UBC: Wambaugh, The Blooding

The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So, this is not one of Wambaugh's better books. It doesn't have the inspiration that infuses The Onion Field, and it doesn't have that breezy almost-satirical edge that I find amusing in Fire Lover and Echoes in the Darkness. It's rote Wambaugh, the crimes, the local color, the sympathetic portraits of the police officers. He's still a good writer, and this is a perfectly competent true crime book, but there's nothing that makes it feel like it isn't made of interchangeable parts.

It's interesting because it's about the murders of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth and the massive hunt for their murderer, Colin Pitchfork, who has the distinction of being the first person convicted of murder on DNA evidence. So from a crimino-historical perspective, worth reading. But part of my brain was muttering the whole time, Dude, you can do better than this and we both know it.



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