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The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer Kindle Edition
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. Finally, 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.
THE BASIS FOR THE 4-PART FX DOCUMENTARY MINISERIES
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper
- Publication dateMay 13, 2014
- File size4335 KB
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Before long, Van was creating his own codes and asking his father to break them.63 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
When my grandfather was home on leave from the Navy, he began teaching Van how to write and solve simple codes using numbers, Japanese symbols, and German and English lettering.57 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
After school, Van volunteered at the de Young Museum, in Golden Gate Park. In the Ancient Arms room, he honed his skills cleaning, maintaining, and preserving medieval weapons. It was in that museum filled with relics from the past that Van became fascinated with weaponry and the art of killing.52 Kindle readers highlighted this
Editorial Reviews
Review
I promise that you've never read anything like The Most Dangerous Animal of All. Mesmerizing from the first page, the story includes a shattering surprise that will sear itself in your memory. Be prepared to read non-stop; this really is a book you won't be able to put down.
-- "Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author of Manson"This well-written work simultaneously tells the lives of two men, one potentially a serial killer. For fans of true crime, 1960s American history, and stories about families discovering lost relatives.
-- "Library Journal"The author painstakingly pieces together over a decade's worth of personal research and verbatim interviews with family, friends, and law enforcement, then goes further to scrutinize and compare handwriting samples, police sketches, and photographs, all bearing uncanny resemblances to recorded documentation from the Zodiac files...Convincing.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"A compelling work of true crime that makes a strong case for Best being responsible for the series of murders and horrifying threats that paralyzed San Francisco with fear in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
-- "Baton Rouge Advocate"From the Back Cover
A New York Times Bestseller
A San Francisco Chronicle 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.
About the Author
Gary L. Stewart is vice president of Delta Tech Service of Louisiana. More than a decade 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.
Susan D. Mustafa is an award-winning freelance journalist, author, and editor whose articles are published monthly in a variety of magazines and newspapers in Louisiana and beyond.
Susan Mustafa is an award-winning author and journalist. She is the coauthor of Dismembered, written with Sue Israel, and Blood Bath, written with Special Prosecutor Tony Clayton and Sue Israel.
Product details
- ASIN : B00FJ3AD2I
- Publisher : Harper; Illustrated edition (May 13, 2014)
- Publication date : May 13, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 4335 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 368 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #83,235 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #83 in Biographies of Serial Killers
- #86 in Biographies & Memoirs of Criminals
- #183 in Serial Killers True Accounts
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Gary L. Stewart is the New York Times Bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Animal Of all. Twelve years ago, Gary began a search to find his biological father, and his own identity. That journey to find the man who gave him life, would reveal the most chilling conclusions about his father, and the most notorious serial killer case in American History. Gary's journey is the subject of The Most Dangerous Animal Of All. Gary has been featured on CNN, Inside Edition, and in PEOPLE Magazine. He has shared his story in over one hundred television, radio and print media appearances and articles. Gary resides in Louisiana with his wife, Kristy, and son, Zach.
Susan Mustafa is a bestselling author and journalist from Louisiana.
She is the coauthor of "Rock Bottom and Back: From Desperation to Inspiration," (BIC Media Solutions, 2016), written with Earl B. Heard. This inspirational book depicts the incredible lives of twenty-two people who hit rock bottom and then came back from profound despair to help others in extraordinary ways.
She is the coauthor of the "New York Times" bestseller, "The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching For My Father and Finding the Zodiac Killer," (HarperCollins 2014), written with Gary L. Stewart. This book chronicles Stewart's search for his biological father and the heartbreaking discoveries he makes along the way.
She also coauthored "Dismembered," (Pinnacle 2011), the true story of serial killer Sean Vincent Gillis, written with Sue Israel; and "Blood Bath," (Pinnacle 2009) about the life and crimes of serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, written with Special Prosecutor Tony Clayton and Sue Israel. "Blood Bath" was originally self-published under the title "I've Been Watching You."
Susan has been featured on numerous television programs, which have aired on Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, National Geographic, Discovery, and Discovery Canada.
For more information, please visit www.susanmustafa.com.
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This book personally hit a nerve with me because I lived in the S.F. Bay Area as a teenager at the same time Zodiac was "doing his thing". Scary times. Growing up in the late 1960's were weird enough but the Zodiac Killings added an element of fear and a kind of terrorism to the climate. It had a definite impact on me and often manages to haunt my memories from time to time.
People always think that a serial killer might look like a monster, but Earl Van Best Jr. looked like the guy next door. The clues are so mind blowing. His rage toward the women in his life. Time lines. Cryptic messages and Best's knowledge of code writing. The hand writing analysis. Van's skills and travels. Even his mug shot with it's uncanny similarity to the witness drawing! How about his buddy Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan? (I remember seeing LaVey on Television). I think his dysfunctional upbringing molded his personality to an extent. He seemed weird to everyone, but I don't think anyone really knew Earl Van Best Jr. at all and what he was capable of. He had to be a very cunning, diabolical person to keep people from discovering his true persona. I also think he was a tortured person. The photo of Van as a little boy on his bicycle looks so innocent. It's sad to think that he turned out the way he did.
It's too bad that the authorities didn't go forward, for whatever reason, to solve the Zodiac killings. It is unfair to the victims and families of the victims who live with the pain everyday. It makes me wonder if the S.F. Police are really covering up and protecting someone or something? It would be great to finally bring definitive legal closure to the horrible murders of these innocent people who never got a chance to live their lives. These victims deserve justice!
Gary Stewart is a brave man for writing this book. Searching for the truth and finding out that it was his father who was the Zodiac had to be incredibly hard. I felt so sad when he told his story of being given up as an infant. But because of this life's journey he was able to not only solve a personal haunting mystery but to at last, meet his birth mother, Judy, have a reunion with her and learn the truth of why and how he was given up. It also touched my heart when he wrote about being adopted by a such a wonderful, loving family and having a fulfilling childhood with such understanding parents as Leona and Loyd Stewart. He turned out to be a fine man and father and I wish him the best in his life.
Imagine being adopted and wanting to uncover your biological roots. Imagine discovering, piece by piece, the story of a man with whom you’d hate to be associated, yet irrefutable evidence says you are. The author tells this very story with grace, compassion, and just enough distance to make it palatable for the reader to digest and walk away with a level of understanding of how one of the notorious serial killers in San Francisco’s history came to be.
The only reason I don’t give this book 5 stars is the ending isn’t quite as tight as you’d like it to be. Sure, the blame sits squarely on the shoulders of the SFPD that the complete set of files sit in a dusty box tucked out of sight somewhere or deliberately lost in their archives. Still. Is a case ever fully resolved if left publicly unacknowledged?
You can decide. If the storytelling isn’t enough for you, the book comes complete with indexes, time lines, and references for you to research yourself.
For example:
- Much is made of the fact that one of the other main suspects in the case, Arthur Leigh Allen, apparently received letters from an inmate at Ascatedero who claimed to be the Zodiac. "I am certain that when you check out my father's file, you're going to find that he spent some time at Atascadero" says the author (pg 257 in hardcover copy). However, the author's father apparently spent time at Atascadero in 1963. The first Zodiac murder didn't occur until 1966, and the publicity and the name "Zodiac" wasn't used until 1969. So the author's father seeminlgy envisioned the murders and the name Zodiac and identified the future prime suspect back in 1963. Seems...unlikely.
- The author claims he finds his father's name in not one but two Zodiac ciphers. However in the 408 cipher (page 297), the author counts the word "BEST". This was not part of the cipher - this was the solution to the cipher. This means that the symbol V in the cipher would be standing in for both V and B. So basically, all he's found in the cipher are the symbols R, J, V and E in relatively close succession.
- The fingerprint evidence is also highly unconvincing - it's impossible to tell from the original SFPD file if the gaps in the print are a "scar" or if it's just a partial print. This print also was theorized at the time to be from a police officer and not the Zodiac himself, since he left gloves at the scene. But I guess this one could go either way.
- The handwriting analysis and the similarity of the photograph of Van Best to the Zodiac composite sketch are fairly convincing, but also ignore the fact that Arthur Leigh Allen was identified by surviving victim Mike Mageau in 1991. The author does not mention or explain this. Also the other surviving victim said that the Zodiac was a "sloppy dresser", something that apparently did not apply to Van Best. The author glosses over this.
- The book also fails to explain other than "he was probably overseas" why there were such gaps in the Zodiac letter writing if Earl Van Best was in fact the killer - for the Arthur Lee Allen case, that is explained through direct correspondence with his arrests. The book also conveniently ignores the fact that the Zodiac claimed that December 18 was his birthday (which was Arthur Lee Allen's birthday).
All in all, I was disappointed. I felt like the author really believes his father was the Zodiac, but the evidence doesn't hold up any stronger than any other suspect (excluding Allen). Interestingly, both Allen and Van Best frequented the same theatre, and both apparently knew victim Darlene Ferrin. But, I think that unless there really is some kind of cover up or the SFPD finally gets around to using DNA evidence, we probably won't ever know what happened. But this is an enjoyable read all the same. Who knows, the author could be right, but I don't think the evidence as presented would ever convince a jury.
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I also think that he's definitely hit on a very credible theory that his biological father is the Zodiac killer, but it's a difficult thing to prove beyond doubt, especially after so much time has gone by. I believe it though!
I thoroughly recommend this book!
For all of us, we bring our parenting to the forefront the way we were parented, Gary's adoptive family has offered the generations to come a better healthier prognosis. They are the hero's of this life story.