Books Reviews

The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper – Book Review

By Angela Youngman Dec 3, 2012, 15:49 GMT

A new suspect for the role of Jack the Ripper -- in his own words. This memoir was recently discovered and appears to have been written in the 1920s by someone who asserts that he was Jack the Ripper. This person is James Carnac. This memoir written shortly before his death is an account of his entire life, including a few short months in 1888 when he became the murderer known to ...more

The story of Jack the Ripper has become one of the most well documented and most discussed real crime stories in history.  By comparison with some modern serial killers, his list of victims was quite small. It was the sheer brutality linked to the growing power of the newspapers desire to drive sales figures which led to the Ripper murders gaining so much prominence. 

No one was ever arrested for the murders. There were numerous suspects including a royal prince - but no one would ever say for certain just who was Jack the Ripper.  Now a book has been issued which claims to put an end to that identity question.  Is it a work of fiction or reality?  That is hard to decide. 

This book claims to be a lost manuscript belonging to a man who claimed to be Jack the Ripper.  Even the way the story came to light is entertaining - it was offered to a toy museum as part of a collection belonging to the creator of Toytown and Larry the Lamb! 

According to Ripper specialist Paul Begg who writes the introduction to this autobiography, it does contain new information about Tottenham and the intricate geography of Whitechapel in 1888, as well as information about aspects of the case which were not in the public arena at the time. 

Definitely intriguing and interesting.  Anyone interested in the Ripper stories will be fascinated by this book - it is up to each reader to make up their own minds as to the truth