Green River Killer: A True Detective Story
Author: Jeff Jensen
Artist: Jonathan Case
Dark Horse Comics
234 pages (hardcover ed.)
The story of one of America's most notorious killers is revealed in this true-crime comic unlike any other! Throughout the 1980s, the highest priority of Seattle-area police was the apprehension of the Green River Killer, the man responsible for the murders of dozens of women. But in 1990, with the body count numbering at least forty-eight, the case was put in the hands of a single detective, Tom Jensen. After twenty years, when the killer was finally captured with the help of DNA technology, Jensen and fellow detectives spent 188 days interviewing Gary Leon Ridgway in an effort to learn his most closely held secrets-an epic confrontation with evil that proved as disturbing and surreal as can be imagined. Written by Jensen's own son, acclaimed entertainment journalist Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story presents the ultimate insider's account of America's most prolific serial killer.
I never expected to read about the story of the Green River Killer in graphic novel form, but here I am, doing exactly that, from the mouth of the head detective's son himself. As someone who was born in 1990, the case is a rather distant one for me; I barely remember the news coverage that broke out when Gary Ridgway was convicted of his horrific crimes. What I found in Jeff Jensen's account of his father's work was a blood chilling tale of murder and violence without reason, and the story of a man consumed by this single man's acts even to this day. Told in a stark, detailed style, this graphic version of the Green River Killer's case, it's a book that is hard to simply walk away from at the end; even now, it lingers in my mind long after I've read the last page.
