As a child of the 70s, I recall seeing a list of amazing coincidences between the JFK and Lincoln assassinations such as ages they married, years they were each first elected to Senate and then White House, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth each had three part names, etc. The list was perhaps 15-20 items long.

However, you can apparently also find similar amazing coincidences between Kennedy and former Mexican President Álvaro Obregón. So, is this something extraordinary, or is it "data dredging" which Wikipedia says is: "the misuse of data analysis to find patterns in data that can be presented as statistically significant, thus dramatically increasing and understating the risk of false positives."

Reading Mike Rodelli's work also brought up the same sort of questions for me. Has he truly cracked the criminal case of the century, or is he just finding strands of vaguely similar coincidences and using that to weave together the supposed identity of the Zodiac Killer? Well ... in some instances I think Rodelli has brought up some startling evidence, such as his belief that the SFPD determined right away that the Zodiac was a loner, low-economic class psycho, rather than even entertaining the idea that he might have been wealthy, well-read, crazy smart and twisted.

He also points out that the SFPD did not really question the two true eyewitnesses to the Paul Stine murder, nor follow up with other clues or evidence that clearly appeared to be new avenues of investigation. Their DNA handling is also very suspect.

If you are at all interested in the Zodiac, I would definitely recommend you read this book and decide for yourself if Rodelli is correct. I'm still pretty much on the fence, but I appreciate his dedication and the level of his research. 3.5 stars.

Anyone who enjoys true crime will be familiar with this notorious tale. The author clearly did considerable research and put his heart and soul into writing this book. The details in the book are worth a read alone. Then the author seeks out to determine who they believe was the notorious zodiac killer. It’s up to the reader to agree with the author or not, but the conclusions he made were interesting nonetheless

I am one of reader whom hasn't heard of the Zodiac Killer. I saw my friend read a Japanese book about it, and I am curious. Mystery crime always my interest and the author give solid theory and very analytical. A recommendation for reader whom love mystery.

This is a book that retells the crimes and mystery of the Zodiac Killer and then posits a solution to the mystery of his identity. There have been many theories over the years and Mike Rodelli has spent decades putting together his hypothesis regarding who committed these crimes. It is written in a very direct and simple way that allowed me to read it in one sitting. For anyone who has read or watched anything about the serial killer (many of his crimes took place very close to where I was living at the time so it was of interest to me) will be familiar with the first part of this book. The second part with his new theory will be up to the reader to either agree or disagree.

Zodiac is probably one of the most prolific serial killers in the United States. He tends to be one of my favorite to read about just because he has eluded capture and his indenting has remained a secret.

Or has it?

This is a great read, in depth and filled full of hard pressed, thorough detective work.

A must read for true crime fanatics.

A different perspective that may have cracked the unsolvable case of The Zodiac!

In The Shadow of Mount Diablo by Mike Rodelli is a True Crime book that reads like an intricately plotted thriller. For decades the identity of the notorious Zodiac Killer has been the source of much debate and his infamous coded letters regarded as potentially meaningless gibberish.
Mike Rodelli shows that far from gibberish the letters show a massive intelligence at work and someone with such a big ego that his code ,if cracked,would reveal not only his name but where he could be found as well. Once he cracks the code his suspect is so unlikely and so well-connected that further decades of his life are spent just trying to get various police forces to do their job.
Rodelli's suspect is a person of many talents,someone who excelled at everything he did in life,seeking more and thrills and challenges as he did so while challenging others to see what he'd given them. Being a narcissist he was supremely confident that even giving the police what was basically a coded confession they couldn't match his wit or intelligence.
Having been a True Crime buff for a very long time and having read several different theories by many authors this is the one that for me MUST be Zodiac. As Rodelli says his evidence is circumstantial but from his investigations and forensic explanations you'd have to believe in coincidence after coincidence after coincidence for Rodelli's suspect to not be Zodiac.
Rodelli does repeat himself quite a lot but he needs to do that as his evidence knits together and there's what amounts to a "summing up" at the end that puts the whole thing together. Far from the usual "real life" serial killer "Rodelli's" Zodiac is the kind of twisted genius beloved of Crime fiction authors and movie makers.
A fascinating read.

I don't know anyone who hasn't heard of the Zodiac Killer, me included. I was surprised to see a book about this subject mistakenly believing the case of solved decades ago and the killer brought to justice. Unfortunately the solution seems to have occurred but the justice part never will. The author painstakingly researched this case after a serendipitous discovery as to who the suspect might be. Twenty years later he presented his case with supporting data. I believe this is an updated version of his prior book published in 2017. I really enjoyed the author's forensic look into the personality of the killer via Richard Walter, a world renown forensic psychologist in crime scene analysis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Indigo River Publishing for providing me with an advance copy to read.

Decided to DNF this book. The subject that's been tackled is interesting and it made me really want to like and enjoy this book. But sadly, I did not.

I like how blunt and confident the author when telling facts and his theories but it also made me roll my eyes.

I am also not impressed with the author mixing his writing style with a fictionist touch. I don't understand why he would say that he will back up anything he says in this book with facts. But the way that he will mix it with a storytelling effect, it makes me confuse with which is true and which is not.

I just don't really vibe with this book. And i'm not going to force myself read further into because I know I will just give it a more lower rating.

Having read books about the Zodiac Killer, and watched various things on TV as well, I’ve wondered who this elusive killer is during the years. , So I was eager to dive into this newest, possibly revealing, book on Zodiac with a new suspect. I recently read how some of the Zodiac’s impossibly difficult codes from his letters had recently been cracked after all these years. So is it possible that his identity has been figured out as well? That is why I read the book. You will have to decide for yourself if you think Rodelli got it correct or not. Its certainly well-researched, with about 20 years spent chasing an answer. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Mike Rodelli, and the publisher.

I got this book and read it in a sitting. It’s really well written, striking the balance between the objective presentation of facts with the ability to tell the story in an engaging way. The Zodiac case is fascinating amd frustrating with a great deal already written about it. Rodelli brings new energy to the search for the killer and presents very compelling arguments as to his identity. There was a bit of “more on this later” throughout the book which I found distracting - just say it then or don’t reference it until the right time.