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Summary
"I promise that you've never read anything like The Most Dangerous Animal of All. Mesmerizing from the first page, the story includes a shattering surprise that will sear itself in your memory. Be prepared to read non-stop; this really is a book you won't be able to put down." --Jeff Guinn, author of Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
An explosive and historic New York Times bestseller of true crime and an emotionally powerful and revelatory memoir of a man whose ten-year search for his biological father leads to a chilling discovery: His father is one of the most notorious-and still at large-serial killers in America
Soon after his birthmother contacted him for the first time at the age of thirty-nine, adoptee Gary L. Stewart decided to search for his biological father. It was a quest that would lead him to a horrifying truth and force him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about himself and his world.
Written with award-winning author and journalist Susan D. Mustafa, The Most Dangerous Animal of All tells the story of Stewart's decade-long hunt for his father following a complex trail of startling twists and connections. Combing through government records and news reports and through conversations with his father's relatives and friends, Stewart turns up a host of clues, including forensic evidence, identifying his father as one of the most infamous and still-wanted serial killers in American history.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
When an author purports to have uncovered the truth about a notorious unsolved series of murders, let alone that the killer was his own father, it's vital to establish credibility from the outset; unfortunately, Stewart's concession that the narrative "of [his] father's early life" is fictionalized gets things started badly. The unreliability of those sections is a significant drawback that engenders skepticism long before Stewart presents any evidence to support his claim that his biological father, who abandoned him as an infant, was responsible for the murders that terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s. And that evidence is far less impressive than Stewart believes-a resemblance between a wanted poster's image and a picture of his father, a tortured interpretation of a coded message, some ambiguous partial fingerprint, and handwriting evidence. The motive for the crimes-ostensibly the enactment of revenge fantasies on young women resembling Stewart's mother-is also unconvincing, as the author fails to even address the killing of a cabbie that could not have been so motivated. The kicker is the decision to publish before DNA test results are available that could significantly strengthen or weaken the theory. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An adopted Louisiana engineers search for his biological roots results in a shocking, highly controversial connection to the Zodiac Killer.With its details legally vetted and enshrouded in pre-publication secrecy, Stewarts head-turning memoir, skillfully co-written by veteran true-crime journalist Mustafa, explores how the search for personal truth can sometimes unearth unexpected results. Though his adoptive parents loved him unconditionally, the author still felt discarded, plagued by crippling feelings of insecurity and abandonment. At 39, Stewart writes of being contacted by his birth mother, Judy Gilford, a runaway who became pregnant by an older, seductive man. The author, ecstatic at their reunion, began journaling his experience, which soon included an intensive, obsessive search for his father, who he believes to be Earl Van Best Jr., a statutory rapist Stewart would soon discover had abandoned him in a Baton Rouge apartment building stairwelland who he believes went on to become a notorious murderer. The narrative begins to build suspenseful momentum only after early sections that re-create Bests fractured childhood and early adulthood (heavily influenced, claims Stewart, by notorious Satanist Anton LaVey). Then the author chronicles the ensuing killing spree, encrypted communications and police-taunting media spectacle that immortalized him as the Zodiac Killer. The author painstakingly pieces together over a decades worth of personal research and verbatim interviews with family, friends and law enforcement, then goes further to scrutinize and compare handwriting samples, police sketches and photographs, all bearing uncanny resemblances to recorded documentation from the Zodiac files. Stewart soberingly remarks that while the burden of DNA proof remains elusive, the closure he has received with his personal investigation has satisfactorily provided the truth about my life.High-minded speculation and documented assumptions are the building blocks of Stewarts convincing memoir; whether perceived as the byproduct of shrewd spadework or a fertile imagination, the authors family history offers chilling and credible correlations. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Adoptee Stewart started to look for his biological father. He found out eventually that some mysteries are best left unsolved. The book, written with journalist Mustafa, is broken up into two parts: the first half is the tale of Earl Van Best Jr.'s life, or, as Stewart believes, the life of the Zodiac Killer. The second part chronicles how Stewart came to this conclusion by going through his father's journals, doing his own research, and interviewing the man's close family and friends. The result is a fascinating occupation that is unsettling as the reader sees how the author slowly realizes that the blood running in his veins likely comes from a man who terrorized the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Stewart makes a compelling case, and the text is certainly entertaining, but it's up to the reader to decide if his claim is convincing. He is able to tie together certain details concerning his father and the killer, but there are some leaps that readers have to make willingly, too. VERDICT This well- written work simultaneously tells the lives of two men, one potentially a serial killer. For fans of true crime, 1960s American history, and stories about families discovering lost relatives. Ryan Claringbole, Coll. Lib. at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
