Night Stalker

"I'm your night prowler, break down your door I'm your night prowler, crawling 'cross your floor I'm your night prowler, make a mess of you, yes i will Night prowler, and i am telling this to you There ain't nothing you can do" AC-DC's "Night Prowler" (1979) From to 17 March to 8 August 1985, fourteen people were murdered and mutilated, with others surviving horrific ordeals. This was a serial killer, who in the case of couples, killed the man first, and if the woman was lucky, her too, as many left alive suffered even more. What initially puzzled the LA police was that the victims cut across race lines. Even though the first victims were Oriental or East Asian, the addition of dead Anglos put paid that theory. But what set the killings apart from the usual convenience store shootings was their sheer savagery, as one of the victims had her eyes plucked out. Another victim bravely spoke to him after her ordeal so she could remember his face should he be caught. Clifford Linedecker's account of Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, is a well-detailed account that takes the reader from the first victim, to his being sentenced to death by a California jury, and even a to-date postscript, showing that he is still on death row. The book delves into more than just the killings themselves. Linedecker explains the race and population demographics in LA as a background. LA is such a racially diverse place, that various race groups formed their own enclave in the metropolis, such as the Japanese and Chinese in Cerritos, the Thais and Salvadorans in Hollywood Hills, and Mexicans in east. It's also such an economic powerhouse that it could be an independent country if it chose. Night Stalker also details the working of the press and how things haven't changed since the days of Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde, that of making killers into heroes. In this case, it was the Los Angeles Herald Examiner that gave Ramirez his well-known monicker, The Night Stalker. And the methodology used by detectives in tracking down serial killers-Wayne Williams and the Atlanta Child Murders is used as the example-is included. If anything, Ramirez turned LA residential areas into fortresses. Demand for guns, security systems, fences, and guard dogs skyrocketed, Neighbourhood Watches sprouted like duckweed, and any unfamiliar person in the neighbourhood were reported. In fact, one husband gave his wife a cyanide pill should the Night Stalker break in, figuring that death was better than what he would do to her. But what also amazed me was the relative laxness in home security. Ramirez entered via unlocked doors. Why not just put a sign on the door saying "Hey, Night Stalker, kill and torture me"? Another chapter delves into the clues and how they weave into past history and the prevalent pop culture. Ramirez's AC-DC cap fuelled the fire of heavy metal being the devil's music, and all amid the teen suicides that took place because parents blamed albums by Ozzy O

The Night Stalker has the tendency to keep you on the edge of your seat. There's no way possisble to not finish this book. You will learn more about what happened in LA in this one book than anywhere else. It is very detailed in what had happened to all his victims and it puts you in the victim's families place. I highly recommend this book but only if you're into true crime.

I think Cliff Linedecker has an annoying habit of writing a promising book and then not filling it in with details. I have a feeling Phil Carlo's book will be better detailed, since it is about 600 pages. While this does have some good points, Linedecker seems to have done his rush to print style, such as his earlier work about John Wayne Gacy. However, I enjoyed this as a quick and easy distraction from the hard days at school; I think any serious student of true crime will agree when I say this isn't the definitive Ramirez story ( You will enjoy the Satanism in America chapter as well as the later one about the lawyers and the press; those are both very rewarding).