Synopsis:
Ten years after the murder spree that left thirteen people dead and paralyzed the city of Los Angeles with fear, his name is synonymous with Satanism, torture, and sadistic murder. Yet despite the sensational nature of his crimes, until now, no one has ever been able to tell the complex story of the killer whose seductive, brooding looks still draw women like moths to a flame - a man millions call the devil himself. Painstakingly researched over three years, based on nearly one hundred hours of exclusive interviews with Richard Ramirez on California's Death Row, THE NIGHT STALKER is the definitive account of American's most feared serial murderer. From Ramirez's earliest brushes with the law to his deadliest stalking expeditions to the unprecedented police and civilian manhunt that resulted in one of the most sensational trials in California history, THE NIGHT STALKER is an eerle and spellbinding descent into the very heart of human evil.
Review:
Research is the strong suit of this book about darkly handsome Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles for 14 months in 1984-85 with his penchant for breaking into homes dressed all in black, where he fiercely assaulted, sodomized, robbed, and (in 13 cases) murdered his victims. Carlo spent more than 100 hours interviewing Ramirez on death row, more than a month in El Paso, Texas, talking to Ramirez's family and friends, and another month hanging out with the two detectives who solved the case. He made visits to all 19 crime scenes in the middle of the night. His narrative maintains a steady focus on Ramirez, drawing no conclusions about his Satanism or his mental pathology and simply letting his appalling deeds and words speak for themselves. The trial and post-trial sections are long but interesting, covering Ramirez's rage attacks and his many "groupies" (one of them a juror!), especially Doreen Lloyd, whom he married in September 1996. (This reviewer found Philip Carlo's book much better than Clifford L. Linedecker's Night Stalker.)
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