime at its finest as well as a sensational and powerful memoir.
Written with award-winning author and journalist Susan Mustafa, The Most Dangerous Animal of All tells the story of Stewart's decade-long hunt. While combing through government records and news reports and tracking down relatives and friends, Stewart turns up a host of clues—including forensic evidence—that conclusively identifies his father as the Zodiac Killer, one of the most notorious and elusive serial murderers in history. At last, all the questions that have surrounded the case for almost fifty years are answered in this riveting narrative—a singular work of true crime at its finest as well as a sensational and powerful memoir.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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6246 people want to read
About the author
Gary L. Stewart
2 books21 followersGary L. Stewart earned his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University and is vice president of Delta Tech Service of Louisiana. Ten years ago, Gary began writing a journal, chronicling every detail of his search for his father and his own identity. That journal served as the basis for The Most Dangerous Animal of All. Gary resides in Louisiana with his wife, Kristy, and son, Zach.
Source: Harper Collins.
Source: Harper Collins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 712 reviews
March 31, 2017
The author, although I feel for his plight wastes 40% or more of the book filling you in on his background and his sad plight - which have 0-nothing to do with the murders.
Yes, you do eventually get to the background of his father - but you are also given history lessons on everyone ever encountered along the way. This may be a search for parentage novel, but it bores you to death and only furthers the reader to believe this guy is desperate to make anyone his father figure, even a murderer.
The evidence linking his father to the Zodiac murders are a stretch to even consider circumstantial. And it is already a fact that more than one persons' name appear backwards in the coded messages the zodiac left. I found myself rolling my eyes at how flimsy his evidence is.
This man, so desperate in his need for self identity annoyed and chased off people around him with his pursuit of information - to the degree that he admits it, but doesn't see it as a link as to maybe why the SFPD thought he was being an overzealous crackpot. Even after the point in the book in which he thinks he has proven his fathers guilt, he drones on and on about himself and his discoveries (which are verbatim reiterations of previous chapters).
The icing on the cake is that a woman involved in the accuracy of documents, helped co-author the book..... Incentive for her much?? This book is a plea for attention and a horrible waste of reading time. His connections to the Zodiac are laughable. Glad it was a borrowed book, I wouldn't waste my money.
Yes, you do eventually get to the background of his father - but you are also given history lessons on everyone ever encountered along the way. This may be a search for parentage novel, but it bores you to death and only furthers the reader to believe this guy is desperate to make anyone his father figure, even a murderer.
The evidence linking his father to the Zodiac murders are a stretch to even consider circumstantial. And it is already a fact that more than one persons' name appear backwards in the coded messages the zodiac left. I found myself rolling my eyes at how flimsy his evidence is.
This man, so desperate in his need for self identity annoyed and chased off people around him with his pursuit of information - to the degree that he admits it, but doesn't see it as a link as to maybe why the SFPD thought he was being an overzealous crackpot. Even after the point in the book in which he thinks he has proven his fathers guilt, he drones on and on about himself and his discoveries (which are verbatim reiterations of previous chapters).
The icing on the cake is that a woman involved in the accuracy of documents, helped co-author the book..... Incentive for her much?? This book is a plea for attention and a horrible waste of reading time. His connections to the Zodiac are laughable. Glad it was a borrowed book, I wouldn't waste my money.
June 9, 2014
This book is a little hard to rate and review. Let me say something up front here... I will put this under a spoiler warning for those who don't want to read it, but this claims to be a nonfiction book and this bears on that.
Now aside from what i mention above the book itself struck me as odd throughout. It's told much as a novel with an omnipotent narrator feel...yet how would the "narrator" know what actually happened and who did what (much less who "thought" what) when the crimes in question (most of them) were never closed?
I don't know. Interesting speculation. I'd say read it as a novel and a "claims to be" or a "possible" narrative. Not great. I found it a bit slow going and sort of a "look at me" kind of story. I found it odd that he seems so involved in it all, I find it odd that he calls the woman who possibly abandoned him when he was maybe days old, "mom" but refers to the people who raised him his entire life and sacrificed for him by their first names...
I just found a lot about this read odd. Up to you see what you think.
Now aside from what i mention above the book itself struck me as odd throughout. It's told much as a novel with an omnipotent narrator feel...yet how would the "narrator" know what actually happened and who did what (much less who "thought" what) when the crimes in question (most of them) were never closed?
I don't know. Interesting speculation. I'd say read it as a novel and a "claims to be" or a "possible" narrative. Not great. I found it a bit slow going and sort of a "look at me" kind of story. I found it odd that he seems so involved in it all, I find it odd that he calls the woman who possibly abandoned him when he was maybe days old, "mom" but refers to the people who raised him his entire life and sacrificed for him by their first names...
I just found a lot about this read odd. Up to you see what you think.
July 29, 2019
This is a fascinating book! The reviews are all over the place and I liked the parts that so many did not. Like the backstory of everyone and I especially loved the descriptions of the time period. It captured a time and place.
Gary Stewart was adopted as an infant and at the age of 39 his birth mother contacts him out of the blue. He is elated to know more about her. As their friendship grows he becomes increasinly curious about his father. Her memory is sketchy, but Gary presses on looking up newspaper articles, etc. until he finally finds his father's name and ultimately suspects he had a part in many killings. Trying to get DNA and handwriting analysys is an achingly long wait to prove that the Zodiac Killer is his father. It was suspicious to me that all the files on the zodiac killer were destroyed because the case wasn't closed and reeked of a cover up in the SFPD(in my opinion). Anyway, you have to read this yourself and come to your own conclusions. It's a well written and great read!
Gary Stewart was adopted as an infant and at the age of 39 his birth mother contacts him out of the blue. He is elated to know more about her. As their friendship grows he becomes increasinly curious about his father. Her memory is sketchy, but Gary presses on looking up newspaper articles, etc. until he finally finds his father's name and ultimately suspects he had a part in many killings. Trying to get DNA and handwriting analysys is an achingly long wait to prove that the Zodiac Killer is his father. It was suspicious to me that all the files on the zodiac killer were destroyed because the case wasn't closed and reeked of a cover up in the SFPD(in my opinion). Anyway, you have to read this yourself and come to your own conclusions. It's a well written and great read!
May 25, 2014
I started reading this book with a lot of skepticism. HarperCollins was secretive about the book as a marketing ploy, which seems to have worked, since it's on the cover of People Magazine. But the book itself is extremely well-written and compelling. Even if Earl Van Best is not the Zodiac Killer, there are a lot of eerie coincidences between the killings, the Zodiac letters and ciphers, and Earl Van Best's life. Most of the reviews I have seen downplay Gary Stewart's faith in God, but I think it's an essential part of the book. Stewart realizes that no matter who his biological father was, his Heavenly Father saved him from a life of tragedy when he was adopted by Loyd and Leona Stewart. The Stewarts are the true heroes of this story, loving, hardworking, ordinary people who raised their children to be loving and hardworking as well. They are the kind of people about whom books should be written, instead of serial killers, but sadly, that type of book would never end up on the cover of People Magazine.
November 2, 2014
This book reads like a fiction novel, which isn't bad for a non-fiction account. The first thing I noticed was Stewart taking on an omniscient narrator's point of view AND a first-person POV at the same time. I don't know why, but this narrative mixture threw me off. How am I supposed to believe someone describing a story as if he was there, when he wasn't even born yet?
For example, "My father could not help but notice the Old State Capitol." He was a baby, and his father was alone. How could he know what his father was thinking/doing? Why did he choose to narrate that scene that way? It irked me to no end. Speaking of his father, he switched a lot between his father/grandfather/Van/Earl's son/his mother/my mother/my grandmother's daughter. With his complicated family tree, I would've appreciate that he stuck to just names.
The next was the dialogue attribution. Barely into the book at page 28, I realised there were more dialogue attributions than necessary. He insisted, cajoled, begged, ordered, whined, reassured, all on only two pages.
While the writing was concise, I did not appreciate the needless details that were irrelevant to the story. When he went to the Hall of Justice, he described his journey through the rich Italian floors, pressing the elevator buttons, and asking the receptionist for a lieutenant -- all which could have been told in one sentence alone. It's exactly the type of stuff I'd do if I needed to pump the word count for my writing assignments. I felt as if Stewart's story alone was insufficient, which brought the need to insert these bogging details.
It would hold the attention of a Zodiac newbie, as a third of the book was a mere historical recount of the murders and victims, but it would be nothing new to people already following the story.
Stewart also seems to have inherited some of his father's stalking tendencies, causing the people around him to start avoiding him. And while he's adamant that it's because the people around him are conspiring to a cover-up, I personally think it's because they're just tired of his incessant calling/mailing/bugging the hell out of them for answers.
SPOILER ALERT (although there isn't much to be spoiled):
And finally, after taking us on a whole through his childhood up to the climax, he still hasn't gotten the most important piece of evidence -- the DNA tests. I felt frustrated after reading this book that I just had to write this review, and here it is.
For example, "My father could not help but notice the Old State Capitol." He was a baby, and his father was alone. How could he know what his father was thinking/doing? Why did he choose to narrate that scene that way? It irked me to no end. Speaking of his father, he switched a lot between his father/grandfather/Van/Earl's son/his mother/my mother/my grandmother's daughter. With his complicated family tree, I would've appreciate that he stuck to just names.
The next was the dialogue attribution. Barely into the book at page 28, I realised there were more dialogue attributions than necessary. He insisted, cajoled, begged, ordered, whined, reassured, all on only two pages.
While the writing was concise, I did not appreciate the needless details that were irrelevant to the story. When he went to the Hall of Justice, he described his journey through the rich Italian floors, pressing the elevator buttons, and asking the receptionist for a lieutenant -- all which could have been told in one sentence alone. It's exactly the type of stuff I'd do if I needed to pump the word count for my writing assignments. I felt as if Stewart's story alone was insufficient, which brought the need to insert these bogging details.
It would hold the attention of a Zodiac newbie, as a third of the book was a mere historical recount of the murders and victims, but it would be nothing new to people already following the story.
Stewart also seems to have inherited some of his father's stalking tendencies, causing the people around him to start avoiding him. And while he's adamant that it's because the people around him are conspiring to a cover-up, I personally think it's because they're just tired of his incessant calling/mailing/bugging the hell out of them for answers.
SPOILER ALERT (although there isn't much to be spoiled):
And finally, after taking us on a whole through his childhood up to the climax, he still hasn't gotten the most important piece of evidence -- the DNA tests. I felt frustrated after reading this book that I just had to write this review, and here it is.
June 1, 2014
"The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father and Finding the Zodiac Killer" by Gary L. Stewart and Susan Mustafa is a beautifully written, gripping tale of family and murder. It's not just a true crime book. It's a memoir of an adopted man's reunion with his birth mother. It's a snapshot of deviant life in hippie-era San Francisco. It's a bit of kitchen-sink drama and film noir. It's about cops, what they do well and what they fail at. It's certainly a morality tale.
As a writer myself, I am in awe of Susan Mustafa's ability. There is a heart wrenchingly poignant scene where Gary visits his biological father's grave. There are chilling, clinical scenes of senseless killings. There is historical information concerning World War II and Jim Jones' People's Temple and legal points about adoption. Mustafa handles every bit of information, every type of scene, with the same "just the facts, ma'am, only the facts; moving right along" literary style. She trusts her reader to be able to master names, dates, and locations. She never sensationalizes.
Gary L. Stewart is a Louisiana businessman and electrical engineer. He was approached by his biological mother, who found him through a random search. His birth mother had been married to a prominent police officer. Police gave Stewart a mug shot of his birth father. "He looks like a serial killer," Stewart's son said. One day while watching TV, Stewart noticed a resemblance between a police sketch of the 1960s San Francisco Zodiac Killer, who was still at large, and the mug shot of his biological father. Stewart performed a great deal of research. Stewart reached the horrifying conclusion that his biological father was the Zodiac Killer.
"The Most Dangerous Animal" didn't fit solely into the true crime genre for me. I experienced it largely as a family tale. Steward was raised by two lovely adoptive parents. I felt frustrated by Steward's insistence that he had felt an emptiness inside and a fear of abandonment. He had great parents, parents I wish he had realized did fill that emptiness. I was frustrated by Stewart's immediate and unconditional love expressed for Judy, his birth mother, after she showed up.
The first hundred pages of the book are noir-tinged kitchen sink drama. Serial murder is such a sensational crime that one wants to believe that vast, Satanic forces create it. In fact Earl Van Best Jr, or Van, Stewart's father and alleged Zodiac Killer, did not experience melodramatic tortures before turning to crime. His life seemed to be the result of small, wrong choices. Many of those choices were made by women who couldn't say no.
Van's father Earl was an honored military chaplain. He rubbed shoulders with presidents and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Earl made the mistake of marrying Gertrude, a sexually promiscuous woman who humiliated her husband. Van told his cousins how he hated hearing the bed springs as his mother cheated on his father. Earl and Gertrude divorced. Earl remarried and had little to do with his son, Van, leaving him with his mother, Gertrude, and her boyfriends.
Van, at age 28, took up with fourteen-year-old Judy. Judy's mother Verda was also unsuccessful in her relationships with men. Verda's first husband spanked Judy so much sitting down was painful. Verda was then raped. She then married another man who abused her. Most of the first hundred pages of the book recount this steady trickle of small, wrong, personal choices that result in miserable lives.
I didn't like any of the people described in the first hundred pages. Judy, Van's fourteen-year-old wife, comes across as easy and lacking intelligence or character. She repeatedly returns to Van and lies and connives to do so. Van locks his and Judy's baby boy in a foot locker and closes the lid; the baby almost suffocates. This happens more than once. Judy does nothing to protect her own infant son from Van. Stewart argues that the Zodiac Killer's career was built around avenging the hurt Judy caused him. Such agony over such small potatoes.
The mid portion of the book recounts the Zodiac Killer's career. He killed young women and men in the San Francisco Area in the 1960s, and sent coded messages to San Francisco newspapers bragging of his crimes. In this portion of the book, Stewart says "my father" or "Van" rather than "The Zodiac."
The final portion of the book recounts Stewart's personal journey to becoming convinced that his father was the Zodiac Killer, and presents the evidence that drew him to this conclusion.
Whether Van was the Zodiac Killer or not, Van was certainly a reprehensible, unattractive, and pathetic human being. He committed a series of petty crimes, including check fraud and the selling of forged documents. He associated with unsavory San Francisco counter culture figures, including Anton Lavey of the Church of Satan and Bobbie Beausoleil of the Manson Family. Those who knew him describe him as a socially awkward person who was desperate to prove his accomplishments and intellectual superiority. He became an alcoholic and died in Mexico from choking on his own vomit.
Stewart's evidence includes the following: the resemblance between Van's mug shot and the sketch of the Zodiac Killer, similarity, attested to by a handwriting expert, between Van's handwriting and the Zodiac's, Van's scar, as seen in a fingerprint, and the Zodiac's, Van's fascination with the concept of killing people to accumulate slaves in the afterlife, Van's familiarity with the operetta "The Mikado," Van's familiarity with codes, what Stewart alleges is Van's name spelled out in Zodiac coded messages, and the physical appearance of the victims who bear a resemblance to Judy.
The best evidence would no doubt be a comparison of DNA between Stewart and DNA that may have been the Zodiac's, collected from stamps on Zodiac letters. Stewart alleges that he pressed very hard for the San Francisco police department to test his DNA, and while personnel there promised such a test, years went by without the test ever taking place. Stewart alleges that this is because his mother, Judy, married a prominent policeman. It would be too uncomfortable for San Francisco police to acknowledge that one of their own was married to the same woman who had been married to the Zodiac.
Books like this invite the reader to contemplate evil. If Stewart is correct, Van killed innocents because he couldn't hold on to Judy, because he was an unpopular kid, and because his home life growing up was less than perfect. Nobody ever tortured Van; he just had to deal with the same slings and arrows that we all have to deal with. He used his misfortunes as an excuse to see himself as a big, sad victim and very special person who had permission to do despicable things. Books like this are object lessons in the banality of evil.
As a writer myself, I am in awe of Susan Mustafa's ability. There is a heart wrenchingly poignant scene where Gary visits his biological father's grave. There are chilling, clinical scenes of senseless killings. There is historical information concerning World War II and Jim Jones' People's Temple and legal points about adoption. Mustafa handles every bit of information, every type of scene, with the same "just the facts, ma'am, only the facts; moving right along" literary style. She trusts her reader to be able to master names, dates, and locations. She never sensationalizes.
Gary L. Stewart is a Louisiana businessman and electrical engineer. He was approached by his biological mother, who found him through a random search. His birth mother had been married to a prominent police officer. Police gave Stewart a mug shot of his birth father. "He looks like a serial killer," Stewart's son said. One day while watching TV, Stewart noticed a resemblance between a police sketch of the 1960s San Francisco Zodiac Killer, who was still at large, and the mug shot of his biological father. Stewart performed a great deal of research. Stewart reached the horrifying conclusion that his biological father was the Zodiac Killer.
"The Most Dangerous Animal" didn't fit solely into the true crime genre for me. I experienced it largely as a family tale. Steward was raised by two lovely adoptive parents. I felt frustrated by Steward's insistence that he had felt an emptiness inside and a fear of abandonment. He had great parents, parents I wish he had realized did fill that emptiness. I was frustrated by Stewart's immediate and unconditional love expressed for Judy, his birth mother, after she showed up.
The first hundred pages of the book are noir-tinged kitchen sink drama. Serial murder is such a sensational crime that one wants to believe that vast, Satanic forces create it. In fact Earl Van Best Jr, or Van, Stewart's father and alleged Zodiac Killer, did not experience melodramatic tortures before turning to crime. His life seemed to be the result of small, wrong choices. Many of those choices were made by women who couldn't say no.
Van's father Earl was an honored military chaplain. He rubbed shoulders with presidents and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Earl made the mistake of marrying Gertrude, a sexually promiscuous woman who humiliated her husband. Van told his cousins how he hated hearing the bed springs as his mother cheated on his father. Earl and Gertrude divorced. Earl remarried and had little to do with his son, Van, leaving him with his mother, Gertrude, and her boyfriends.
Van, at age 28, took up with fourteen-year-old Judy. Judy's mother Verda was also unsuccessful in her relationships with men. Verda's first husband spanked Judy so much sitting down was painful. Verda was then raped. She then married another man who abused her. Most of the first hundred pages of the book recount this steady trickle of small, wrong, personal choices that result in miserable lives.
I didn't like any of the people described in the first hundred pages. Judy, Van's fourteen-year-old wife, comes across as easy and lacking intelligence or character. She repeatedly returns to Van and lies and connives to do so. Van locks his and Judy's baby boy in a foot locker and closes the lid; the baby almost suffocates. This happens more than once. Judy does nothing to protect her own infant son from Van. Stewart argues that the Zodiac Killer's career was built around avenging the hurt Judy caused him. Such agony over such small potatoes.
The mid portion of the book recounts the Zodiac Killer's career. He killed young women and men in the San Francisco Area in the 1960s, and sent coded messages to San Francisco newspapers bragging of his crimes. In this portion of the book, Stewart says "my father" or "Van" rather than "The Zodiac."
The final portion of the book recounts Stewart's personal journey to becoming convinced that his father was the Zodiac Killer, and presents the evidence that drew him to this conclusion.
Whether Van was the Zodiac Killer or not, Van was certainly a reprehensible, unattractive, and pathetic human being. He committed a series of petty crimes, including check fraud and the selling of forged documents. He associated with unsavory San Francisco counter culture figures, including Anton Lavey of the Church of Satan and Bobbie Beausoleil of the Manson Family. Those who knew him describe him as a socially awkward person who was desperate to prove his accomplishments and intellectual superiority. He became an alcoholic and died in Mexico from choking on his own vomit.
Stewart's evidence includes the following: the resemblance between Van's mug shot and the sketch of the Zodiac Killer, similarity, attested to by a handwriting expert, between Van's handwriting and the Zodiac's, Van's scar, as seen in a fingerprint, and the Zodiac's, Van's fascination with the concept of killing people to accumulate slaves in the afterlife, Van's familiarity with the operetta "The Mikado," Van's familiarity with codes, what Stewart alleges is Van's name spelled out in Zodiac coded messages, and the physical appearance of the victims who bear a resemblance to Judy.
The best evidence would no doubt be a comparison of DNA between Stewart and DNA that may have been the Zodiac's, collected from stamps on Zodiac letters. Stewart alleges that he pressed very hard for the San Francisco police department to test his DNA, and while personnel there promised such a test, years went by without the test ever taking place. Stewart alleges that this is because his mother, Judy, married a prominent policeman. It would be too uncomfortable for San Francisco police to acknowledge that one of their own was married to the same woman who had been married to the Zodiac.
Books like this invite the reader to contemplate evil. If Stewart is correct, Van killed innocents because he couldn't hold on to Judy, because he was an unpopular kid, and because his home life growing up was less than perfect. Nobody ever tortured Van; he just had to deal with the same slings and arrows that we all have to deal with. He used his misfortunes as an excuse to see himself as a big, sad victim and very special person who had permission to do despicable things. Books like this are object lessons in the banality of evil.
May 21, 2014
I sort of regret reading this book. The topic seemed intriguing, but I spent the entire book waiting for the "wow" moment when the author would pull out the big guns and hit me with some hard evidence. I'm not sure about a physical copy, but the Kindle edition only had photos of the Zodiac letters and ciphers while the author mentions handwriting samples, photos of the people involved, geneological records that were not presented in Kindle edition. Perhaps I'd be more convinced if more of the "evidence" the author used to draw his conclusion was actually included.
[Update 5/21/14: I recieved an email from Amazon this morning with the following:
"An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer by Gary L. Stewart is now available.
The updated version contains the following changes:
Missing images were added."
I haven't had a chance to go look at them yet, but good to know that issue has been solved -S]
The author also draws some pretty big conclusions, without ever examining and then refuting some plausible alternatives in the book. I feel if he could have demonstrated that he thought about alternatives and point to the reasoning behind his final conclusion it would have helped reduce my currently sky-high skepticism.
I can't in all honesty recommend this book, it's ho-hum at best.
(Though I congratulate the author on finding his birth parents, and do feel for the struggles he has so clearly been through in that search and with the idea that his father is the Zodiac.)
[Update 5/21/14: I recieved an email from Amazon this morning with the following:
"An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer by Gary L. Stewart is now available.
The updated version contains the following changes:
Missing images were added."
I haven't had a chance to go look at them yet, but good to know that issue has been solved -S]
The author also draws some pretty big conclusions, without ever examining and then refuting some plausible alternatives in the book. I feel if he could have demonstrated that he thought about alternatives and point to the reasoning behind his final conclusion it would have helped reduce my currently sky-high skepticism.
I can't in all honesty recommend this book, it's ho-hum at best.
(Though I congratulate the author on finding his birth parents, and do feel for the struggles he has so clearly been through in that search and with the idea that his father is the Zodiac.)
July 9, 2019
I wasn't sure I would like it but I really did like this man's search for his biological father, who just happened to be the Zodiac Killer. I haven't read much about that serial killer, but I knew he preyed on women in the San Francisco era from the movie I saw. I liked how the book told a bit of the back story on the person, and then when he starts talking to family members he finds that his father wasn't well liked at school or at home - this probably added to his serial rapist/killer urges.
I'm glad that his biological mother gave him to a family that would love and raise him right. I'm also glad that they both have been able to find each other and help each other process what it must be like being related to a serial killer.
I'm glad that his biological mother gave him to a family that would love and raise him right. I'm also glad that they both have been able to find each other and help each other process what it must be like being related to a serial killer.
June 21, 2014
Before I began to read, I looked at the photos and immediately I found the handwriting comparisons to be VERY compelling. So I was convinced before I began to read. The more I read, the more little things I found that pulled me closer to certainty. I see motive, I see opportunity ... I see Cheri Jo Bates is a dead ringer for Judy Chandler and Cecilia Shepard is danged close. Then there's that eerie photograph of Earl Van Best Jr.
August 3, 2021
If this was sold as complete fiction it might be okay, but as a supposed nonfiction it's a huge waste of time. Stewart invented "facts" to try and make his case stronger. He also exaggerated other info to try and make the case more compelling, while completely ignoring facts that easily disprove the notion that his dad was the Zodiac Killer. Stewart's accounts have been completely debunked and yet he is desperate to hold onto the notion that his dad killed people. Very odd and very sad.
October 9, 2014
An excellent book. I find that I am rarely a fan of true crime books that claim to have solved old cases (Jack the Ripper is a favorite victim of this as is the Black Dahlia). It's pretty rare to find one that has evidence that holds up--I know that the "Black Dahlia Avenger" is a big favorite among true crime fans but I thought it was crap--the photos are not even close to resembling the Dahlia for one thing--don't get me started). To say I was wary when I grabbed this from the library would be understating it. I could not resist though--the Zodiac has fascinated and terrified me for as long as I can remember. I was more than pleasantly surprised.
The book was written by a man who purports to be the son of the Zodiac killer--much like the writer of the Black Dahlia Avenger. However, reading this book it seems clear that Mr. Stewart did not want this to be true--his research truly seemed to be an attempt to disprove rather than prove that this man was his father. He was abandoned on a stairwell as an infant by his deadbeat dad, who had impregnated his underage mother and run off and married her. The story of his parentage would be interesting even if there were no Zodiac connection--it's quite a tale.
The case for Mr. Stewart's father being the Zodiac is extremely strong--it includes DNA testing, handwriting analysis, alibis, photos and psychological profiles--and in this case it's damned convincing. I am very familiar with the Zodiac case and I found a lot this book to be absolutely chilling--I would be reading something and it would line up in my head with facts I knew about the Zodiac and I would get a big shiver because it would connect like a puzzle.
Mr. Stewart had assistance writing the book from Susan Mustafa but it does not have the feel of a ghostwritten title. His personality and memories speak clearly--it's a good example of how assisted writing should be done in my opinion. My one complaint about the book is very much subjective and specific to me, myself and I--Mr. Stewart is a religious man and some of that can get heavy handed for me--but I will admit to be sensitive to that. It's not a swipe at him at all--he comes off as quite likable and his adoptive parents seem to have been absolutely wonderful to him and a real boon when he found out this gut wrenching information. It must have been a great comfort to know that the people who raised him loved him and cared for his well being to the extent that they did. He definitely pays tribute to what a good job they did raising him and honors the way that they were as people as well as parents.
The meat and potatoes of the book however is the evidence. For this reader it was very convincing and extremely well laid out. I definitely recommend this title.
The book was written by a man who purports to be the son of the Zodiac killer--much like the writer of the Black Dahlia Avenger. However, reading this book it seems clear that Mr. Stewart did not want this to be true--his research truly seemed to be an attempt to disprove rather than prove that this man was his father. He was abandoned on a stairwell as an infant by his deadbeat dad, who had impregnated his underage mother and run off and married her. The story of his parentage would be interesting even if there were no Zodiac connection--it's quite a tale.
The case for Mr. Stewart's father being the Zodiac is extremely strong--it includes DNA testing, handwriting analysis, alibis, photos and psychological profiles--and in this case it's damned convincing. I am very familiar with the Zodiac case and I found a lot this book to be absolutely chilling--I would be reading something and it would line up in my head with facts I knew about the Zodiac and I would get a big shiver because it would connect like a puzzle.
Mr. Stewart had assistance writing the book from Susan Mustafa but it does not have the feel of a ghostwritten title. His personality and memories speak clearly--it's a good example of how assisted writing should be done in my opinion. My one complaint about the book is very much subjective and specific to me, myself and I--Mr. Stewart is a religious man and some of that can get heavy handed for me--but I will admit to be sensitive to that. It's not a swipe at him at all--he comes off as quite likable and his adoptive parents seem to have been absolutely wonderful to him and a real boon when he found out this gut wrenching information. It must have been a great comfort to know that the people who raised him loved him and cared for his well being to the extent that they did. He definitely pays tribute to what a good job they did raising him and honors the way that they were as people as well as parents.
The meat and potatoes of the book however is the evidence. For this reader it was very convincing and extremely well laid out. I definitely recommend this title.
April 8, 2017
So, when I first heard about this book I was like "this guy couldn´t possibly think his biological father is zodiac killer, that is ridiculous!" But guess what? It really might be true. There is the striking similarity, huge amount of circumstanstial evidence and even hard evidence, that would stand in the court (comparison of the handwriting). If you are intrigued now, you should really read the book, because you get much much more.
The book is written well and it reads like fiction, but not to the point it would be annoying. It is even very emotional, almost made me cry couple of times, which I did not expect. Yes, there is a lot of background information on all the people involved, but it was necessary IMO. It even makes the book better, because you are getting a full picture.
One of the best non fiction books, I have ever read. (And I read it in one sitting, too).
5/5
The book is written well and it reads like fiction, but not to the point it would be annoying. It is even very emotional, almost made me cry couple of times, which I did not expect. Yes, there is a lot of background information on all the people involved, but it was necessary IMO. It even makes the book better, because you are getting a full picture.
One of the best non fiction books, I have ever read. (And I read it in one sitting, too).
5/5
August 11, 2016
I'll start with the good news first: it's a solid premise with some VERY interesting details. This story about an adopted man finding his birth-mother, and then trying to piece together his father's life is highly intriguing. Not just because he comes to the conclusion that his father very well could be the Zodiac serial killer, but the story in his hands is great - a proven predator, a kidnapping, under-age marriage, a baby left in an apartment building, various arrests, the escalating mood of fear of San Francisco in the late '60s -- this guy's got STORY! And the evidence towards proving his dad was a serial killer is interesting and solid though it is all circumstantial, so he has a case but it's not definitive.
The bad news? With this GREAT story premise and these interesting details, the book really falters because it's written as though it's a novel. As someone who went to school for journalism, reading this became a cringe-ing experience when he would, for example, write dialogue of a conversation that happened in the early '60s (before he was born) between his dead father he never knew and someone else he's never met. When he writes Zodiac murders as though his dad was there though there's no record proving so. He could have been there; why not just say that? But writing sentences about how his dad, named Van, saw a girl enter a library and then killed her after she left is so annoying and only used for added melodrama. The facts are chilling in and of themselves, no need to embellish. Quite disappointing and distracting as it became painful to finish.
Hoping, though, that the DNA test can come through at some point - I do hope Stewart's theory is proven correct. What a news story that would be.
The bad news? With this GREAT story premise and these interesting details, the book really falters because it's written as though it's a novel. As someone who went to school for journalism, reading this became a cringe-ing experience when he would, for example, write dialogue of a conversation that happened in the early '60s (before he was born) between his dead father he never knew and someone else he's never met. When he writes Zodiac murders as though his dad was there though there's no record proving so. He could have been there; why not just say that? But writing sentences about how his dad, named Van, saw a girl enter a library and then killed her after she left is so annoying and only used for added melodrama. The facts are chilling in and of themselves, no need to embellish. Quite disappointing and distracting as it became painful to finish.
Hoping, though, that the DNA test can come through at some point - I do hope Stewart's theory is proven correct. What a news story that would be.
July 1, 2017
I've read most books on serial killers, and I always thought the Zodiac killer had never been caught, but this voluminously researched book by an author who discovers that he is the Zodiac's son, obsessively details the steps, the interviews, the correspondence, and the document searches that establish his case beyond any doubt. This is a fascinating book, especially because it just starts with an orphan trying to track down his biological father and ends with him visiting the unmarked grave of the Zodiac killer in Mexico City. People try to foil him at every turn, when it turns out that his biological mother remarried the head of the Homicide Division of the San Francisco Police, and for various reasons, the SFPD doesn't want to release any information that will hurt the homicide head or the department itself.
Also interesting is the timeline of crime that the author details, including the Tate-Labianca murders by the Manson family, the "Black Doodler," whom I had never heard of and who killed gay men in San Francisco, and the intersection of these crimes with those of the Zodiac.
One of the most fascinating things about this book is that it is only the second book that I'm aware of in which the son of a serial killer tracks down his father only to find he is, in fact, the serial killer that the son was afraid he was. The other book is written by Steve Hodel, a policeman with the Los Angeles Police Department, who discovers his father is the Black Dahlia killer. In both instances, the son is amazed and horrified to find out who his father was or what he did. Both of these are great books.
The writing is above average, but instances occur in which the author refers to a person that he has not yet identified, or in one case, the victim's VW, which the Zodiac disabled prior to killing the woman but the author never explains the ownership of until much later; I had thought it was perhaps the Zodiac's own car.
Overall, this book was intriguing and full of interesting references to events of the 1960s and 1970s. I'd recommend it to any true-crime aficionado or anyone just interested in the cultural history of the period.
Also interesting is the timeline of crime that the author details, including the Tate-Labianca murders by the Manson family, the "Black Doodler," whom I had never heard of and who killed gay men in San Francisco, and the intersection of these crimes with those of the Zodiac.
One of the most fascinating things about this book is that it is only the second book that I'm aware of in which the son of a serial killer tracks down his father only to find he is, in fact, the serial killer that the son was afraid he was. The other book is written by Steve Hodel, a policeman with the Los Angeles Police Department, who discovers his father is the Black Dahlia killer. In both instances, the son is amazed and horrified to find out who his father was or what he did. Both of these are great books.
The writing is above average, but instances occur in which the author refers to a person that he has not yet identified, or in one case, the victim's VW, which the Zodiac disabled prior to killing the woman but the author never explains the ownership of until much later; I had thought it was perhaps the Zodiac's own car.
Overall, this book was intriguing and full of interesting references to events of the 1960s and 1970s. I'd recommend it to any true-crime aficionado or anyone just interested in the cultural history of the period.
July 14, 2018
Wow, this book was fascinating! The author was adopted after being abandoned in a stairwell as an infant. As an adult he is found by his biological mother, and then he starts to search for his biological father...what unfolds is a disturbing story about a man who endures a difficult childhood, dabbles in the occult, elopes with a 14 year old girl, and allegedly turns into the Zodiac serial killer.
All that sounds pretty grim, but I enjoyed the book so much because the author also weaves in his story of being adopted and growing up in a loving family, reuniting with his biological mother, and how exactly he came to believe his biological father was the Zodiac killer. All this is told from a perspective of his faith in the protection of God over him as he was a baby in that stairwell, and how different his life could have been if he wasn’t adopted. That gives this story an unexpected note of hope.
Content:
Sexual content: Matter of fact statements telling of cheating and rape.
Violence: Matter of fact descriptions of the murders, not gratuitously gruesome.
Language: Some (mild) bad language.
Other: Some disturbing beliefs are discussed as they relate to the story, such as slaves being captured for the afterlife, a ritual mask that seems demon possessed, and beliefs of the Church of Satan.
Well, I have to say, the author convinced me, and I’m sincerely puzzled by why the SFPD don’t pursue Stewart’s evidences further! Very interesting book.
All that sounds pretty grim, but I enjoyed the book so much because the author also weaves in his story of being adopted and growing up in a loving family, reuniting with his biological mother, and how exactly he came to believe his biological father was the Zodiac killer. All this is told from a perspective of his faith in the protection of God over him as he was a baby in that stairwell, and how different his life could have been if he wasn’t adopted. That gives this story an unexpected note of hope.
Content:
Sexual content: Matter of fact statements telling of cheating and rape.
Violence: Matter of fact descriptions of the murders, not gratuitously gruesome.
Language: Some (mild) bad language.
Other: Some disturbing beliefs are discussed as they relate to the story, such as slaves being captured for the afterlife, a ritual mask that seems demon possessed, and beliefs of the Church of Satan.
Well, I have to say, the author convinced me, and I’m sincerely puzzled by why the SFPD don’t pursue Stewart’s evidences further! Very interesting book.
December 16, 2014
So, this is the second of these kind of books I've read where the author is pretty damn sure HIS father was the ZODIAC serial killer. This one had me a slim more convinced then the other, (Most Evil by I forget), one I had read. It makes you think about who it might have been. Did he die? Is he still alive? Is he in prison for another crime? This book goes in depth with his journey to find the authors biological father. Now, if I was orphaned and then went looking to only find clues one of my parents might be a high profiled serial killer, I would probably FREAK OUT!
Funny how while I looked up something from the book, I came across an article that a teenager is pretty sure he cracked the only code the Zodiac left behind that police, media and code breakers could not figure out. It was badically a full confession with the name of the killer also in it. Interesting. But no one at the police station where most of these murders happened bothered with it. Its solved. They got their man. But what if their wrong? Makes you think.
Two of my favorite things to read about, serial killers and books that make you think outside the box.
Funny how while I looked up something from the book, I came across an article that a teenager is pretty sure he cracked the only code the Zodiac left behind that police, media and code breakers could not figure out. It was badically a full confession with the name of the killer also in it. Interesting. But no one at the police station where most of these murders happened bothered with it. Its solved. They got their man. But what if their wrong? Makes you think.
Two of my favorite things to read about, serial killers and books that make you think outside the box.
January 5, 2020
Surely the most dispiriting & disappointing books ever written have got to be those tomes published in the true-crime genre. I don't know why, but the worst of the batch seem to be those that claim to have discovered the true identity of the Zodiac Killer – and the most unconvincing, unpersuasive of the lot is The Most Dangerous Animal of All.
Adopted children are never quite sound, and the most unbalanced are those chaps who come to believe that their biological fathers are actually serial killers. Seems to be pretty normal for an unwanted child to make this discovery about a parent.
The sanctimonious, self-righteous author of this volume is such any annoying twat that you can see why the bastard was abandoned. After reading 334 pages, I kind of wish that daddy had been a mass murder and that he had started with filicide.
Needless to say, there is no actual DNA - no actual forensic evidence - no actual witness testimony that substantiates a single claim made in this ghost-written yarn.
Adopted children are never quite sound, and the most unbalanced are those chaps who come to believe that their biological fathers are actually serial killers. Seems to be pretty normal for an unwanted child to make this discovery about a parent.
The sanctimonious, self-righteous author of this volume is such any annoying twat that you can see why the bastard was abandoned. After reading 334 pages, I kind of wish that daddy had been a mass murder and that he had started with filicide.
Needless to say, there is no actual DNA - no actual forensic evidence - no actual witness testimony that substantiates a single claim made in this ghost-written yarn.
September 1, 2016
I must state that I enjoyed this story, but felt it was more of a memoir versus a book on identifying The Zodiac Killer. The evidence given was circumstantial. Granted the circumstantial evidence was strong, but not nail in the coffin that one would get with DNA evidence. The author identifies a "coverup" done more as a protection of him. I found this to be highly implausible and more to explain why no DNA match even though he gave his DNA and there is a partial DNA match to The Zodiac Killer.
The author identifies he didn't know who The Zodiac Killer was until 2004. I find that highly unlikely since this is a worldwide recognized serial killer. There were portions of this book that simply felt unrealistic.
In the end, I felt this book fell into a dime a dozen book on The Zodiac Killer. All claiming to know or be related. Come back with the DNA evidence and we can talk further.
The author identifies he didn't know who The Zodiac Killer was until 2004. I find that highly unlikely since this is a worldwide recognized serial killer. There were portions of this book that simply felt unrealistic.
In the end, I felt this book fell into a dime a dozen book on The Zodiac Killer. All claiming to know or be related. Come back with the DNA evidence and we can talk further.
April 26, 2017
Interesting topic, but the author needs to cut out about 75% of his boring droning on about his experiences. I wouldn't have been surprised if he gave a second-by-second account of his trip to the bathroom -- that's how much unnecessary detail about his own life he included. There are so many boring asides that add nothing to the overall story. Look, your family and friends care about these details of your emotional life, but the people reading your book just don't.
January 17, 2021
”I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most dangerous animal of all”
EDIT: 04/28/2020-
It’s an adopted kid’s absolute worst nightmare. In searching for their birth parents, they open up a can of worms that should have remained closed. Instead of finding the parents they had idealized in their head, they ended up finding potential monsters in their wake. This is the exact scenario Gary Stewart faces as an adult when he gets a phone call from a woman claiming to be his birth mother. He’s overjoyed and can’t wait to get to know the woman who gave birth to him. And yet that very act that changed his life for the better would send him into a spiral of discovery, obsession, and anguish.
After meeting his birth mother, he wants to know about his birth father, but she’s very cagey about the details. He goes on a mission to find out more about him (and possibly meet him) and after many years comes to the conclusion that his father is actually the most notorious serial killer in American history… The Zodiac Killer.
I wouldn’t classify this as a true crime novel as much as I would categorize is as a man trying (and failing) to exorcise his demons. Part One is the when the seeds are planted after meeting his birth mother and the start on his quest in finding his birth father; Part Two is the story of his birth father (Earl Van Best, Jr.), and the hypothetical theories about the events surrounding Best and how he may have been The Zodiac Killer; and Part Three is the author’s obsessive quest to find Van Best and his journey into discovering that his birth father could quite possibly be the worst serial killer in history. I had mixed feelings about the entire thing.
On the good side, you can see how much time and effort the author has put into this book and how many years he has been researching it. Was it misguided? The readers will be the judge of that. However, you can’t say the man didn’t go down every avenue in trying to discover who he is.
On the other hand, I think that this book failed to achieve in one of it’s most important goals that the author stated that he had.
”The Zodiac abandoned me so long ago. Maybe now I can abandon him.”
The answer to that statement is a clear and resounding no. It’s clear from the writing and his relentless pursuit (bordering on badgering) people in trying to find answers that he’s not over it. The pain and trauma of being abandoned by his birth parents and being abused by his biological father for the first weeks of his life have left a lasting impact on him. You’d be surprised what our psyche can have us remember, even if it seems too far back for us to even consider remembering. Even though he had amazing biological parents (a fact he freely admits), there’s that hole in there, those feelings of abandonment and betrayal that I don’t think he’s worked through and will probably linger with him throughout his life.
Unfortunately, those feelings have probably massively colored his vision and sent him on this blind quest to convince the world (and himself) that his father is The Zodiac Killer. He paints a picture that’s just convincing enough that it could possibly be true, but there are too many “What If” moments in the book and too many hypotheticals for it to be believable. It’s a hell of a whopper for people to try and figure out, and I think whether you believe Stuart’s claims or not is entirely up to the reader.
This is a sad book all around. It weaves the tragic figures of Gary Stewart, the forever abandoned boy trying to find out where he belongs; his birth mother, who was equally traumatized at an early age on all sorts of levels; and even Earl Van Best, who through the stories Stewart relates had a troubled upbringing that probably explained his later behavior as an adult.
I have very similar feelings about this book as I did about Once Upon a Secret. Both deal with entire different topics (Secret deals with the author’s memories of her affair with JFK; Animal deals with The Zodiac Killer), but there’s a common theme that runs through both. In it, both authors write about the demons that haunt them from their past and how they’ve overcome them. However, in both instances it becomes apparently clear to the reader (or at least to me), that they haven’t overcome them at all. These two books that are supposed to be about redemption, relief, and forgiveness aren’t about them at all. Instead, it made me feel pity and sorrow for both Alford and Stewart; two traumatized, abandoned, neglected individuals who are still trying to find their place in this world while failing to outrun the demons of the past that haunt them.
EDIT: 04/28/2020-
It’s an adopted kid’s absolute worst nightmare. In searching for their birth parents, they open up a can of worms that should have remained closed. Instead of finding the parents they had idealized in their head, they ended up finding potential monsters in their wake. This is the exact scenario Gary Stewart faces as an adult when he gets a phone call from a woman claiming to be his birth mother. He’s overjoyed and can’t wait to get to know the woman who gave birth to him. And yet that very act that changed his life for the better would send him into a spiral of discovery, obsession, and anguish.
After meeting his birth mother, he wants to know about his birth father, but she’s very cagey about the details. He goes on a mission to find out more about him (and possibly meet him) and after many years comes to the conclusion that his father is actually the most notorious serial killer in American history… The Zodiac Killer.
I wouldn’t classify this as a true crime novel as much as I would categorize is as a man trying (and failing) to exorcise his demons. Part One is the when the seeds are planted after meeting his birth mother and the start on his quest in finding his birth father; Part Two is the story of his birth father (Earl Van Best, Jr.), and the hypothetical theories about the events surrounding Best and how he may have been The Zodiac Killer; and Part Three is the author’s obsessive quest to find Van Best and his journey into discovering that his birth father could quite possibly be the worst serial killer in history. I had mixed feelings about the entire thing.
On the good side, you can see how much time and effort the author has put into this book and how many years he has been researching it. Was it misguided? The readers will be the judge of that. However, you can’t say the man didn’t go down every avenue in trying to discover who he is.
On the other hand, I think that this book failed to achieve in one of it’s most important goals that the author stated that he had.
”The Zodiac abandoned me so long ago. Maybe now I can abandon him.”
The answer to that statement is a clear and resounding no. It’s clear from the writing and his relentless pursuit (bordering on badgering) people in trying to find answers that he’s not over it. The pain and trauma of being abandoned by his birth parents and being abused by his biological father for the first weeks of his life have left a lasting impact on him. You’d be surprised what our psyche can have us remember, even if it seems too far back for us to even consider remembering. Even though he had amazing biological parents (a fact he freely admits), there’s that hole in there, those feelings of abandonment and betrayal that I don’t think he’s worked through and will probably linger with him throughout his life.
Unfortunately, those feelings have probably massively colored his vision and sent him on this blind quest to convince the world (and himself) that his father is The Zodiac Killer. He paints a picture that’s just convincing enough that it could possibly be true, but there are too many “What If” moments in the book and too many hypotheticals for it to be believable. It’s a hell of a whopper for people to try and figure out, and I think whether you believe Stuart’s claims or not is entirely up to the reader.
This is a sad book all around. It weaves the tragic figures of Gary Stewart, the forever abandoned boy trying to find out where he belongs; his birth mother, who was equally traumatized at an early age on all sorts of levels; and even Earl Van Best, who through the stories Stewart relates had a troubled upbringing that probably explained his later behavior as an adult.
I have very similar feelings about this book as I did about Once Upon a Secret. Both deal with entire different topics (Secret deals with the author’s memories of her affair with JFK; Animal deals with The Zodiac Killer), but there’s a common theme that runs through both. In it, both authors write about the demons that haunt them from their past and how they’ve overcome them. However, in both instances it becomes apparently clear to the reader (or at least to me), that they haven’t overcome them at all. These two books that are supposed to be about redemption, relief, and forgiveness aren’t about them at all. Instead, it made me feel pity and sorrow for both Alford and Stewart; two traumatized, abandoned, neglected individuals who are still trying to find their place in this world while failing to outrun the demons of the past that haunt them.
August 22, 2014
Back in the 70's my parents had a book about the Zodiac Killer on their shelves. Being a curious kid I picked it up, and man, did it scar me. I had nightmares for weeks and the worst part of all was that he was never caught. Graphic descriptions of horrific murders embedded into my psyche and I remembered the murders years later when I saw Gary L. Stewarts book claiming his birth father was non other than Zodiac himself.
Remembering how thoroughly messed up the Zodiac saga left me, it was with quite a bit of interest that I picked this book up. Gary Stewart was abandoned by his father when he was in infant. In adulthood he was contacted by his birth mother. The first half of the book is a lot of Gary's extensive family history both of his adopted and birth families.
The second part of the book chronicles Gary's attempts to prove that the Zodiac killer was really his birth father Earl Van Best Jr. After meeting his birth mother Judy, Gary is given enough information to allow him to obtain a booking photo of his birth father. Shortly after receiving the picture of his father, he was watching an A&E special about the Zodiac Killer and boom, it hits him, his father looked exactly like the sketch on the wanted poster for Zodiac. For the rest of the book he tries to present proof for his theory. How much you enjoy this book will probably be tied to how much you buy Gary's story. On his side, his father's picture does look like a dead ringer for the Zodiac composite sketch and both the father and Zodiac have undeniably similar handwriting. I think he does an especially good job of connecting certain interests of his fathers with references made in the Zodiac letters. Where he starts to lose me is the part about a supposed police cover up because his birth mother was married to a police officer at one point. I want to see facts not conspiracy theories. It was because of this supposed cover up that Gary's DNA was never tested by the police and compared to the known sample of Zodiac. DNA testing is so common now, you can even buy a kit at Walgreens to mail out. I don't know why the publisher wouldn't offer to pay for the test to put the matter to rest once and all before the publication of the book. In any case it cannot be denied that Gary has some interesting circumstantial evidence to make you go hummmm. His father seemed to be in some of the right places at the right times. It just kind of bothered me how the authors wrote the book as if Earl Van Best Jr. committed the Zodiac murders definitively. Gary's squabbles with birth mother Judy also made for some uncomfortable reading. I don't think the adoption reunion went as smoothly as either had hoped.
In the end, the lack of absolute proof proved distracting to me. If you read the Wikipedia page there is a long list of people who claim to know the true identity of Zodiac and Gary Stewart is just the latest. Even if you don't believe Gary's story, it still proved fascinating to me.
Remembering how thoroughly messed up the Zodiac saga left me, it was with quite a bit of interest that I picked this book up. Gary Stewart was abandoned by his father when he was in infant. In adulthood he was contacted by his birth mother. The first half of the book is a lot of Gary's extensive family history both of his adopted and birth families.
The second part of the book chronicles Gary's attempts to prove that the Zodiac killer was really his birth father Earl Van Best Jr. After meeting his birth mother Judy, Gary is given enough information to allow him to obtain a booking photo of his birth father. Shortly after receiving the picture of his father, he was watching an A&E special about the Zodiac Killer and boom, it hits him, his father looked exactly like the sketch on the wanted poster for Zodiac. For the rest of the book he tries to present proof for his theory. How much you enjoy this book will probably be tied to how much you buy Gary's story. On his side, his father's picture does look like a dead ringer for the Zodiac composite sketch and both the father and Zodiac have undeniably similar handwriting. I think he does an especially good job of connecting certain interests of his fathers with references made in the Zodiac letters. Where he starts to lose me is the part about a supposed police cover up because his birth mother was married to a police officer at one point. I want to see facts not conspiracy theories. It was because of this supposed cover up that Gary's DNA was never tested by the police and compared to the known sample of Zodiac. DNA testing is so common now, you can even buy a kit at Walgreens to mail out. I don't know why the publisher wouldn't offer to pay for the test to put the matter to rest once and all before the publication of the book. In any case it cannot be denied that Gary has some interesting circumstantial evidence to make you go hummmm. His father seemed to be in some of the right places at the right times. It just kind of bothered me how the authors wrote the book as if Earl Van Best Jr. committed the Zodiac murders definitively. Gary's squabbles with birth mother Judy also made for some uncomfortable reading. I don't think the adoption reunion went as smoothly as either had hoped.
In the end, the lack of absolute proof proved distracting to me. If you read the Wikipedia page there is a long list of people who claim to know the true identity of Zodiac and Gary Stewart is just the latest. Even if you don't believe Gary's story, it still proved fascinating to me.
April 22, 2015
It's hard to know what to make of this. Gary Stewart starts out looking for his birth father, and ends by concluding Dad was the Zodiac killer. His suspicion isn't a total stretch, but it's hardly conclusive, either. He blames his failure on the police, who wouldn't turn over records to him or compare his DNA to partial DNA collected during the police investigations of the killings. Neither thing might have supported the premise here. But a "no" from police, who say it to journalists all the time, isn't the same as collusion. It could even be reasonable, under many circumstances.
I'm more troubled by the huge liberties taken in the first portion of the story, with which the author and his co-writer take a lot of literary license. Much of it isn't anecdotal or hearsay. It's a few facts and a lot of speculation.
In the end, almost all of the people who know what happened are dead. (Two victims survived; did Stewart make an effort to contact them?) And the "evidence" may not rise to the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt threshold. More ambiguity would make the book easier to swallow.
I'm more troubled by the huge liberties taken in the first portion of the story, with which the author and his co-writer take a lot of literary license. Much of it isn't anecdotal or hearsay. It's a few facts and a lot of speculation.
In the end, almost all of the people who know what happened are dead. (Two victims survived; did Stewart make an effort to contact them?) And the "evidence" may not rise to the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt threshold. More ambiguity would make the book easier to swallow.
December 18, 2015
It's taken me a year to finish this book and there's a reason why. To me, there are no facts to prove this man's father was the zodiac killer and to classify this book as true crime is a far stretch. This book contains more about this man's life than it does facts about the zodiac/his father, besides how did he obtain this info about the escapades his father went on? There's more questions here than answers.
July 23, 2023
Für die Familien der Opfer bestimmt ein sehr aufschlußreiches Buch und gut das es geschrieben wurde. Aber es zeigt auch wieder das Adaption was für sich haben.
February 21, 2016
well, I read this in one sitting (lying down), in about 4 1/2 hours. I was really in the mood to read, though. it was interesting - basically this guy who is adopted is found by his birth mother and then decides to look for his birth father, who turns out to be the zodiac killer, which has been an unsolved serial killer case. I guess the story is that when you come at the mystery from a different angle, when you know the person and put them together with the crimes, it's easier than knowing the crimes and trying to find the person.
the author/son of the zodiac killer has been raised by a good christian family, so this is sort of the foil for evil and murder, this bland sort of christianity that is conflated with kindness. it felt old fashioned, and then a lot of the stuff in the book takes place in the 60s and early 70s so nothing feels particularly contemporary.
there are some holes. supposedly the author realizes his father may be the zodiac killer when he sees a tv show on the mystery that displays a police sketch of the suspected killer. the sketch is printed in the book, it's pretty nondescript, really, but supposedly for the author and his son it's an exact likeness. there's a lot of that - omg, the women he killed ALL LOOK ALIKE, realizes the author - except they really don't! their photos are there and they don't look alike. they perhaps had similar hairstyles? also, the killing spree was supposedly triggered by the author's mother leaving the zodiac killer - yet she continues to basically stay in san franciso where he is - why not just kill her? I guess that's some sort of twisted serial killer logic. and then there is a hint of police corruption about the case, which never becomes clear, the SFPD seems eager to close the case, as if they knew who the killer was but decided not to release the info, I guess because he was dead and the author's mother coincidentally married one of the investigators?
I'd almost like to see a rebuttal or something from the police department. the evidence the author has seems pretty damning, though.
the other takeaway I had from this is that wow, the flower child era that centered on san francisco really seems to have drawn its opposite in a creepy way. I don't know if this is just a sense that innocence attracts evil or what, but it's sort of this altamont manson family vibe. the dark underbelly of the hippie era. and, in fact, players in this story touch on a lot of dark stuff - bobby beausoleil, of the manson family, jammed with the zodiac killer. jim jones comes up. anton lavey is also associated with the zodiac killer.
and finally I feel like there is a wierd handling of his mother. no doubt that's a strange relationship, when you reunite as adults. but I feel like a lot about her was glossed over. her childhood was a little troubled - but enough so she runs off with a 28 year old when she's 14? I don't think she's given enough agency, I'd like to really hear her honest take on it, not just "oh, he was paying her the attention she craved". she promises her son she won't lie to him, but she does lie to him. she seems a little manipulative. she spends time in juvie, she runs away from juvie, spends more time in juvie, has a baby at 15, the baby is taken from her, first by the father, then by the authorities. she does end up in an interracial marriage with one of the investigators. there's a sense of wondering if the whole family of the zodiac killer doesn't know or suspect more than they've let on about him.
and finally, the zebra killers? a group of african american men who murdered a bunch of white people in san francisco right around the time of the manson murders? why haven't I ever heard about that before?
all in all a weird, kind of creepy book.
the author/son of the zodiac killer has been raised by a good christian family, so this is sort of the foil for evil and murder, this bland sort of christianity that is conflated with kindness. it felt old fashioned, and then a lot of the stuff in the book takes place in the 60s and early 70s so nothing feels particularly contemporary.
there are some holes. supposedly the author realizes his father may be the zodiac killer when he sees a tv show on the mystery that displays a police sketch of the suspected killer. the sketch is printed in the book, it's pretty nondescript, really, but supposedly for the author and his son it's an exact likeness. there's a lot of that - omg, the women he killed ALL LOOK ALIKE, realizes the author - except they really don't! their photos are there and they don't look alike. they perhaps had similar hairstyles? also, the killing spree was supposedly triggered by the author's mother leaving the zodiac killer - yet she continues to basically stay in san franciso where he is - why not just kill her? I guess that's some sort of twisted serial killer logic. and then there is a hint of police corruption about the case, which never becomes clear, the SFPD seems eager to close the case, as if they knew who the killer was but decided not to release the info, I guess because he was dead and the author's mother coincidentally married one of the investigators?
I'd almost like to see a rebuttal or something from the police department. the evidence the author has seems pretty damning, though.
the other takeaway I had from this is that wow, the flower child era that centered on san francisco really seems to have drawn its opposite in a creepy way. I don't know if this is just a sense that innocence attracts evil or what, but it's sort of this altamont manson family vibe. the dark underbelly of the hippie era. and, in fact, players in this story touch on a lot of dark stuff - bobby beausoleil, of the manson family, jammed with the zodiac killer. jim jones comes up. anton lavey is also associated with the zodiac killer.
and finally I feel like there is a wierd handling of his mother. no doubt that's a strange relationship, when you reunite as adults. but I feel like a lot about her was glossed over. her childhood was a little troubled - but enough so she runs off with a 28 year old when she's 14? I don't think she's given enough agency, I'd like to really hear her honest take on it, not just "oh, he was paying her the attention she craved". she promises her son she won't lie to him, but she does lie to him. she seems a little manipulative. she spends time in juvie, she runs away from juvie, spends more time in juvie, has a baby at 15, the baby is taken from her, first by the father, then by the authorities. she does end up in an interracial marriage with one of the investigators. there's a sense of wondering if the whole family of the zodiac killer doesn't know or suspect more than they've let on about him.
and finally, the zebra killers? a group of african american men who murdered a bunch of white people in san francisco right around the time of the manson murders? why haven't I ever heard about that before?
all in all a weird, kind of creepy book.
December 29, 2014
Normally I am a sucker for a true crime read, in this case, not so much. This felt like it should be two different books. Stewart's adoption story is interesting in itself, and not a bad read. That, and how he found his birth mom, could make up one story. The second story should be called, "Why I Think I Found the Zodiac Killer".
I was not convinced that Stewart's father was a serial killer. There are tons of bad people in the world, that doesn't make them The Zodiac. I can see why the author formed the opinions he did. I think he may have been searching to find anything, and somehow got what he found and twisted it. His birth mother's story doesn't seem to be very reliable as she gives several different versions throughout.
A lot of the story telling was repetitive and the writing was so disjointed that it actually distracted from both storylines.
While I feel sorry for anyone that had the Zodiac as a father. I am just not convinced that this is the case with Stewart.
This one is probably best for Zodiac fanatics only.
I was not convinced that Stewart's father was a serial killer. There are tons of bad people in the world, that doesn't make them The Zodiac. I can see why the author formed the opinions he did. I think he may have been searching to find anything, and somehow got what he found and twisted it. His birth mother's story doesn't seem to be very reliable as she gives several different versions throughout.
A lot of the story telling was repetitive and the writing was so disjointed that it actually distracted from both storylines.
While I feel sorry for anyone that had the Zodiac as a father. I am just not convinced that this is the case with Stewart.
This one is probably best for Zodiac fanatics only.
December 15, 2018
1.5 stars rounded up mostly because I don't want to give it one star...
There's a lot to complain about with this audio book. The author reads it and he speaks soooo sloooowly that it was too much for me to take. Ended up speeding the narration up to 2.5x the normal. Still ended up fast forwarding through some bits that had absolutely nothing to do with anything - like his adoptive father needing help getting dressed for his wedding anniversary because he's color blind.
If you're looking for a book about a serial killer being uncovered, skip this one. If you're looking for a book filled with lots of meaningless retellings of boring conversations - supposedly told word for word like a transcript - circumstantial evidence that was quickly and, from what I can tell, easily debunked, and mentions of other murders and notorious people from the late 60s and early 70s, then this is the book for you.
Honestly, if you have a sincere interest in the Zodiac killer or true crime in general, this book will likely make you more mad and annoyed than anything else.
There's a lot to complain about with this audio book. The author reads it and he speaks soooo sloooowly that it was too much for me to take. Ended up speeding the narration up to 2.5x the normal. Still ended up fast forwarding through some bits that had absolutely nothing to do with anything - like his adoptive father needing help getting dressed for his wedding anniversary because he's color blind.
If you're looking for a book about a serial killer being uncovered, skip this one. If you're looking for a book filled with lots of meaningless retellings of boring conversations - supposedly told word for word like a transcript - circumstantial evidence that was quickly and, from what I can tell, easily debunked, and mentions of other murders and notorious people from the late 60s and early 70s, then this is the book for you.
Honestly, if you have a sincere interest in the Zodiac killer or true crime in general, this book will likely make you more mad and annoyed than anything else.
May 26, 2014
This was an interesting but in no way conclusive read. Gary L Stewart does a good job of presenting a compelling case for his father being the Zodiac and Susan Mustafa does a good job of shaping the information into an enjoyable read.
Two factors stop me from marking this higher, and neither are the fault of the author(s): many, many others have claimed their father was the Zodiac (so many in fact that San Fran must have an epidemic of abusive fathers!) and presented plausible information to support those claims. However, without conclusive DNA evidence what claim can be believed? Stewart, having submitted his DNA for comparison to the killer's, puts forward a case for police corruption when explaining why proof is still forthcoming.
Enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying due to a lack of definitive proof.
Two factors stop me from marking this higher, and neither are the fault of the author(s): many, many others have claimed their father was the Zodiac (so many in fact that San Fran must have an epidemic of abusive fathers!) and presented plausible information to support those claims. However, without conclusive DNA evidence what claim can be believed? Stewart, having submitted his DNA for comparison to the killer's, puts forward a case for police corruption when explaining why proof is still forthcoming.
Enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying due to a lack of definitive proof.
January 25, 2016
This was a fantastic book. Whether this man's father really was the Zodiac killer - though the evidence is damn convincing - it was a great read. The story unfolds more like a memoir of the Zodiac killer, but I think that's necessary. You need to get the background to understand the magnitude of making such a discovery. It's a gripping read - give it a go!
February 19, 2015
Spurious, full of tedious Christian redemption, and hey, all serial killers had sexually loose mothers right? Have to love that misogynist narrative...
Did I mention spurious?
Did I mention spurious?
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