Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son: The Story of the Yorkshire Ripper

by Gordon Burn (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.29

  It seemed the case of the notorious Yorkshire Ripper was finally closed when Peter Sutcliffe was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981. But in the early 1980s Gordon Burn spent three years living in Sutcliffe's home town of Bingley, researching his life. A modern classic, Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son offers one of the most penetrating and provocative insights into the mind of a murderer ever written. 'A book which will, with some justice, be compared to In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song. It's as if Thomas Hardy were also present at the writing of this account of the Yorkshire Ripper.' Norman Mailer

• Used

  Paperback
  1993

  $3.29

  The Yorkshire Ripper was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981 for the murder of l3 women. Gordon Burn spent two years living in Peter Sutcliffe's home town researching his life, and in this book he addresses questions left unanswered by Sutcliffe's trial and reveals some of his macabre fantasies. The book is based on conversations with Sutcliffe's wife and family, his neighbours, friend and workmates. The person Burn found in their collective memory was a chronically shy child, a super-sensitive teenager, and a well-mannered but strangely remote young man who had worked as a gravedigger and undertaker before he was scorned by a prostitute. Burn recreates the world of inner-city drinking clubs and red-light districts, and in doing so addresses questions left unanswered by Sutcliffe's trial.