The Complete and Essential Jack the Ripper

by Paul Begg, John Bennett

Discover the truth behind the myth in The Complete Jack the Ripper by Paul Begg and John Bennett.

Whitechapel, 1888: a spate of brutal murders becomes the most notorious criminal episode in London's history. The killer, chillingly nicknamed 'The Whitechapel Murderer', 'Leather Apron' and, most famously, 'Jack the Ripper', is never brought to justice for the slaughter and mutilation of at least five women in the slums of East London. But the mystery is deepened by a letter sent "From Hell" to Scotland Yard, accompanied by half of a preserved human kidney...

In this comprehensive account of London's most infamous killer, the foremost authorities on the case explore the facts behind the most grisly episode of the Victorian era. Setting the scene in the impoverished East End, the authors' meticulous research offers detailed accounts of the lives of the victims and an examination of the police investigation. The Complete Jack the Ripper is the definitive book by Paul Begg and John Bennett, exploring both the myth and reality behind the allusive killer.


Paul Begg and John Bennett are researchers and authors, widely recognized as authorities on Jack the Ripper. Paul Begg's books include Jack the Ripper: The Facts, Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History, and he is a co-author of The Jack the Ripper A to Z.

John Bennett has written numerous articles and lectured frequently on Jack the Ripper and the East End of London. He has acted as adviser to and participated in documentaries made by television channels worldwide and was the co-writer for the successful Channel 5 programme Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Story. He is author of E1: A Journey Through Whitechapel and Spitalfields and co-author of Jack the Ripper: CSI Whitechapel.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2013

About the author

Paul Begg is acknowledged worldwide as one of the leading authorities on the Jack the Ripper mystery. He has worked in newspapers, television and publishing. He has written extensively on Jack the Ripper, including Jack the Ripper: The Uncensored Facts, Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History and Jack the Ripper: The Facts. He is also the author of Into Thin Air, The Scotland Yard Files and Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea. Paul was formerly the editor of the Ripperologist magazine and has appeared as an historical advisor on several television programmes.

Reviews

[Sarah Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did what I needed it to, ie give me an indication of life and death that summer and took me through both the canonical and contextual victims. Attention to detail good.
A thoroughly readable book; I may come back to it for the rest of the argument at some future date

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book which covers the crimes, the suspects and the theories but doesn't expect you to accept that the author has solved the ultimate question.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated with the Jack the Ripper case, but have never done much reading beyond cursory examinations of the Wikipedia page on the tragedies. The cover and overall form factor of this book seemed to me to hint at its being a rather sensationalized, cheap depiction or portrayal of the case, and so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't quite so. The book is laid out in three useful sections: the first details the events of each of the murders; the second delves into the most prominent theories surrounding the killings and the identity of the killer; and the third elaborates on elements of the Ripper mythology that have sprung up, and traces their origins. All in all the information presented here is rather straightforward and seemingly unbiased. Particularly in the first section, everything is stated very matter of factly, with emphasis placed on the facts of the case versus interpretation. That is saved for the second part, where the authors very carefully assess the bevy of Ripper literature available today and over the past several decades. Here the book really shines in its commentary on how people approach the problem of solving the murders and identifying the killer, and how these various methods have at times grown out of the cultures and times in which they are deployed.

All in all I was rather pleasantly surprised with the quality of this book and its analysis, as well as its prose. What I thought was going to be a fairly tawdry reading experience turned out to be quite informative and even thought-provoking, if not about Jack himself, then about the culture and world in which he operated--and which we all operate in today.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and solid research based book. Enjoyed the breakdown into three parts: the murders; the theories; and the myth. True crime books are often horrible to read, not because of the content but because of their sensational tendencies. This book was balanced, respectful and informative without being boring.

[Alecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided me with a wealth of knowledge about Jack the Ripper, that I wasn’t initially aware of before picking this book up. It was an easy and extremely informative read. I highly recommend it do any and all people fascinated by the Jack the Ripper case.

[Layla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, always been fasanaited by Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 London... this book didn’t disappoint.... all Paul’s books are extremely well researched.. love his writing,,, will read anything about Jack the Ripper....

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first part but the second and third we’re not what i expected. I probably should have researched the book more and realised it was less story telling and more just the myths and how its been portrayed in media.

[randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is the 1st book i read on j.r.. the author deals with the facts and some of the false information on the subject.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
I really loved the information about jack the ripper and I've learned a lot more new things! I would really recommend it if you're into serial kilers

[Lucy Gould · Rating 4 out of 5]

The content was fascinating but the writing style was hard to get through, very formal and dull.

[Ranadip Sikdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

London 1888. Whitechapel District. Adjacent to a port this is where the lower working class of london 19th century belonged. Home to the Sewage cleaners, bottom manufacturers, poster makers, day labourers, The Whitechapel district, together with the East End, was an embarrassment to the elite London society, a breeding ground for criminals, prostitutes, and layabouts; a centre for depravity, degradation and disease. The immigrants, including the Jews, from different parts of the world coming to settle in the then greatest city of earth found themselves in the workhouses, crowded around 30-60 renters per building with a common kitchen. But something wrong was going on the dark gas-lit streets in that foggy autumn. The mutilated bodies of prostitutes are found on after another in the streets backyards staircases, dark alleys of Commercial Street, Buck’s row, mitre square of the district. Some believed it was a maniac running loose and some believed it was a ghost who floats around with a knife in hand and choosing its victims among the unfortunates strolling at night for some money. Nevertheless no women in the city felt safe. The killer would not only cut their throats but also take out various organs from the body only to be discovered at the morgue. The case fell upon the Scotland Yard detective Mr. Abberline, only to remain unsolved even after a centenary. Anonymous letter started to come in the press and police departments and one of the famous ones was the ‘ dear boss’ letter from ‘JACK THE RIPPER’. This is only name that’s still accounted for the killer.
The murders abruptly stopped as it has begun. Many theorists then and now concluded that the mad man or men actually died or was/were arrested unknowingly. The then police authority thought that the killer(s) had some knowledge of the anatomy. Many thought it was a Jew immigrant as no English man can do this. But after a centenary of speculation and myths which now shrouds the case, the two famous ripperologist Paul Begg and John Bennet brought ‘THE COMPLETE AND ESSENTIAL JACK THE RIPPER’ in which they unwind the myths from the actual case describing in detail the last known whereabouts of the unfortunate victims and the discovery of their mutilated bodies by the watchmen roaming the streets with lanterns. The event was highlighted by local national and international press and even queen Victoria commented on the murder.
This book is divided into two parts; the first sited the detailed account of the event obtained from then police files and media coverage and the next will differentiate the actual account and the myths and theories that got along with the murders. Written beautifully in simple language it’s very hard to drop. A must read for all crime enthusiasts.

[Iben · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Complete and Essential Jack the Ripper is as the title suggests a book about Jack the Ripper.
It is split up into three parts: The Whitechapel Murders, Theories and Mythologies.

The first part, which is the longest, is essentially what happened back in 1888-1889. It gives us the stories of nine possible Jack the Ripper murders. We are told how each body was found, who they were, how they spent their last day. In total as much as we probably know about the victims. And we are told how the press and the public reacted.
I really liked this part. It was my favorite, and also the reason why I read this book. It is written very factually, I could maybe have wished that it was a little relatable, but I guess that is hard when it was so long ago, we don't know that much and it has to be completely factual.
What this part was missing for me though was a map. I have lived in London for half a year, but I don't think I know any of the streets (I should say that street names might not be my forte). I just think this would have been an easy way to make the book more accessible.

The second part was about all the theories that has benn put forth since the murders began up until now.
This was all right, I did want to hear some theories, but maybe I didn't need that many. And the way the authors assumes that the reader remembers every single peripheral charecter and also every single theory didn't work for me. It was very hard to keep everybody straight. Especially when a new theory was refered to as a remake of a previous one and nothing else.
But there were some really interesting ideas over the years, and it was fun to read about the changes in theories as the times change and as more information became avaliable.

The third and final part was weird to me. I guess it was about the legend of Jack the Ripper and how he is still remembered, but I found this part to be all over the place.
There was a chapter on how Women Against Violence Against Women were against many of things happening around the centennial anniversary. Then there was a chapter that just seemed to list all the movies and tv-shows about Jack the Ripper, something I would have been just as happy looking up on wikipedia.
There were some gold nuggets in this part, but overall it just seemed like an afterword gone out of control. I think it would have benefited from being shortened and made into a epilogue.

So all in all I thought the book was great in the beginning and then got a little more boring as it got along. I would recomend it if you want to know about Ripper, but know that the latter part of the book is more suited to be skimmed.

[Simon Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading "Did She Kill Him? about murder of James Maybrick in 1889, got intrigued about Jack the Ripper as Maybrick was purported to be a be a suspect. He certainly ticks boxes - shady character, frequent trips to London, good timing etc.

I'm not a true crime afficianado, but this book seemed to be a perfect introduction and summary about the Jack the Ripper case, about which I realised I knew very little.

It tells the story in a "just the facts, ma'am" way in the first half. It then analyses the possible suspects. The bit at the end about the Ripperology industry is also interesting as well - not something that I'd personally explore, but if an item came up on TV or similar, I'd now feel well-placed to follow it after reading this book.

[Stephen Dedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something of a misnomer: while it arguably does provide the most essential information on the Ripper murders, it's much less complete than several other books in my collection (including one co-authored by Begg, my reason for buying this rather slim volume). It would, however, be an excellent introduction to the topic, and it is commendably up-to-date in its discussion of how the Ripper has become a legendary figure and one of the East End's best-known characters. The book doesn't claim to solve the mystery, though it does dismiss a few of the more widely publicized claims, and refers readers to the internet if they want to consider the more than 300 suspects that have been suggested.

[Samrat Sen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and mundane are the two words i'd like to describe this book as.
The initial 40% if the book good , when the books takes you along the dark alleys of East end London, and the Ripper's modus operandi on his victims. But after that this book plumments down to the depths of hell.

The authors did very well in accumulating the information, but they ended up giving too much information which makes reading this book a very tedious process. It was an ordeal to say the least. There is no proper narrative, lack of fluidity. Extremely dry and boring read.

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only saving grace about this book was the subject matter.
I appreciate that the authors are experts in their field but there was no depth or life to this. I had a hard time.imaging any of the people talked about actually existed and felt bombarded with information but by the end no more knowledgeable than before I started. This was very clinical and unfortunately made a very interesting series of events feel very boring and mundane.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in just over a day as for non fiction was gripping. I still don't know who "Jack" is although there was lots of theory's in the book. The one thing that is interesting though is the concept of "Jill" the ripper as everyone assumed it was a man and midwives were everywhere in London in 1888 so the mind boggles.....

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent overview and introduction, and one with no axe to grind, but there are more comprehensive books, including one or two by Begg. Feels like it was written in haste and carelessly towards the end.

[Meikoningin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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