Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
New York, NY : Harper, [2014]
Description
New York Times Bestseller Soon after his birthmother contacted him for the first time at the age of thirty-nine, adoptee Gary L. Stewart decided to search for his biological father. His quest would lead him to a horrifying truth and force him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about himself and his world. 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 identify his father as the Zodiac Killer, one of the most notorious and elusive serial murderers in history. For decades, the Zodiac Killer has captivated America's imagination. His ability to evade capture while taunting authorities made him infamous. The vicious specificity of his crimes terrified Californians before the Manson murders and after, and shocked a culture enamored with the ideals of the dawning Age of Aquarius. To this day, his ciphers have baffled detectives and amateur sleuths, and his identity remains one of the twentieth century's great unsolved mysteries. The Most Dangerous Animal of All reveals the name of the Zodiac for the very first time. Mustafa and Stewart construct a chilling psychological profile of Stewart's father: as a boy with disturbing fixations, a frustrated intellectual with pretensions to high culture, and an inappropriate suitor and then jilted lover unable to process his rage. At last, all the questions that have surrounded the case for almost fifty years are answered in this riveting narrative. The result is a singular work of true crime at its finest-a compelling, unbelievable true story told with the pacing of a page-turning novel-as well as a sensational and powerful memoir.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member arielfl
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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member BookLizard
Louisiana-native Gary Stewart was given up for adoption when he was just an infant. Almost 40 years later, he was contacted by his birth mother. After meeting her, he began to search for his father and what he found was deeply disturbing. Could his late father have been the serial killer known as
Whether you end up believing his claim or not, Stewart's story makes for fascinating reading. His mother was a "stolen" child bride and his father, while charming at times, had a cruel streak and superiority complex (sociopath much?). The late 60s were a turbulent time in San Francisco, and Stewart & Mustafa do a great job of bringing the city alive. They build a strong case of circumstantial evidence, offer some expert testimony on handwriting analysis, and contend that the SFPD is not pursuing Stewart's claim in order to protect the memory of one of their own who was the second husband of Stewart's birth mother. Hopefully, this book will put pressure on the SFPD to reopen the case and investigate Stewart's claim.
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the Zodiac?Whether you end up believing his claim or not, Stewart's story makes for fascinating reading. His mother was a "stolen" child bride and his father, while charming at times, had a cruel streak and superiority complex (sociopath much?). The late 60s were a turbulent time in San Francisco, and Stewart & Mustafa do a great job of bringing the city alive. They build a strong case of circumstantial evidence, offer some expert testimony on handwriting analysis, and contend that the SFPD is not pursuing Stewart's claim in order to protect the memory of one of their own who was the second husband of Stewart's birth mother. Hopefully, this book will put pressure on the SFPD to reopen the case and investigate Stewart's claim.
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LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
An interesting journey taken by a man who believes his father was the Zodiac killer. After reading the book, the evidence he has come across seems quite compelling. As of printing the DNA evidence had not been completed. Stewart starts off looking for his birth parents and falls into the horror
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story of the Zodiac. The book is broken into three sections; the first is about his father and mother's early years and his abandonment, the second and third sections are based on all of his investigations over many years. The man who is his father was an evil person so it is not far removed that he could actually be the Zodiac. A great read those interested in true crime and unsolved cases. Show Less
LibraryThing member TFS93
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
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
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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
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LibraryThing member AverageJoe2
I don't read a lot of true crime but a lady I know knows this man so I thought I'd give it a try. Honestly, I found it difficult to read. Every time I had to put it down it was hard to pick back up again. It feels long and drawn out to me. The information is interesting but the book just doesn't do
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anything for me Show Less
LibraryThing member TooBusyReading
Don't expect this book to be written especially well. It's not bad, but mostly just a straight telling of the facts of the author's life and of his father's life as he believed them. Co-written with Susan Mustafa, I thought it would be a little better written. I listened to the audio edition from
What was interesting about this book is the story it was telling. If you look at the subtitle of the book, you'll see that the author, adopted to a loving family as a baby, searched for his birth mother and ended up finding his father was the Zodiac Killer. Or so the author is convinced. His research led him to clues and reports, but many were closed to him, including his original birth certificate. He draws his own conclusions from what he has discovered, and that is fine. But there is some skepticism about the book, especially since he is not the only one who has claimed the Zodiac Killer was his or her parent. I'm taking this book with a grain of salt although much of it sounded true to me.
Despite the skepticism, including some of my own, I thought this book was worth reading, even if only to read about a man's search for his birth parents. And was the Zodiac Killer really the author's father? You'll have to read it and draw your own conclusions.
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my local library, and the author read his own book. Sometimes that is a good thing, and you get all the nuance the author intended. In this case, it was not a plus. It sounded like someone was reading from a paper. A professional would have been better.What was interesting about this book is the story it was telling. If you look at the subtitle of the book, you'll see that the author, adopted to a loving family as a baby, searched for his birth mother and ended up finding his father was the Zodiac Killer. Or so the author is convinced. His research led him to clues and reports, but many were closed to him, including his original birth certificate. He draws his own conclusions from what he has discovered, and that is fine. But there is some skepticism about the book, especially since he is not the only one who has claimed the Zodiac Killer was his or her parent. I'm taking this book with a grain of salt although much of it sounded true to me.
Despite the skepticism, including some of my own, I thought this book was worth reading, even if only to read about a man's search for his birth parents. And was the Zodiac Killer really the author's father? You'll have to read it and draw your own conclusions.
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LibraryThing member amcheri
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
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member secondhandrose
While this was compulsive reading I'm not convinced by the theory. Seems to be a lot of supposition and no hard evidence. Interesting though ...
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2014
Physical description
x p.; 24 cm
ISBN
9780062313164
Local notes
TUB 12 Basement Books
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