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Motor Spirit: The Long Hunt for the Zodiac
It’s 1969. Evil lurks in California.
From a Napa County hippie child murder to Haight Street gang bangs to methamphetamine psychosis to the killing of Sharon Tate.
Here and now, in this place and this time, it’s all gone wrong.
And there’s something else, too.
Zodiac.
From a Napa County hippie child murder to Haight Street gang bangs to methamphetamine psychosis to the killing of Sharon Tate.
Here and now, in this place and this time, it’s all gone wrong.
And there’s something else, too.
Zodiac.
316 pages, Paperback
Published February 15, 2022
15 people are currently reading
672 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
April 2, 2022
A real change in direction for Kobek. Now, I'm not a true crime fan at all, but his lively style and still-livelier mind managed not only to keep me interested, but to prod me to buy its companion volume How to Find Zodiac.
Would have liked to have seen more typical JK digressions, tho, —especially (so as to educate this here dull,"fat weed / That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf") on the theme of what he calls "Motor Spirit"...from what I could tell, it's an amped-up, freaked-out, speed-balling Californicating late-capitalist 'Merican-ness that's taken over the entire culture by now, tho I am probly wrong there....
And: LOL the book's last words are literally
You know what tho? I'll read anything this guy puts out.
Rilly.
Would have liked to have seen more typical JK digressions, tho, —especially (so as to educate this here dull,"fat weed / That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf") on the theme of what he calls "Motor Spirit"...from what I could tell, it's an amped-up, freaked-out, speed-balling Californicating late-capitalist 'Merican-ness that's taken over the entire culture by now, tho I am probly wrong there....
And: LOL the book's last words are literally
You know what tho? I'll read anything this guy puts out.
Rilly.
February 25, 2022
Video review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGG1V...
I will say there are a fair few typesetting errors. Printed up by Amazon....
I will say there are a fair few typesetting errors. Printed up by Amazon....
March 6, 2022
Review forthcoming. My soul is poisoned.
May 25, 2022
Superb. An enthralling and exhaustive (but most definitely not exhausting) in-depth investigation of the Zodiac killer. The book doesn't just cover the Zodiac's murders and letters to the press, it also delves into the media's involvement, how the Zodiac coincided with the end of the Summer of Love and the souring of the late 60s counterculture. The propulsive prose had me racing through this one.
I'm moving straight on to the partner book How to Find Zodiac where Kobek claims to solve the mystery of Zodiac's identity
I'm moving straight on to the partner book How to Find Zodiac where Kobek claims to solve the mystery of Zodiac's identity
September 22, 2022
I’m honestly not quite sure how I came across this book. Probably I found it while Googling the Zodiac case, but I can’t say for sure. There’s not much publicity for Motor Spirit. An interview here or there, maybe a review on a blog, but for most the part, any discussion of it seemed restricted to Reddit and Zodiac forums.
This is a book that’s self-published. If it isn’t self-published, it’s published by an entity so small it might as well be self-published. When I look in the back of the book it says printed in Great Britain by Amazon.
It has the same paper stock as all the other self-published books where the slightest hint of humidity in the air leaves it permanently curled and deformed.
Self-published books on Zodiac and other serial killers are dime a dozen. My first instinct was to skip it, but I kept seeing people say, hey, this is book is actually worth looking at. Its counterpart volume actually puts forward interesting theories that have not been endlessly rehashed for the last three decades.
I don’t know anything about Jarett Kobek. He wrote a book called I Hate The Internet, but besides some press interviews and a dead Twitter account, he has no real media presence. Apparently he really does hate the internet.
I’m sceptical, but at the very least he does not seem like a random crank on the internet who fell too deep into the Zodiac rabbit hole. Eventually I’m like, okay, I’ll take a chance. I’ll get these books and read them.
#
Motor Spirit is part recounting of the Zodiac case and part examination of 1960s San Francisco counter-culture. It’s as apt to spend time examining degenerate slack-jawed hippies and President Nixon as it is the facts of the Zodiac case. It’s also an attempt at going back to the original source materials of Zodiac.
I’m a big fan of Robert Graysmith’s book on Zodiac. I love Fincher’s film. But despite this, it’s clear that various mistakes and inaccuracies are present in Graysmith’s work, and like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, these inaccuracies have been multiplied and magnified through each retelling.
Graysmith should not be judged harshly for this. He wrote his book in a time before the internet, before you could call up endless information with a simple Google search. He worked with what he had and did the best he could with honest intentions.
Kobek’s book seems like a noble effort to correct the record. He has the aid of the internet, digitised archives and countless years of research done by other people on Zodiac forums. He’s trying to tear down the mythology that’s unwittingly been built up over the years and return to the basic facts, contextualised alongside everything else that was going on at the time, and he does it with a certain literary punch.
It’s not a dry fact by fact recounting of each event in turn. This is a guy trying to say something and say it in an interesting way, both to the book’s benefit and misfortune.
#
Kobek is without a doubt a talented writer. I admire his writing, and I admire his apparent desire to just go for it instead of trying to make his work fit within the sometimes dry confines of fact-by-fact true crime writing.
But there are also odd moments where I can’t help but leverage criticism.
He writes short, snappy sentences which remind me of James Ellroy. Most of the time it’s the good Ellroy, but sometimes it’s the late stage Ellroy where he’s taken his staccato sentence structure to the point of self-parody. Why not just stick a full stop in here and make a random sentence fragment. Why not?
There’s moments where I come across missing or wrong words, and I can’t tell if it’s a stylistic choice or an error. I feel like the person in an art gallery who sees a fire extinguisher after looking at a cow cut in half. Is that fire extinguisher there as an artistic statement, or is it there because that cow is soaked in formaldehyde and it’s a fire hazard?
Other times I get a very slight whiff of a vibe I can only explain by comparing it to something else: the legion of journalists who want to be the next Hunter Thompson. It doesn’t matter that Hunter Thompson had his ashes shot out of a cannon decades ago, or that there’s like ten thousand other guys also wanting to be Hunter Thompson, they want to be as cool as him. And they want to be him so bad that they’re just trying so hard, trying so hard to cultivate a voice that’s cool.
Inevitably, these are the journalists that wind up writing ‘content’ for websites like Collider or trying to backdoor shallow political takes into articles about Sonic the Hedgehog. They’re just trying too hard.
And so like those people, sometimes this book seems like it’s trying too hard to cultivate voice and style. Sometimes it gets in the way, and sometimes it leads to my last criticism of the text.
#
This is a book that looks at events and the time period with unending cynicism. The problem with cynicism is that it’s not pH neutral. It’s inherently corrosive, and once it’s eaten its way through real and perceived injustices, it will if left unchecked, start to eat everything adjacent to them.
There’s brief moments in Motor Spirit where it ironically gets caught up in its very name sake. It’s so intent on punchiness that the text inches close to a certain kind of meanness towards certain people who feature in the book. Motor Spirit is a train with no brakes. It does not stop. If the toes of sentimentality tread on the rails, too bad, it’s rolling right over them.
The gang rape and murder of Ann Jiminez is recounted in part of the book. Kobek’s prose is laced with burning indignation for what happened. You cannot help but be upset when you read of her last moments. But when the location merits further mention later on in the book, it’s simply referred to as the place where she got turned out. The place where she got gang banged.
You could read it as the text echoing the same callous disregard society had for this young woman, and I think that’s what Kobek was going for, but it’s so caustic that it takes on a mantle of nihilism that reflects the very thing it’s trying to criticise.
Several killings in the book are recounted in ways that, while attempting to impress upon the reader the violence of events, become slightly lurid in pursuit of voice.
I want to be clear here. These moments are small and they do not reflect the entirety of the text. It’s the pea under the mattress. That brief sudden jolt you feel on a rough patch of motorway. When I come across those moments, they unsettle me and I feel a deep sense of unease. Am I reading to find the truth, however ugly it is, or am I seeing something darker that doesn’t come from the events themselves?
#
There’s no beating around the bush with true crime. It’s inherently exploitive. True crime is a collection of podcasters, writers, film makers and internet sleuths collectively mining human tragedy for profit and entertainment, sometimes at the cost of causing collateral damage. A whole cottage industry would go out of business overnight if God ever hit the stop button on the conveyor belt of dead sex workers.
It’s also a collection of the very same people trying to uncover the truth, to bring light to injustices and make sure the victims who would be swallowed up by societal indifference are remembered. A group of people trying to understand the whys and hows of it all. Sometimes something good and concrete comes from true crime.
These two halves sit side by side. They don’t cancel each other out. But it does mean that true crime is forever walking a tight rope. At best, falling off that rope becomes hilariously distasteful, at worst it means ruining the lives of innocent people and trampling the privacy of grieving families.
Sometimes even the best intentions lead people astray. Slather on all this sentimentality about respecting victims, never make fun of them, try to show these people were good and how tragic all this was. But don’t forget to sign up to Raid Shadow Legends. Don’t forget to buy our merch and come to our live shows where we joke about some dude who probably shattered a sex worker’s skull with a tyre iron. Take care of your mental health, listen to us make overly dramatic sighs of sympathy so we don’t look like a pair of vultures, but be sure to pay forty dollars to join our fan club fellow muderinos.
And look, I’m not saying this to assume a position of moral authority. I’m a hypocrite. I’m as guilty as these people. I’m buying the exact same thing they’re selling. I’ve been buying it for years. But there’s always going to be a dark duality to true crime. You cannot avoid it. You can try to forget it, you can try ignore it, you can pretend it doesn’t exist, but it does not go away.
This is the source of my unease with moments of Motor Spirit. And yet, for various segments of the book, something interesting happens.
#
Like the alcoholic father who finds he’s run out of beer for the weekend and obtains a moment of clarity where he sees the father he should be, the father he wants to be, this book obtains periods of equilibrium.
It reins in those odd chapters where Kobek seems interested in chasing stylist concerns. Yes, it’s the same Kobek writing, with the same punchy voice, the acidic wit, but it’s restrained. It looks at everything critically, but respectfully. The corrosive cynicism for injustice and the forces at play is there, but it doesn’t burn everything in a twenty mile radius. It deconstructs historical errors with concise elegance.
These are the moments where the book becomes genuinely great and I sit there with a great deal of respect for Kobek. Thankfully these moments outnumber those where the book unsettles me, and they smooth over unease at the back of my mind.
This review runs for like eight pages in Microsoft Word so far. Four of those pages are negative towards the book, most of the others are at best ambivalent. Probably most people won’t agree with me. It might give the impression that I think this book is bad. It is not.
This book, despite my criticisms, is actually very good. It’s probably one of the best books I’ve read on the subject. Rather than try to regurgitate old half-truths, it makes a commendable effort to set the record straight. Kobek is a genuinely gifted writer, and for every moment where I think he stumbles, there are ample more where I have nothing but praise to offer.
It is not a perfect book. Perhaps the self-published origins of the project account for some of the rough edges. Self-publishing this book should not doom it to obscurity. It is too good for that. It should not be crowded out of existence by a publishing industry obsessed with trying to cater to zoomers who make TikTok videos about ‘spicy’ enemies to lovers tropes. It deserves to be read.
The book ends with a note to read the sequel to find out who Zodiac really is. I’m extremely sceptical that Kobek has actually uncovered the true identity of Zodiac, but I’m going to read it anyway. At the very least it will be interesting.
Anyway, that’s all I got. This review is nearly two thousand words long, and that's two thousand words too many.
This is a book that’s self-published. If it isn’t self-published, it’s published by an entity so small it might as well be self-published. When I look in the back of the book it says printed in Great Britain by Amazon.
It has the same paper stock as all the other self-published books where the slightest hint of humidity in the air leaves it permanently curled and deformed.
Self-published books on Zodiac and other serial killers are dime a dozen. My first instinct was to skip it, but I kept seeing people say, hey, this is book is actually worth looking at. Its counterpart volume actually puts forward interesting theories that have not been endlessly rehashed for the last three decades.
I don’t know anything about Jarett Kobek. He wrote a book called I Hate The Internet, but besides some press interviews and a dead Twitter account, he has no real media presence. Apparently he really does hate the internet.
I’m sceptical, but at the very least he does not seem like a random crank on the internet who fell too deep into the Zodiac rabbit hole. Eventually I’m like, okay, I’ll take a chance. I’ll get these books and read them.
#
Motor Spirit is part recounting of the Zodiac case and part examination of 1960s San Francisco counter-culture. It’s as apt to spend time examining degenerate slack-jawed hippies and President Nixon as it is the facts of the Zodiac case. It’s also an attempt at going back to the original source materials of Zodiac.
I’m a big fan of Robert Graysmith’s book on Zodiac. I love Fincher’s film. But despite this, it’s clear that various mistakes and inaccuracies are present in Graysmith’s work, and like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, these inaccuracies have been multiplied and magnified through each retelling.
Graysmith should not be judged harshly for this. He wrote his book in a time before the internet, before you could call up endless information with a simple Google search. He worked with what he had and did the best he could with honest intentions.
Kobek’s book seems like a noble effort to correct the record. He has the aid of the internet, digitised archives and countless years of research done by other people on Zodiac forums. He’s trying to tear down the mythology that’s unwittingly been built up over the years and return to the basic facts, contextualised alongside everything else that was going on at the time, and he does it with a certain literary punch.
It’s not a dry fact by fact recounting of each event in turn. This is a guy trying to say something and say it in an interesting way, both to the book’s benefit and misfortune.
#
Kobek is without a doubt a talented writer. I admire his writing, and I admire his apparent desire to just go for it instead of trying to make his work fit within the sometimes dry confines of fact-by-fact true crime writing.
But there are also odd moments where I can’t help but leverage criticism.
He writes short, snappy sentences which remind me of James Ellroy. Most of the time it’s the good Ellroy, but sometimes it’s the late stage Ellroy where he’s taken his staccato sentence structure to the point of self-parody. Why not just stick a full stop in here and make a random sentence fragment. Why not?
There’s moments where I come across missing or wrong words, and I can’t tell if it’s a stylistic choice or an error. I feel like the person in an art gallery who sees a fire extinguisher after looking at a cow cut in half. Is that fire extinguisher there as an artistic statement, or is it there because that cow is soaked in formaldehyde and it’s a fire hazard?
Other times I get a very slight whiff of a vibe I can only explain by comparing it to something else: the legion of journalists who want to be the next Hunter Thompson. It doesn’t matter that Hunter Thompson had his ashes shot out of a cannon decades ago, or that there’s like ten thousand other guys also wanting to be Hunter Thompson, they want to be as cool as him. And they want to be him so bad that they’re just trying so hard, trying so hard to cultivate a voice that’s cool.
Inevitably, these are the journalists that wind up writing ‘content’ for websites like Collider or trying to backdoor shallow political takes into articles about Sonic the Hedgehog. They’re just trying too hard.
And so like those people, sometimes this book seems like it’s trying too hard to cultivate voice and style. Sometimes it gets in the way, and sometimes it leads to my last criticism of the text.
#
This is a book that looks at events and the time period with unending cynicism. The problem with cynicism is that it’s not pH neutral. It’s inherently corrosive, and once it’s eaten its way through real and perceived injustices, it will if left unchecked, start to eat everything adjacent to them.
There’s brief moments in Motor Spirit where it ironically gets caught up in its very name sake. It’s so intent on punchiness that the text inches close to a certain kind of meanness towards certain people who feature in the book. Motor Spirit is a train with no brakes. It does not stop. If the toes of sentimentality tread on the rails, too bad, it’s rolling right over them.
The gang rape and murder of Ann Jiminez is recounted in part of the book. Kobek’s prose is laced with burning indignation for what happened. You cannot help but be upset when you read of her last moments. But when the location merits further mention later on in the book, it’s simply referred to as the place where she got turned out. The place where she got gang banged.
You could read it as the text echoing the same callous disregard society had for this young woman, and I think that’s what Kobek was going for, but it’s so caustic that it takes on a mantle of nihilism that reflects the very thing it’s trying to criticise.
Several killings in the book are recounted in ways that, while attempting to impress upon the reader the violence of events, become slightly lurid in pursuit of voice.
I want to be clear here. These moments are small and they do not reflect the entirety of the text. It’s the pea under the mattress. That brief sudden jolt you feel on a rough patch of motorway. When I come across those moments, they unsettle me and I feel a deep sense of unease. Am I reading to find the truth, however ugly it is, or am I seeing something darker that doesn’t come from the events themselves?
#
There’s no beating around the bush with true crime. It’s inherently exploitive. True crime is a collection of podcasters, writers, film makers and internet sleuths collectively mining human tragedy for profit and entertainment, sometimes at the cost of causing collateral damage. A whole cottage industry would go out of business overnight if God ever hit the stop button on the conveyor belt of dead sex workers.
It’s also a collection of the very same people trying to uncover the truth, to bring light to injustices and make sure the victims who would be swallowed up by societal indifference are remembered. A group of people trying to understand the whys and hows of it all. Sometimes something good and concrete comes from true crime.
These two halves sit side by side. They don’t cancel each other out. But it does mean that true crime is forever walking a tight rope. At best, falling off that rope becomes hilariously distasteful, at worst it means ruining the lives of innocent people and trampling the privacy of grieving families.
Sometimes even the best intentions lead people astray. Slather on all this sentimentality about respecting victims, never make fun of them, try to show these people were good and how tragic all this was. But don’t forget to sign up to Raid Shadow Legends. Don’t forget to buy our merch and come to our live shows where we joke about some dude who probably shattered a sex worker’s skull with a tyre iron. Take care of your mental health, listen to us make overly dramatic sighs of sympathy so we don’t look like a pair of vultures, but be sure to pay forty dollars to join our fan club fellow muderinos.
And look, I’m not saying this to assume a position of moral authority. I’m a hypocrite. I’m as guilty as these people. I’m buying the exact same thing they’re selling. I’ve been buying it for years. But there’s always going to be a dark duality to true crime. You cannot avoid it. You can try to forget it, you can try ignore it, you can pretend it doesn’t exist, but it does not go away.
This is the source of my unease with moments of Motor Spirit. And yet, for various segments of the book, something interesting happens.
#
Like the alcoholic father who finds he’s run out of beer for the weekend and obtains a moment of clarity where he sees the father he should be, the father he wants to be, this book obtains periods of equilibrium.
It reins in those odd chapters where Kobek seems interested in chasing stylist concerns. Yes, it’s the same Kobek writing, with the same punchy voice, the acidic wit, but it’s restrained. It looks at everything critically, but respectfully. The corrosive cynicism for injustice and the forces at play is there, but it doesn’t burn everything in a twenty mile radius. It deconstructs historical errors with concise elegance.
These are the moments where the book becomes genuinely great and I sit there with a great deal of respect for Kobek. Thankfully these moments outnumber those where the book unsettles me, and they smooth over unease at the back of my mind.
This review runs for like eight pages in Microsoft Word so far. Four of those pages are negative towards the book, most of the others are at best ambivalent. Probably most people won’t agree with me. It might give the impression that I think this book is bad. It is not.
This book, despite my criticisms, is actually very good. It’s probably one of the best books I’ve read on the subject. Rather than try to regurgitate old half-truths, it makes a commendable effort to set the record straight. Kobek is a genuinely gifted writer, and for every moment where I think he stumbles, there are ample more where I have nothing but praise to offer.
It is not a perfect book. Perhaps the self-published origins of the project account for some of the rough edges. Self-publishing this book should not doom it to obscurity. It is too good for that. It should not be crowded out of existence by a publishing industry obsessed with trying to cater to zoomers who make TikTok videos about ‘spicy’ enemies to lovers tropes. It deserves to be read.
The book ends with a note to read the sequel to find out who Zodiac really is. I’m extremely sceptical that Kobek has actually uncovered the true identity of Zodiac, but I’m going to read it anyway. At the very least it will be interesting.
Anyway, that’s all I got. This review is nearly two thousand words long, and that's two thousand words too many.
February 15, 2024
This one's a stumper. I'd first heard about Kobek on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast. He sounded knowledgable about Zodiac and I'd just rewatched Fincher's movie, so I bought his self-published book.
Kobek's writing is--initially--very engaging. Unencumbered by an editor, he leans heavily into a style. That incorporates sentence fragments. Many. Such. Fragments. This adds a sense of propulsion to the narrative, but his reliance on repeating information, by the book's end, felt like he wanted to stretch one book into two (if you want to know who Kobek thinks was Zodiac, you'll have to buy a separate book). And his reliance on fragments grows tiring. Also, the lack of editorial input shows in misplaced words, (intentional?) spelling errors, and a chaotic, digressive way of dispensing information.
But that also works in Kobek's favor.
Motor Spirit's thesis is Zodiac was a product of an American moment. One that includes the hippies and Charlie Manson and Richard Nixon and LOTS of drugs and the Son of Sam and the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the list goes on. Touching on these topics pulls the reader from the Zodiac narrative, but enhances the reader's understanding on the era. The choice is understandable but frustrating. Had Kobek poured all his Zodiac research--and we have to assume it's research; Kobek doesn't provide a list of sources or an index; just trust me, he's saying--into one drum-tight book, instead of closing this one with "Want to know who Zodiac was? You'll have to buy book II", this review probably would've been kinder.
Lastly, the lack of an editor means Kobek often can't get out of his own way. He editorializes constantly. Negative reviews claim Kobek writes from a hard left political stance--he often references police misdeeds or stupidity—but I disagree. Though he can, Kobek doesn't slam SFPD Inspector Dave Toschi, and does condemn the bombing campaigns of 1970s hard left radicals. I think Kobek is post-political, a pseudo edgelord who thinks he's enlightened and hovers above substandard news reporting and lazy police work.
So, yeah, imperfect.
Still, I've heard it said that a sentence's sole responsibility is to make the reader want to keep going. And Kobek's do that. As a trip through the 60s and 70s, the book works. As a reliable examination of available Zodiac evidence..?
Give me a list of sources, and then we'll talk.
Kobek's writing is--initially--very engaging. Unencumbered by an editor, he leans heavily into a style. That incorporates sentence fragments. Many. Such. Fragments. This adds a sense of propulsion to the narrative, but his reliance on repeating information, by the book's end, felt like he wanted to stretch one book into two (if you want to know who Kobek thinks was Zodiac, you'll have to buy a separate book). And his reliance on fragments grows tiring. Also, the lack of editorial input shows in misplaced words, (intentional?) spelling errors, and a chaotic, digressive way of dispensing information.
But that also works in Kobek's favor.
Motor Spirit's thesis is Zodiac was a product of an American moment. One that includes the hippies and Charlie Manson and Richard Nixon and LOTS of drugs and the Son of Sam and the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the list goes on. Touching on these topics pulls the reader from the Zodiac narrative, but enhances the reader's understanding on the era. The choice is understandable but frustrating. Had Kobek poured all his Zodiac research--and we have to assume it's research; Kobek doesn't provide a list of sources or an index; just trust me, he's saying--into one drum-tight book, instead of closing this one with "Want to know who Zodiac was? You'll have to buy book II", this review probably would've been kinder.
Lastly, the lack of an editor means Kobek often can't get out of his own way. He editorializes constantly. Negative reviews claim Kobek writes from a hard left political stance--he often references police misdeeds or stupidity—but I disagree. Though he can, Kobek doesn't slam SFPD Inspector Dave Toschi, and does condemn the bombing campaigns of 1970s hard left radicals. I think Kobek is post-political, a pseudo edgelord who thinks he's enlightened and hovers above substandard news reporting and lazy police work.
So, yeah, imperfect.
Still, I've heard it said that a sentence's sole responsibility is to make the reader want to keep going. And Kobek's do that. As a trip through the 60s and 70s, the book works. As a reliable examination of available Zodiac evidence..?
Give me a list of sources, and then we'll talk.
September 22, 2024
Ez a könyv nekem sokkal inkább tűnt egy esszének, elmélkedésnek a 60-as, 70-es évekről, az amerikai társadalomról, megspékelve persze a Zodiákussal, mint klasszikus true crime-nak. Ez persze nem azt jelenti, hogy a Zodiákusról kevés szó esne benne, egyáltalán nem. Viszont attól válik különlegessé, hogy a könyv egy egész hátteret, panorámát mutat be, aminek segítségével tágabb kontextusba tudjuk helyezni a Zodiákus gyilkosságokat. Mestermű.
March 15, 2022
This book re-examines a bunch of the evidence surrounding the Zodiac serial killer. Kobek did a great job of pointing out the discrepancies within the letters and writings attributed to the Zodiac, which have mostly been ignored by other books and in many cases the police as well. He puts forth a very cogent argument about the authenticity of several of the Zodiac missives. However, since this was a print on demand effort, it could’ve used a good bit of editing. Kobek is a very skilled and competent writer, but the book was rife with typos, grammatical errors, and repeated words. Outside of the poor editing that distracted a bit from the message, this would’ve probably earned 5 stars. Definitely looking forward to reading the next in the series.
August 8, 2023
Here is a relatively good book on the Zodiac case that presents it's information well. However this book is in desperate need of an editor and a slap in the face to the author for inserting his bashful leftist opinions. Kobek seems to have no respect for the victims and seems to be compensating for something with his unnecessary distaste for Christianity.
March 1, 2025
Inmersión en la California de Charles Manson, del concierto de Altamont de los Stones, de los Hell's Angels, el asesinato de RFK, los disturbios estudiantiles castigados por Ronald Reagan, Nixon y la ola reaccionaria setentera de la que se alimentó Zodiac. El libro, como crónica, explica con detalle todos los crímenes que se atribuyen a Zodiac y cuenta la historia de sus víctimas, pero sobretodo explica el fenómeno cultural que los rodea: el asesino nunca descubierto, la prensa en busca del escándalo, los errores de la policía cuya investigación fue pública y mantuvo durante años la atención de lectores, detectives amateur, conspiranoicos e imitadores. ¿Por qué los únicos policías que se cruzaron con Zodiac al lado del escenario de un crimen lo dejaron escapar? ¿Por qué el jefe de la investigación acabó fingiendo ser Zodiac? ¿Por qué la historia oficial está basada en una obra de ficción donde se incrimina a una persona real que fue absuelta? Como la investigación se estanca durante décadas, el libro también da la impresión de que se estanca en una frustración algo paranoica.
Por el estilo y por el retrato histórico americano me recuerda mucho a las novelas californianas de Pynchon 'Inherent Vice' y 'Vinland'.
Por el estilo y por el retrato histórico americano me recuerda mucho a las novelas californianas de Pynchon 'Inherent Vice' y 'Vinland'.
May 1, 2022
A riveting, ever-deepening shadow history of America -- incredibly compelling!
August 12, 2022
Gripping!!!!! The edges!!! of my Seat!!!!!
May 31, 2023
Not a perfect book by any means, but Jarrett Kobek has an interesting writing style that made it stand out from a typical true crime book. Many of them feel the same, but this one feels different.
May 5, 2022
A surprise to find that one of my favourite authors dropped two books with as much fan fair as a trainstopper fart. Nevertheless, Kobek partly tackles a subject, I too have pondered; in the US, why was the 70s fucking brutal?
Here, Kobek focuses on Zodiac, an infamous murder who was never caught. Yet, like all good books, it goes deeper.
Motor Spirit is an examination of memory, perception, and how overtime these alter and become somewhat mythologised by the inclusion of media. Its about the seduction and chase for fame, and everyone, including Zodiac, want it.
Written during the pandemic, whereby 5g towers, if you researched hard enough, were going to transform your anus into lavender oil. Motor Spirit comments on the love and danger of being sucked into a narrative and becoming blinded by logic. The hysteria of Zodiac, is the hysteria of covid, is the hysteria of the Internet age.
-I've seen footage...
Here, Kobek focuses on Zodiac, an infamous murder who was never caught. Yet, like all good books, it goes deeper.
Motor Spirit is an examination of memory, perception, and how overtime these alter and become somewhat mythologised by the inclusion of media. Its about the seduction and chase for fame, and everyone, including Zodiac, want it.
Written during the pandemic, whereby 5g towers, if you researched hard enough, were going to transform your anus into lavender oil. Motor Spirit comments on the love and danger of being sucked into a narrative and becoming blinded by logic. The hysteria of Zodiac, is the hysteria of covid, is the hysteria of the Internet age.
-I've seen footage...
June 23, 2023
I'm about twenty pages from finishing the book, and it has been one of my most unpleasant reading experiences in recent memory. It reads like a research paper by a college student most of the time, with a motif that takes away from the non-fiction stating of facts that undermines the entire point of the book. It feels like the title is written once at least every five pages or so. Every major crime in the same area is hamfisted to be a direct response of the Zodiac killer( or Zodiac or the Zodiac[the author finds it important to make this distinction every couple pages for some reason] for about ten years since he was even doing anything relevent). Every thing is Motor Spirit, the Zodiac is learning, it gets old. I'm up to about five grammatical errors, and if it has any redeeming qualities that gives it an extra star rating, it's that it is thorough, but it's tediously thorough. This book finds a way to make the Zodiac killer boring, and relate anything from Charles Manson to Patti Hearse to him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2022
Somehow both discursive and concise, "Motor Spirit" is culturally astute in a way rarely (if ever) seen in books of any genre, much less in true crime. The way in which Jarett Kobek is channeling a combination of Dashiell Hammett and Hunter S. Thompson makes for a heady and headlong brew, immersing the reader in the relevant context of the late 60s/early 70s, tossing off dead-on observations and assessments like they were confetti.
The assuredness of these assessments, along with their accuracy, is a big part of what sets "Motor Spirit" apart from anything else that's ever been written on the Zodiac Killer. There are one or two quibbles here and there (example: Kobek too casually dismisses Jeffrey MacDonald's account of the murder of his family, incorrectly stating that he inflicted a "superficial" wound on himself; this is factually incorrect. His chief of surgery at Columbia testified that it was so close to the heart that not even a cardiac surgeon would know exactly where to place the ice pick in the chest to collapse the lung without hitting the pericardium. But I digress.)
An unusually outstanding exemplar of its genre, "Motor City" is one of the few true crime books that will ever merit re-reading. All the more impressive for being the first volume (a "facts of the case" primer) of a two-volume set, the second of which attempts a solution to the mystery of Zodiac's identity.
The assuredness of these assessments, along with their accuracy, is a big part of what sets "Motor Spirit" apart from anything else that's ever been written on the Zodiac Killer. There are one or two quibbles here and there (example: Kobek too casually dismisses Jeffrey MacDonald's account of the murder of his family, incorrectly stating that he inflicted a "superficial" wound on himself; this is factually incorrect. His chief of surgery at Columbia testified that it was so close to the heart that not even a cardiac surgeon would know exactly where to place the ice pick in the chest to collapse the lung without hitting the pericardium. But I digress.)
An unusually outstanding exemplar of its genre, "Motor City" is one of the few true crime books that will ever merit re-reading. All the more impressive for being the first volume (a "facts of the case" primer) of a two-volume set, the second of which attempts a solution to the mystery of Zodiac's identity.
February 7, 2024
I read this book because it was required reading for Kobek’s next book, and I found it interesting, especially because I’d recently watched Zodiac (2007) and this book spends quite a lot of time picking holes in Robert Graysmith’s portrayal of events.
The book’s central thesis is, I think, that Zodiac primarily enjoyed fame and spreading terror, and used his murders as a way to get into the papers. Most of the murders are young couples, other than Paul Stine (who was recently married) and the book argues that this may reflect Zodiac’s views on sexual mores of the time. It makes a compelling argument that most Zodiac letters occur soon after mentions of Zodiac in the press, and that Zodiac was attempting to lever aspects of the counterculture of the day to make himself more notorious.
It was also interesting reading it so quickly after The Heavens and the Earth which was very pro-Republican, and specifically pro-Eisenhower and anti-John F Kennedy/Lyndon B Johnson. This book is very much more pro-Johnson, and in some ways the argument that Zodiac is a byproduct of the libertarian/conservative movements of the day is a very powerful counterargument to old-school Republicanism, but I thought this aspect was sometimes very clumsy.
Finally, the writing style is idiosyncratic; very short sentences, very fragmented writing. The copyediting is also not as good as one might hope. I didn’t find this interrupted my enjoyment, but others might.
The book’s central thesis is, I think, that Zodiac primarily enjoyed fame and spreading terror, and used his murders as a way to get into the papers. Most of the murders are young couples, other than Paul Stine (who was recently married) and the book argues that this may reflect Zodiac’s views on sexual mores of the time. It makes a compelling argument that most Zodiac letters occur soon after mentions of Zodiac in the press, and that Zodiac was attempting to lever aspects of the counterculture of the day to make himself more notorious.
It was also interesting reading it so quickly after The Heavens and the Earth which was very pro-Republican, and specifically pro-Eisenhower and anti-John F Kennedy/Lyndon B Johnson. This book is very much more pro-Johnson, and in some ways the argument that Zodiac is a byproduct of the libertarian/conservative movements of the day is a very powerful counterargument to old-school Republicanism, but I thought this aspect was sometimes very clumsy.
Finally, the writing style is idiosyncratic; very short sentences, very fragmented writing. The copyediting is also not as good as one might hope. I didn’t find this interrupted my enjoyment, but others might.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2024
I'd give this 3.5 if that were an option. I agree with the critiques that there are small errors, choppy sentences (in places), and unintentional repetitions. It reads like an excellent first draft, which it may be, I heard Kobek say on a podcast that he wrote it with a typewriter.
I am a sucker for anything late 60's set in California -- Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon may be my favorite novel. So, I loved the deep dive into the historical context. Also, exploring the Zodiac's victims' greater lives was a (refreshing?) change. Most media involving serial/spree killers focus solely on the perpetrator. I also heard him say on the same podcast that this book may feel like "gentrification" because he has a set of "aesthetic and intellectual concerns" he's unable to jettison, which, to me, is just an indulgent self-compliment disguised as self-awareness. Especially considering the book has so many
Choppy sentence.
Fragments. Like what.
I just wrote.
Yup.
^^^ it reads like that. It's not a high art piece. But, it is awesome and if you like Zodiac stuff or Southern California in the 60s stuff, definitely give it a read.
I am a sucker for anything late 60's set in California -- Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon may be my favorite novel. So, I loved the deep dive into the historical context. Also, exploring the Zodiac's victims' greater lives was a (refreshing?) change. Most media involving serial/spree killers focus solely on the perpetrator. I also heard him say on the same podcast that this book may feel like "gentrification" because he has a set of "aesthetic and intellectual concerns" he's unable to jettison, which, to me, is just an indulgent self-compliment disguised as self-awareness. Especially considering the book has so many
Choppy sentence.
Fragments. Like what.
I just wrote.
Yup.
^^^ it reads like that. It's not a high art piece. But, it is awesome and if you like Zodiac stuff or Southern California in the 60s stuff, definitely give it a read.
January 9, 2023
I read this not because of an interest in Zodiac or true crime, but because I love Jarett Kobek’s writing. I’ve read books by him on subjects I had 0 interest in and they still drew me in. This is no exception, I ended up reading it in under 24 hours. It doesn’t just give you the facts about the Zodiac case, it captures the culture of the era and gives you great context to what happened, and does so with style. In this book, he doesn’t get into who he thinks Zodiac is (that’s reserved for the companion book How to Find Zodiac), so if you enjoy true crime books but not suspect lead ones, you can read this one and stop there.
Are there a few typos and mistakes? Yes, but I get the feeling this is just one author handling basically everything. He doesn’t have a publishing house to provide help with proofreading and other stuff like that. Which is not surprising considering the stuff he’s written about publishing houses.
Are there a few typos and mistakes? Yes, but I get the feeling this is just one author handling basically everything. He doesn’t have a publishing house to provide help with proofreading and other stuff like that. Which is not surprising considering the stuff he’s written about publishing houses.
June 18, 2022
If you’re looking for a comprehensive history of the Zodiac case, this book might be the one for you. Written with Kobek’s usual dry wit and down the barrel “just the facts, ma’am” delivery, Motor Spirits chronicles a decade or so of time that gives the full context of the history of Zodiac.
Interspersed are accounts of loosely related crimes and events that paint a portrait of an insane time in American history for San Francisco. He debunks certain theories, and questions everything, with a breathtaking efficiency that holds you to the end.
My only major gripe with the book is that Kobek sometimes gets too clever for his own good. Jumping around in time and opining about unrelated crimes and events (my guess is because he did the research, and dammit he’s gonna include it). But that’s a minor nitpick, in the grand scheme.
Interspersed are accounts of loosely related crimes and events that paint a portrait of an insane time in American history for San Francisco. He debunks certain theories, and questions everything, with a breathtaking efficiency that holds you to the end.
My only major gripe with the book is that Kobek sometimes gets too clever for his own good. Jumping around in time and opining about unrelated crimes and events (my guess is because he did the research, and dammit he’s gonna include it). But that’s a minor nitpick, in the grand scheme.
March 25, 2023
Very interesting look and overview of the Zodiac case and the ongoing social climate and culture of the time. Really enjoyed Kobek’s writing and will definitely pick up more from him.
I loved the different perspectives but I did feel at times he was a bit too cynical of possible evidence etc. and I felt it ended abruptly and then only at the end did I realise there is a second book! I will be reading that asap and hope it’s just as good and maybe has some more theories on who Zodiac is or was, as a person, as a killer. Which is what I feel was missing a bit from this book. Would it have been better to have them both in the one book maybe? I’ll see when I read the next one…
A lot of people are critical of his writing style and use of the full stop but I liked how it was all structured.
I loved the different perspectives but I did feel at times he was a bit too cynical of possible evidence etc. and I felt it ended abruptly and then only at the end did I realise there is a second book! I will be reading that asap and hope it’s just as good and maybe has some more theories on who Zodiac is or was, as a person, as a killer. Which is what I feel was missing a bit from this book. Would it have been better to have them both in the one book maybe? I’ll see when I read the next one…
A lot of people are critical of his writing style and use of the full stop but I liked how it was all structured.
October 4, 2022
Unique, that's for sure. But a little too sure of itself. Kobek seems to have abandoned any form of structure or style here (unless this is a purposeful style) and just written this like a long blog post or an email to a friend. Which I appreciated at times but also found hard to get into. It gives a good background, but it also makes you do a lot of your own homework. Fascinating why this is all so fascinating.
April 7, 2023
The only thing I can say is if you’re going to read a book at least research the pronunciation of some cities and people’s last names. Melvin Beli is Bell-eye not Belly and Benicia is Be Knee Sha not Bee Knee Chia - so frustrated with this performance on Audible - otherwise the book was ok and nothing more than what Graysmith wrote about. I found that book way more enthralling. I couldn’t finish this one.
January 1, 2025
I hate True Crime, I hate the obsession with true crime, I'm bored af by the upper-middle class white women who consume it as some sort of weird socio-terror-fantasy-escapism; but this book is not that.
An absolutely fantastic piece of historical cultural commentary, and a very sobering, balanced-when-needed-but-critical-when-deserved exploration of The Zodiac.
I read this in three days and have been re-reading bits since. The follow-up is already in the mail.
An absolutely fantastic piece of historical cultural commentary, and a very sobering, balanced-when-needed-but-critical-when-deserved exploration of The Zodiac.
I read this in three days and have been re-reading bits since. The follow-up is already in the mail.
June 24, 2022
A fascinating read that delves deeper than I first anticipated. It debunks everything that has come before but in a deeply respectful manner. If you’re interested in true crime or serial killers. Or like me that Zodiac is one of the last great American films then it’s a must read that you’ll devour.
November 7, 2022
This was decent. It kept my interest and I like Kobek’s writing style. At times, I giggled. While it’s obvious he purposely left misspellings that mirrored the Zodiac’s, some of the other ones were distracting and took away from the authenticity of this. I have not delved into the second one yet, and I’m hoping it comes together in the end
October 17, 2024
Enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. Compelling and a fresh way of looking at things. The best true crime book I’ve read since “I’ll Be Gone In The Dark”. Only slightly soured by it ending so abruptly and teasing the second book. More than a little Gordon Burn and even Alan Moore in the way psychogeography is referenced or utilised.
March 22, 2025
“What happened is never what people remember.”
“[He] could not see what it meant when each individual became their own press. No one could. This power, when extended to every living being, would murder knowledge. If every opinion is its own news, then there is no longer news. If every opinion is its own truth, then there is no longer truth.”
“[He] could not see what it meant when each individual became their own press. No one could. This power, when extended to every living being, would murder knowledge. If every opinion is its own news, then there is no longer news. If every opinion is its own truth, then there is no longer truth.”
July 16, 2023
This was captivating, the chaos of the time and the writing style both propelled and confused. Writing style is somewhat stream of consciousness, somewhat academic thesis statement. Kobek puts you right into the heart of “Motor Spirit” and I think that’s the point. Well done.
December 11, 2023
I think it’s fair to give just about any book that I couldn’t put down five stars. I learned a lot, but more than anything else, I learned that David Fincher is a bit of a rube, and that at literally no point in history would I want to have lived in the Bay Area.
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