Book Description
Praise for Detective Inspector Huss:
"Absorbing, intelligent … holds its own alongside the best feminine hardboiled novels currently being written by Englishwomen Val McDermid and Liza Cody, and our own Sara Paretsky."-Maureen Corrigan, NPR, Fresh Air and The Washington Post Book World
"A truly satisfying police procedural."-The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Another winner."-ALA Booklist
Part of a human torso washes up on a beach near Goteborg, Sweden. It is so mutilated that gender is only established by DNA testing. A similar crime, now several years old, remains unsolved in Denmark. Detective Inspector Irene Huss is dispatched to Copenhagen to liaise with police there in pursuing the killer. Then a third corpse is discovered. This time it's identified. She is a girl Detective Huss knew; she was asked by the girl's mother to locate her missing daughter. The next victim, the son of the woman heading the Copenhagen crime squad, is also known to Huss. She fears the killer is tracking her, killing people with whom she is connected. There is even a chilling suggestion that he or she is one of her colleagues.
Customer Reviews:
Pleasantly Surprised.......2007-07-09
The Torso was recommended to me by a friend. Not being an aficionado of Swedish Crime, I purchased it with some trepidation. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the book. It has an interesting storyline, strong characterisation and clean-simple writing. Although many other crime authors manage to achieve this, what separates Tursten is her ability to weave a "feel" of normal Swedish family life into her story - very interesting. Buy it, you will not be disappointed.
WOW A GREAT READ.......2007-02-17
one of the best mysteries i have read since i real all the henning mankel books...i think this is the best, very involved , good detective work and strong characters that are belieable. .... can;t wait for the next one
Discover a new mystery master!.......2006-12-21
Helene Tursten writes tightly woven, hang-on-the-edge-of-your-seat mysteries, police procedurals at their finest. "The Torso" is her best yet, a blazingly good story set in Sweden that'll keep you glued. If you have grown weary with the cutesy cozy stories that pass for American mysteries today, you will be delighted to discover Ms. Tursten's books. She never lets her readers down. Her protagonist, the very competent Inspector Huss, is more than equal to any challenge that comes her way. Huss is a master at judo, which makes her capable of taking care of herself magnificently in tough spots. Inspector Huss does not go cute, naive, or fragile when things get tough, unlike the formula that our American mystery writers frequently follow for their female sleuths. No, the savvy Huss gets in there and takes care of business, no matter how dirty it might be. Get the book! Enjoy a great read! Helene Tursten can't write fast enough for me.
Excellent view of Swedish life and police procedure.......2006-08-17
Thoughtful mystery full of twists and turns. Strong female detective. Excellent view of Swedish life including tantalizing description of Swedish food at various stops along the way. Intriging view of Danish sex trade. I can hardly wait for the next book!
Tursten takes psychological approach to Scandinavian serial killer.......2006-04-04
Swedish cop Irene Huss makes her second appearance (after "Detective Inspector Huss") with the other members of the Goteborg Violent Crimes Unit when an eviscerated torso turns up on the beach. DNA evidence determines the deceased was male but the only clue to his identity is an expertly crafted tattoo. A similar unsolved crime in Copenhagen, Denmark, takes Irene there where she finds the tattoo's source on a sign for a gay sex shop.
Then a young girl she has been looking for is similarly murdered in Copenhagen and Irene is shaken, feeling responsible. This fear deepens as more murders occur in Irene's wake. Could the killer be a cop? Someone with inside information? Is her family at risk?
The killings themselves are beyond grisly, featuring necrosadism - murder for sexual enjoyment of the mutilation of a dead body - but the focus is more on people and setting than gore.
With elements of Ed McBain's 87th precinct series in the friction, co-operation and competition between the differing personalities of the cop team, and a fascinating glimpse of cultural dynamics in Scandinavia, this is an absorbing, character-driven series. At 40, Irene has a busy, satisfying family life with her chef husband, twin teenage daughters and energetic dog, and a focused dedication, which doesn't mind bending the rules when it suits.
The writing is spare, vivid and atmospheric. This is a series for readers who like procedurals with a strong psychological component.
--Portsmouth Herald
Book Description
After an uninvited guest-an armless and legless torso-crashes a dinner party, Jude enlists Carole's help to investigate the present and past owners of Pelling House, where the torso turned up.
Customer Reviews:
Deja Vu.......2007-04-07
Simon Brett is a clever enough writer that I still enjoyed this third "Fethering" mystery but I must admit that I thought that the plot -- the finding of a mysterious body, personality differences between the two leads Carole and Jude, and snobby English village inhabitants with A Secret -- a bit too reminscent of the first two books in the series. Also, one small detail really nagged at me: one of the characters has been through an acrimonious divorce where her husband left her for another woman and she can't stand him, but she still lets him stay in her flat when the police make him come back to town to be interviewed because he insists that he doesn't want to spend the money on a hotel. Although it is a minor point, it annoyed me: Why would she still bow to his wishes? Overall, though, the book includes enough clever writing and insightful characterization that I still plan to read the rest of the books in the series.
Dinner Party Conversation: Be Sure You Get the Joke.......2007-03-02
One of my best friends is always asking me for new stories he can tell. He loves to use stories to entertain those at the right and left of him at dinner parties. Presumably, if he had actually attended the dinner party that opens up this book, he would never again need another story.
The Torso in the Town is the third Fethering mystery featuring Carole Seddon (mid-fifties divorced, retired Home Office bureaucrat) and her relatively new neighbor Jude (an alternative healer who has no obvious source of income of about the same age). Carole is sedate, introverted, and concerned about appearances. Jude is a full-tilt boogier, loves people, and cannot wait to get involved in whatever is going on. They share a love of solving local mysteries, especially murders, as amateurs.
One of the charms of this series comes in the clever plots that Simon Brett puts together to allow Carole and Jude to get at the facts to make their discoveries. In this case, Jude has been invited to have dinner with old acquaintances who have recently moved to Fedborough, just up the river Fether from Fethering where Carole and Jude live. Before the meal is done, her hosts' son races up to announce that he's found a body in the basement. In rummaging around behind a wall, the boy had located an old box . . . from which dropped a shriveled human torso. Talk about dropping your turkey on the floor in front of your guests on Thanksgiving!
Carole, meanwhile, is licking her wounds after her brief relationship with local pub keeper, Ted Crisp. She feels embarrassed and doesn't want to be seen. This makes Carole even more standoffish than usual. Jude's story of the torso helps Carole ooze out of her hurting shell. It turns out that Carole had recently been consulting an interior decorator who used to live in the home where the torso was found. Carole finds it easy to drop by and find out what she can learn.
From there, the complications are quite humorous as Carole and Jude become Fedborough's newest odd couple in the eyes of the locals. Initial connections lead to pubs, more drinks, a timely dinner invitation, and lots of gossip about who has done what to whom in the past. Carole and Jude also recruit unlikely assistants (including the boy who found the torso) before the book is over.
The ending will probably not surprise you, but it presents far nicer questions of "what if" than most mysteries develop. I liked the ending best of the three books so far in the series. The ironies are pretty entertaining for those who love irony.
This book has a special treat in it for those who have wanted to know what Jude's last name is: You get two clues via the post man.
Good book.......2006-07-14
I love this series. Torso in the Town is not my favorite installment, but it's a good one nonetheless. I think the reason I didn't enjoy this one as much is because the townspeople were either excruciatingly annoying or downright evil. In the other books in the series, the townspeople are just quirky and you like to laugh at them. In this book, there just seemed to be more of a menacing tone. Also, there was poor Carole and her breakup with Ted. The woman isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows on her normal days, so you can imagine what she's like after an embarassing breakup.
All that aside, the plot itself is well written and the mystery is tight and interesting. As usual, the revealing of the culprit is a tantalizingly slow, heart-pounding climax. Brett once again throws red herrings everywhere. I absolutely did not predict the culprit correctly.
So other than my slight disappointment with the characters, I enjoyed this book. I look forward to Stabbing in the Stables, which is coming out in August 2006!
Sleuths' dynamic wearing thin, and too grisly to be considered "cozy".......2006-02-14
I found this too grisley for a supposedly "cozy British mystery." Not only is the murder macabre, but the details are dwelt upon gratuitiously and repeatedly. It's obvious by the third chapter why the body is in the state it's in, so the ending is not the Great Shock it's supposed to be. The only question is: who done it? I don't consider this a book to curl up with before bedtime, if that's what you're looking for.
I enjoyed the previous 2 Fethering Mysteries, and I also enjoyed the Charles Paris series. However, the dynamic here is wearing thin. If one deletes all the references to how New Agey Jude is compared to stick-in-the-mud Carole, the book would probably be 1/3 shorter. This one was a disappointment.
Good "English" mystery!.......2004-06-29
If you've read the first "fethering" mysteries, this book will delight! It's an easy read and has interesting twists. The ending was just a bit thin but, nonetheless, a fun book!
Book Description
This is the case Eliot Ness didn't solve.
During the Depression, the area known as Kingsbury Run on Cleveland's near East Side was filled with the unemployed and homeless who set up shantytowns. It was also the site where the gruesome remains of some of the Torso Killer's victims were found. "In the Wake of the Butcher" presents the history of these unsolved serial killings in exhaustive detail. Sifting through hundreds of original documents, police files (including the previously unseen files of the case's chief investigator Peter Merylo)and coroner's reports, and conducting interviews with surviving primary sources, Badal pieces together the chain of murders and the investigation that ultimately came up short. Illustrated with maps, rare crime scene and morgue photographs, and newspaper photos, "In the Wake of the Butcher" presents its compelling case and brings Cleveland's infamous Torso Murders back into the spotlight.
Customer Reviews:
A grisly Cleveland time capsule.......2007-05-22
Early on in this masterpiece of urban history and crime journalism, James Badal compares Cleveland's Butcher of Kingsbury Run's four-year (at least) career with that of Jack the Ripper, and concludes that the same two ingredients guarantee continued fascination with both cases: atrocious crimes and a perp who is never identified. Does Badal ever demonstrate these with regard to the Butcher! This book would read like fiction if we didn't have Badal's meticulous notes to back it all up. What's more, there is a vivid sense of what it was like to have this slaughter going on in the Great Depression, in some of Cleveland's poorest and most wretched shanty-towns. At the time my family lived in Tremont, just over the river and up the hill from the killing grounds, and now I know one story they didn't pass on to the kids. Badal has done a superb job here. It's horrible and it's convincing.
Careful, thorough research yields inconsistent results.......2007-05-08
I am really torn about this book.
On the one hand, it is the only comprehensive work available that tells this important story in the history of an American city, a story filled with political intrigue, social importance, and of course human tragedy.
On the other hand, it is a book that really does not know what it wants to be. Is it a scholarly study? If so, the political and social significance of the Butcher's rampage are not explored in any meaningful way. Is it a true crime re-enactment? While the author painstakingly re-enacts the known events to the smallest details, the language and presentation rob them of much of the excitement causing a fascinating story to become stale and lifeless at times.
So, in short I do recommend this book despite its short-comings because of the subject matter and the fact that the author has done us the service of providing solid research using the best known sources. However, I actually enjoyed reading the short Crime Library article on the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run more than this book.
Excellent and Riveting! Not for the Squeamish!.......2007-04-15
Look if you get easily squeamish or turned off by the horror of the torso murders in Cleveland also known as the Kingsbury Run Murders, don't read or look at this book. But if you are like me, I like reading true crime no matter how disgusting or shocking as it is. I'm glad the author does use real photos that are quite shocking to those who get squeamish. The writing is excellent because it's detailed and thorough. I like true crime writers who allow us to know everything that the police or authorities know of the crimes. These crimes not only were more similar to the Jack the Ripper case in London but they were far worse because they were more victims in this case that were not as desirable as the Black Dahlia or as interesting as Jack the Ripper. There were victims but they were likely poor, desperate, vagrants, transients, blue collar workers, people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. We still don't know who did these crimes and we'll never really know. DNA and forensics paled back then. I felt bad for Elliot Ness who took charge but never solved the crimes as did other police officers who fought to find this monster who enjoyed decaptitating his victims while they were still alive. It must have been a butcher obsessed with people as well as animals. This book is well-worth the purchase because of all the details. I'm sure there were a lot more but it would be too technical etc. This book by James Jessen Badal who I don't recall as being a true crime author has done a fantastic and brilliant job in his first true crime book about the Cleveland's Kingsbury Run murders. The pictures are spread out rather than in certain pages in the book. Anyway, I hope he writes about other true crime cases in the Cleveland area. Maybe the Sam Sheppard case. Just a suggestion!
Case Closed.......2005-09-19
When Storytellers Media Group decided to produce a true crime series of documentaries - beginning with Ohio's own Torso Murders - we were pleasantly surprised to find that the author of the definitive study on the subject lived right here in Cleveland.
It was Jim Badal's carefully measured narrative that became the on-screen voice for The Fourteenth Victim - Eliot Ness and the Torso Murders, and which has since lent itself to our newest collaboration on the sad tale of missing child Beverly Potts; his book about Beverly is entitled Twilight of Innocence, and the resulting documentary is called Dusk & Shadow.
Unlike some historical true crime studies, Jim does not talk down to his readers and hand them a solution in either book. Instead, he offers the evidence and lets the reader decide - but the hint Badal drops is the size of a late-50s Buick, and it becomes all too clear who even Eliot Ness thought was the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. I won't spoil it for you.
While I had cut my teeth on Ann Rule true crime books, it's Jim Badal's roman noir style of writing he employs for In the Wake of the Butcher - Cleveland's Torso Murders that seems to bring the genre from its solid emotional grounding that informs Rule's books and into a scholarly literary form. At the same time, though, Jim writes in a spare prose that reads like more like a desperate Jim Thompson novel where tragedy unfolds inexorably. You do not want to read Butcher after dark - or, if you're anything like me, perhaps you do!
From the author, James Badal - Der Drache erwacht.......2005-09-13
I appreciate Mr. Beveridge taking the time to "review" my book "In the Wake of the Butcher." I must point out, however, that his allegation that I "ultimately dismiss" Dr. Francis Edward Sweeney as the prime candidate in the series of murder-dismemberments is simply not true. No one who read my book carefully could possibly come to that conculsion. Of course, with over 1,500 online reviews to his credit, Mr. Beveridge probably has precious little time for any sort of reading, careful or otherwise.
Average customer rating:
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The Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick
Brian Vallee
Manufacturer: Key Porter Books
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Torso
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Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal
ASIN: 1552633403 |
Book Description
Young, attractive Evelyn Dick has been sentenced to hang for the murder of her husband, John, whose torso has been found on Hamilton Mountain. His head and limbs have been severed from his body and burned in the furnace of Evelyn's home by her father. The murder trial of Evelyn Dick, one of Canada's most infamous murderers, grabbed headlines across the country in 1946 and 1947. Represented by J.J. Robinette in the ensuing trial, Dick acquitted in what turned out to be one of Canada's most fascinating murder trials ever. However, during the murder investigation police found a suitcase containing the body of Evelyn's baby boy, encased in cement. The best Robinette could do on that charge was a verdict of manslaughter for which she served eleven years in penitentiary. Evelyn Dick's whereabouts have been unknown to the public since her release from prison. If she is alive today, she would be 79 years old. Where has she gone? Could she be living somewhere under an assumed identity? As someone's next-door-neighbour? Writer and world-renowned journalist Brian Valle, after several interviews with police chiefs and journalists who covered the original case, has written a spine-tingling account of what is one of Canada's most infamous murder trials and investigations. With never before published material, The Torso Murder follows up where the criminal system left off. It is a captivating and not-to-be missed read. A one-hour documentary on the life of the famous Torso murderer, and a made-for-television movie will air on CTV in Spring, 2002.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Reading.......2003-08-11
If you've seen the movie, or know of the case, this book provides some interesting information. It is relatively well-written, contains pictures, and is easy to read. I recommend it.
Customer Reviews:
Chilling Murders That Remain A Mystery Today.......2006-09-25
The Kingsbury Run murders were gruesome and the killer seemingly mocked Cleveland, Ohio, Public Safety Director Eliot Ness in executing the perfect crime.
The crimes - still unsolved - were committed in the mid- to late-1930s with the victims surgically butchered; the heads, arms, legs and torsos cut by someone who seemingly had a medical expertise in removing body parts. Only three of the fourteen victims were ever identified.
Ness - who took center-stage in the investigation - was criticized for the inability in finding the killer. Police detective Peter Merylo actually believed that there were at least 40 murders in Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh, Pa., spanning three decades that were perpetrated by the individual.
Torso captures the frustration of Ness and the concerns of the public and city leaders while discussing the various theories and suspects. In as much a political as safety decision, Ness ended up raiding & burning several shantytowns in The Flats to clear out an area where it was felt the murderer could feast on any number of "nameless" victims.
According to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, a film on the murders could be released in 2008. While that may bring new focus - and books - on the crime, Torso will surely remain an outstanding resource for those seeking an understanding of those frightening years.
50% Ness, 50% Serial Killer, but important document!.......2005-03-10
The book's title is somewhat misleading us into believing that the 1930s `The Untouchables' character of Elliot Ness ran a serial killer investigation. Half this book is the life and times of Ness who happened to be Director of Public Safety in Cleveland while his skid row turned up mostly unidentifiable dismembered remains of vagrants, it was Ness who gained the most attention throughout the investigation by eventually burning down the homeless slums of the Kingsbury Run district in an attempt to clean out, tag, and fingerprint potential victims in the making, probably destroying the killer's Cleveland homeless hunting grounds, also a turning point event in Ness's career, a prohibitionist alcohol distillery buster, who once put away the national crime lord Al Capone, sadly failed systematically to progress his ratings with the city, eventually becoming involved in a hit and run accident that cost him an election run as Mayor, the over-hyped but none-the-less interesting account of Ness is all here, but maybe a little bit more than a seasoned non-crime fiction reader would care to expect, means you get only about 100 pages of the Torso investigation, where we concentrate on the city coroner Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo.
Ness comes into play now and again, obviously as a propaganda figurehead designed to play to the media, backfires most of the time he does appear by getting involved in the wrong thing at the wrong time, still had a very high success rate in exposing corruption, and did work on a number of highly constructive policies like getting kids off the streets and stressing the fight against disease, obviously behind the scenes worked with the ""good guy"" force heavies getting all the important political prohibition work done (alcohol prohibition was a failure not because alcohol is safe to use but because prohibition itself actually increases the prohibited drugs risks, usage rates and overall crime goes up because of it, a statistical fact). It is reading the situation of these same propaganda violent cops becoming cold case serial killer squads, even before the term serial killer was used, makes it an absurd situation of bad police management for the 21st century reader to contend with, and was the reason Ness went bust in the end and even more importantly, why the killer got away with so much in the first place.
Thus the investigation in Torso is not like any other, the cops are a different breed (just like out of a comic book meaning useless in real life) and the concept of `stranger killing' was not even present then. The classic book "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden" is based on the police records at Scotland Yard of the investigation at the end of the 19th century, news paper clippings and various memorandums that followed with surprising valid detail (all 500 pages of it). Torso reads like trying to find anything factual as if anyone except the leads could read, write or file reports, pounded and smashed their way across Cleveland in the hopes of stumbling across a sexual sadist who would suddenly admit to picking up homeless people, decapitating them with a large blade while they where asleep and or tying them up beforehand so they could not escape, a paraphiliac, expertly removed all the appendages after death with `knowledge of surgery' and bisected the body, sometimes used chemicals or freezers to keep his victims, would then wrap the pieces and begin his very strange dumping process which ranged from never-found victims, to victim's body parts appearing in the middle of the city for everyone to see, going to great lengths to leave two incomplete victims from different time periods together in the same spot, it stands to reason that Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo would give us a much better angle, and it is with the medical evidence that Gerber comes off as a sort of new-wave criminology serial killer expert, knowingly prevented other coroners from going near the victim's body parts, rightly asserts himself as a scientist in among all the investigative despair, leading some to suspect and challenge Gerber himself, after his conclusions that a recent severed leg was the work of the same hand, this statement exonerated various numbers of peoples who where obviously rotting in jail on suspicion of being the killer.
Merylo correctly guessed that the killer was somewhat mobile in the area and probably moved on after the killings that did not stop at #12, Merylo at the end of his career guessed that it was probably above forty. Dr. Francis E. Sweeney is the mystery Ness suspect not named in this book but the evidence is circumstantial at best. Gerber may have given the investigators a better idea of who there man was if he did not also subscribe himself to propaganda theories (druggie maniac). It is almost a certainty that if the investigators conducted better searches of abandoned train carts that they would have discovered the killer's `laboratory', a series of abandoned carts containing three different bodies that came from Youngstown after being there for almost a year, was almost certainly that unacknowledged lab of his, but Gerber did not examine these bodies. From the victims that could be identified all where prostitutes or homosexuals. The killer probably killed them away from his home, suggesting that he lived homelessly or with a family, certainly hung around the lower classes of society, befriended vagrants and some other loiterers who where happy enough to sleep with him in train carts (if this fact you are reading now had have been known at the start it would have probably prevented more death), resided in the general area and probably killed and mutilated several times before the first official Torso was found, meaning he learned his `surgical skill' that way.
He should have been caught earlier. Torso is a shallow account of the subject matter but still essential non-fiction crime literature.
Cleveland's "Jack the Ripper".......2002-09-16
In the 1930s over a dozen murders were attributed to the "Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run", a ravine that runs through Cleveland Ohio and contains this stream and railroad yards. Most of these bodies were unidentified: headless, the arms, legs, and torso were cut up by someone who knew anatomy or butchering. It was never solved, altho one suspect was made to confess, repudiated this confession, and then found a suicide in jail. Such serial murders were rare in America; earlier serial murderers did it for money and left this trail. No motive was ever established for these murders. Most sex murderers are the product of large cities, which have anonymous victims or perpetrators. Chapter Eleven summarizes these cases.
This book is about the later career of Eliot Ness. After Chicago, he was put in charge of the Alcoholic Tax Unit of norther Ohio. He cleaned out bootleggers, hitting a still every day. Organized crime made Cleveland a safe haven for criminals on the run. Corruption had spread everywhere; neighborhood crime had greatly increased. Harold Burton became mayor, and chose Eliot Ness as Director of Public Safety to oversee the police and firemen. (Burton later became a Senator, a friend of Truman, and was appointed to the Supreme Court.) The ineffectiveness of the police was due to widespread corruption and complacency. With Prohibition gone, Ness prosecuted gambling and union racketeering. Ness cultivated a good relationship with reporters, and got favorable publicity. He tried to purge corrupt policemen but was met with silence. Then a police captain was caught in a cemetery lot racket. Another owned a restaurant which fronted for a gambling room. The bodies found in Kingsbury Run highlighted the corruption.
Cleveland had been the worst city (after Los Angeles) for traffic deaths and injuries. Ness purged the traffic division, began arresting drunk drivers, prosecuted ticket fixing, gave harsher penalties for unpaid fines, and started tougher automobile inspections. Ness promoted traffic safety with a public awareness campaign. He began an Emergency Patrol with first aid training to reach any accident within two minutes. This cut traffic deaths by half, and he received national recognition. Some of the increased traffic fines were put back into the police budget. Squad cars now had two-way radios. A single phone call brought police assistance within 60 seconds. Ness was criticized for wasting tax dollars, but in one year overall crime dropped 38%, robberies by 50%! Public success was followed by private problems: divorce, late night socializing, stories of drinking.
Ness later resigned to join the Federal Social Protection Program during WW 2. Afterwards, he became a businessman but was not successful. His campaign for Mayor of Cleveland flopped. He later met Oscar Fraley and began to write his book. Just before its publication, Ness died of a heart attack; he never knew of its success.
Very good book.......2002-07-07
Not long after his "Untouchables" days, Eliot Ness experienced many successes as Public Safety Director of Cleveland (OH). Unfortunately, capturing the 'Torso Murderer' was not among them. A relatively little known crime, this serial killer haunted Ness' time in Cleveland. This book is both a look at Ness himself after his Chicago accomplishments, and an examination of one of America's greatest unsolved serial killings. If you are interested in either subject, this is an excellent purchase.
Very good........2002-05-31
Very good. Accurate, concise, and interesting. Could have used more elaboration on both the potential connected crimes and the Elliot Ness socialite nut goofiness. Best book on the Kingsbury Run Butcher yet.
Average customer rating:
- My first Bendis, Won't be my Last!
- 1930s Serial Killer Stalks Cleveland
- Very Good. Well Paced and Reads Likea A Novel
- i wish they would have followed through
- Surprisingly deep and detailed.
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Torso
Marc Andreyko
Manufacturer: Image Comics
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ASIN: 1582401748 |
Book Description
Bendis Strikes Again! Cleveland. 1935. Eliot Ness, fresh from his legendary Chicago triumph oer Al Capone and associcates, se his sights on Cleveland. He went on a creusade that matched, and sometimes even surpassed, his past accomplishments. But dismembered body parts started washing up in a concentrated area of Lake Erie Sound. Headless torsos that left no clues to their identity or reason for death. Eliot Ness and his colorful gang of THE UNKNOWNS chased this killer through the underbelly of Cleveland for years. As far as the public ws concerned, he was never captured. But what really happened is even more shocking. This award winning series is finally collected into this handsome edition. Also included is material never seen before and a photo essay of the actual murders.
Customer Reviews:
My first Bendis, Won't be my Last!.......2006-07-11
I've heard good things about Brian Michael Bendis and finally got around to reading one of his works. Torso is a graphic novel that tells the true-crime story of a 1930s serial killer at work in Cleveland, Ohio, who leaves mutilated bodies around town with feet, hands and heads removed. At the same time, the city has hired famous lawman Eliot Ness to come from Chicago to clean up their corrupt city, starting with the police force.
The story moves between Ness and his work in dealing with the press, politicos, and cleaning up the city, to the two detectives who are primarily working the Torso case. There are personal and interpersonal developments with all the main characters, but the thrust of the story is a police procedural, so these are left in the background for the most part, which is appropriate given the choice Bendis is making in telling his story. As a second level they give a nice amount of texture to the main story and get you to care more about the main characters.
Bendis makes it clear at the end of the book that much of what he has presented is based in fact and provides some of the sources for art and photos that appeared throughout the story. This was neat to see some of where the story came from but left me a bit frustrated as to what was made up, particularly in terms of the climax of the story. But I was okay with that. As in real police work, all questions aren't always answered when the case is wrapped, and sometimes the best you can do to close a case is to identify the perpetrator, even if you can't charge him or her.
For the most part I also loved the art style. I loved the cinematic aspects of it, and the heavy black and white style fit perfectly with a story set in the 1930s. I also loved the way real photographs were blended with drawn art, often as backgrounds showing real Cleveland settings, underscoring the theme that this is the author's embroidering (by imagining conversations) on real people and a real time. Occasionally it was hard to tell characters apart, especially Ness and the detectives, and I sometimes had to retrace a series of dialogue balloons to figure out who was saying what, but I was okay with that.
On the whole, it was a great read, and a quick one, as I read it in one sitting, but I'll definitely revisit it and look for more of Bendis' work. One minor complaint--my book was bought new but the last page is already coming unglued from the binding, so this book will have to be treated with care as the binding appears somewhat fragile.
1930s Serial Killer Stalks Cleveland.......2005-12-16
I'm not usually that interested in serial killers, be they real or fictional, but I'll check out almost any graphic novel, and so I picked this up from the library recently. The book is a fictional recasting of the grisly "Torso Killer" murders that took place in Cleveland roughly between 1935-39. One aspect that makes it a touch more interesting is the involvement of Elliot Ness, fresh from his legendary "Untouchables"-leading, Capone-busting successes in Chicago. After the end of Prohibition, Ness left the G-men and was hired in 1935 by the city of Cleveland as Director of Public Safety. This coincided almost exactly with the emergence of a gruesome serial killer who decapitated and often dismembered his victims, leaving most of the remains in or near Lake Erie Sound. (Note: Contrary to what some reviewers have written, this was hardly the first serial killer in America. The first reliably documented serial killer operated in the 1890s in Chicago and was the subject of a very entertaining recent book, Devil in the White Castle.)
The story documents the initial investigation by a pair of tough-talking police detectives while Ness is busy purging the police department of corrupt cops. However, as the corpses start mounting up, the mayor forces Ness to take charge of the Torso case. The bulk of the book is then a pretty straightforward police procedural, as Ness and the lead detectives pursue various angles. The most notable of these is Ness' controversial decision to clear out a large shantytown of unemployed people and burn it to the ground in order to deny the killer an easy target population. The investigation is handled pretty well, with good pacing and great dialogue peppered with plenty of period slang. Personal lives are woven in, somewhat less successfully, as Ness' marriage crumbles and one of the detectives reveals a shocking secret. These subplots feel kind of tacked on and underwritten. The climax falters a little bit as well, as the writers deviate slightly from reality in order to create an action-packed finale which never happened. However, the real suspect (Dr. Francis E. Sweeney) was interrogated by Ness, and was protected by political family, and did more or less elude justice as the book depicts.
The artwork is pretty interesting, incorporating period photographs and documents into the bold black and white artwork. Some of the layouts and paneling are quite creatively done (especially the interrogation sequence), although one section which requires turning the book sideways for several spreads is really awkward and annoying. A section at the end provides additional original photos and documents relating to the case, which are interesting, but need more context. The book really needs a few pages where it is explained what is real and what the writer invented or rearranged (for example, in real life, the postcards taunting Ness weren't sent until after the killings stopped), and what happened to Ness and the suspect and detectives over the rest of their lives. Since this series came out, a large number of original police files were discovered following the death of one of the lead detectives and several other works have appeared, including two books (In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders and Torso: Eliot Ness and the Search for a Psychopathic Killer) and a documentary (The Fourteenth Victim - Eliot Ness and the Torso Murder). Overall, well worth checking out.
Very Good. Well Paced and Reads Likea A Novel.......2005-03-28
I wrote a terrible, scathing review of Bendis's "Goldfish" title. It was so bad that I considered asking for my $ back but didn't. It took me several months to muster up enough courage to read anything else by this nationally acclaimed author. I'm glad I did. Torso is based on non-fiction accounts of Elliot Ness's post-Untouchables exploits in Cleveland and deals exclusively with the "Torso case" which he never solved and remains unsolved to this day. It's well researched, well plotted, and the art is 100,000 times better than Goldfish. This story will keep you guessing and keep you turning the pages all the while witha bit of sadness in your heart for the poor Elliot Ness who never quite received the accolades he deserved in life. The only reason I give it a 4 and not a 5 is that some of the dialogue is dated and stereotyped and it gets a tad dry in places.
i wish they would have followed through.......2004-01-15
despite being very well paced, stylishly presented and interestingly plotted, "torso" suffers from a disapointing conclusion. the book should have been about 1/3 longer to fully develope the characters and themes presented, especially simon's revelation near the end. ness's relationship with his wife didnt come into play as much, nor was it as important as it was meant to be. i really wanted all the the personal attributes of the charaters to be more definately linked to the story and to be more fully developed. i would have been fine with it being simply a "cops and robbers" story, since up to a point, it works fantastically in that regard. but the climax is over before i had time really get excited, souring the story's thriller aspect. i really liked the drawing style combined with the old photos. they both helped to give the story a surreal feel, which complimented the over-the-top nature of the plot itself. but at the end it almost felt as though the authors got sick of writing it making for a very disapointing outcome. **1/2
Surprisingly deep and detailed........2004-01-07
Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko, Torso (Image Entertainment, 1997)
Sometimes it seems like every city wants to claim a serial killer. Look at the number of municipalities who seem almost proud that Jeffrey Dahmer spent a portion of his upbringing in them; Akron, Ohio, just down the road from me, is one of them. A little closer to home and a little farther away in time, though, Cleveland was the home (and may still be...) of one of the most notorious serial killers active in the first half of the twentieth century: the Torso killer.
Bendis and Andreyko brought the Torso Killer, and Elliott Ness' hunt for him, to stark, ugly life in the series of comic books that has since been collected in this graphic novel. All those faults I found in Doran's A Distant Soil are absent here; Bendis and Andreyko know exactly what they're doing with keeping the reader up to speed with what's going on with each character, know exactly how much they can fit into any given page without overwhelming the reader's sensibilities, and did meticulous research on the case (living in Cleveland, it's kind of hard to get away from the details; the Torso Killer is one of our local public television station's favorite subjects). Only a piece of the ending has been shifted from the way the actual case went, presumably for dramatic effect.
But the book does not just stop at the Torso Killer, delving into the private lives of some of the folks who worked on the case, as well. The result is a cast of well-drawn characters, a good (and faithful, for the most part, to the truth) story, intriguing artwork, a fine script, and a bang-up mystery. How can you possibly go wrong? *** ½
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Grabb's Encyclopedia of Flaps: Torso, Pelvis and Lower Extremities
Berish Strauch ,
Luis O. Vasconez , and
Hall-Findlay
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0781714664 |
Book Description
Now in its thoroughly updated Second Edition, this classic work is the most comprehensive reference ever published on surgical flaps for reconstructing defects in the torso, pelvis, and lower extremities. In 180 clearly organized chapters, internationally recognized surgeons describe and illustrate every clinically proven flap option available for repairing every routine and unusual defect. Complementing the text are hundreds of clinical photographs and diagrams of anatomy, blood supply, flap design, and operative procedures.The Second Edition features 40 new chapters by experts who have made landmark contributions to the recent literature. Many chapters from the previous edition have been completely revised, and chapters describing flaps that have not proven clinically reliable have been deleted. Wherever appropriate, the editors have added editorial comments to guide the reader in selection of flaps.The book is extensively indexed and organized by anatomic region, and chapters follow a uniform format that clearly presents all the information needed on each flap -- indications, anatomy, blood supply, surgical techniques, complications, safeguards to keep in mind, and advantages and disadvantages of the flap. From this remarkably complete collection of clinical information, surgeons can select with confidence the best flap for safe, predictable, and aesthetically acceptable results.
Customer Reviews:
GENIUS BOOK.......2001-06-10
WONDERFULLY WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BOOK WHICH KEEPS THE PLEASURE TO READ ALL ALONG
Customer Reviews:
Invocation, Invitation and Incantation.......2003-09-04
"The cone's shadow of earth fell into space, and into, other than space, the third heaven. In the third heaven are the living unriven truths, climax tranquil in Venus. Merlin and Brisen heard, as in faint beelike humming round the cone's point, the feeling intellect hasten to fasten on the moving earth's hide. In the third heaven the stones of the waste glimmered like summer stars." That's the only poetry I can recite and I probably got it wrong. It's from Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, Williams' two cycles of Arthurian poetry (here in one volume). Without reading C.S.Lewis' commentary in Arthurian Torso (also in this volume)I wouldn't know what he meant, but these lines have something most poetry doesn't; they sound like an incantation, pulsing with power and vision. Like everything Williams wrote, they seem to pull you into another place and the walls between the two worlds dissolve. That's the effect of hearing these poems. Understanding them is another matter. Numerous critics have pointed out that they're rather hard to understand; C.S. Lewis penned his significant commentary in an effort to make Williams' last (and unfinished) poems accessible to a wider audience. He brilliantly succeeded both in opening these poems to the reader and showing how they complement Williams' other writings and echo his ideas. Lewis couldn't keep these two cycles from going out of print, but this Eerdmans volume, scarce as it is, gives credence to Williams' self-penned epitaph, "Poet, Under the Mercy."
Bad Poetry but Great Commentary.......2000-04-05
This book comes in four parts 1)Taliessin through Logres (collection of Charles Williams' poems about the Arthurian saga as seen through the eyes of the court poet Taliessin) 2)The Region of the Summer Stars (more of Williams' poems about the Holy Grail) 3)Arthurian Torso, consisting of a) Charles Williams prose work on the history of the Grail/Arthurian legend, entitled The Figure of Arthur, and b)C.S. Lewis's commentary on Williams' poetry, entitled Williams and the Arthuriad. A fine introduction by Mary McDermott Shideler accompanies the Eerdmans edition of this work.
I found Arthurian Torso to be the best part of the book by far. By itself, it deserves a five star rating. Williams traces the fascinating history of the Grail with the legend of King Arthur and the Round Table using a combination of scholarly acumen and lucid tutorial explanations. In other words, it is both accurate and understandable. Lewis, in turn, adds insightful commentary about both the Arthurian saga and Williams' poems on the subject. Lewis's wisdom and lucid prose are as delightful to read on this matter as they are about other subjects he tackled.
Unfortunately, I think the poetry will appeal to very few people. I give it a one star quality (which, when combined with the five star quality of the Arthurian Torso give the book an overall rank of three.) Even C.S. Lewis admits that Williams' biggest fault is his obscurity. (There are times when even such a scholar as Lewis - who not only loved the Arthurian legend, who adored poetry, and who had discussed this poetry at length with Williams himself - found himself puzzled by parts of it, describing parts of it as "cryptic", or saying "I end in doubts" or "There are things in this piece which I do not understand.")
I was unmoved by this poetry. It was like trying to read something in an unfamiliar language - no meaning was conveyed.
So all in all, this book receives a mixed review. If the Arthurian legend interests you, then this work is worth obtaining, simply for the Arthurian Torso section of it. If you get anything out of the poetry, it will be a bonus.
The deepest, most richly-layered poetry I have ever read........1997-04-19
This poetry takes some time to master, but it is well worth the effort. It recounts the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom from the point of view of Taliessin, the court poet. The non-linear lyric pieces are a perfection of the craft; especial standouts are "Taliessin's Song of the Unicorn," and "The Queen's Servant." Perhaps if enough people become familiar with this hard-to-find classic, it will reappear in print! All lovers of Arthuriana: this is a must.
Tawny M. Goswitz
Book Description
The ARROWS OF MARS: Ultimate V-Torso! Workout Program is the world's first scientific, customizable and drug-free approach to perfecting the male physique. It defines complex terminology and custom-designs your workouts by taking your current girth measurements as the starting point to form exercise "prescriptions." These prescriptions or somatic cache points create highly efficient, specialized workouts to aesthetically balance your physique, but still allows you to continue your favorite training style, with an emphasis on proper technique. Because it instructs universal safety and determines the right amount of the right type of calories to support your desired level of change, it helps intelligent men to make intelligent choices that will always work, while keeping you motivated and entertained all at the same time. It's like having a personal trainer with you everywhere you go! In doing so, it becomes an exercise bible that continues to enhance your physique the longer you use it. The ARROWS OF MARS: Ultimate V-Torso! Workout Program - It's the perfect workout to create the perfect man. 5 Good Reasons to Buy this Book! If you find your body stuck at a plateau and need results now! - Buy this book! If you find yourself lost at the supplement store and can't decide what's best for "you" - Buy this book! If you find yourself tired of beating your head against the wall because all the models in every fitness book and magazine look equally awesome, but give conflicting information and can't figure out which style is best for "you" - Buy this book! If you find yourself in dire need of a concise resource that's exciting, reliably informative and, yet easy to understand - Buy this book If you want to build customized training programs that are guaranteed to improve your physique each and every time you workout - -Buy this book!
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The Thames Torso Murders of Victorian London
R. Michael Gordon
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0786413484 |
Book Description
The Thames Torso Murders have been overshadowed by Jack the Ripper and his crimes, but were just as brutal and gruesome. They began in 1887 in London's East End, just north of the Thames River in Rainham, England. The killer took one victim that year, another in 1888, and two more in 1889. He resumed his crimes in 1902, taking his last victim south of the Thames and leaving her body in a pile of dismembered parts as he had done with most of his other victims.
This work delves deep into the case of the Thames Torso Murders. It begins with a look at London in the late 1800s, a time of great confusion and tremendous population increase, and the killer's path to London, which seems to include a murder in Paris in 1886. The book then examines in great detail each murder and the investigation that may have been hindered by the search for Jack the Ripper. It also raises the idea that Jack the Ripper and the Torso Murderer may have been the same man--Severin Klosowski, better known as George Chapman, the Borough Poisoner. It ends with an examination of Serial Killers; the Ripper, Torso, and Borough Poisoner murder cases; the search for clues to the serial killer responsible for the five Thames Torso murders; and Wolff Levisohn, a dark horse who seems to have known much about all three sets of murders, testified at Chapman's murder trial, and then faded away as Chapman was sent to the gallows.
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