"The Night Stalker" by Philip Carlo: Book Review | Rosendo
Chendo
Original post here.
What’s up, my TRUE CRIME people!
Let’s jump into this: I just finished Philip Carlo’s true crime book The Night Stalker: The Disturbing Life and Chilling Crimes of Richard Ramirez.
Ramirez was a serial killer in his own category, separated by his gruesome and ferocious appetite, that destroyed many peoples lives.
Carlo wrote an extremely detailed, well-researched bio of Richard Ramirez surrounding what he is known for: the savage murders, rapes, and theft of several people in the Los Angeles area between 1984 and 1985.
This book is set up in three parts: sharing his childhood, adulthood, and all that led up to his killing sprees prior to trial.
Carlo gets the readers’ heart pumping from the first page. The detail he gives us could be too much for some. I believe it shows how much research he did to write this book, to really show what Ramirez was like.
This book is NOT for the faint of heart. The details mentioned will stay with the reader long after lines have been read. It’s important for an author to really capture their subject as they truly are, and not hold back for the concern of the reader.
As a result, the reader must understand the author intends to divulge everything they know about the subject, so that the truth can’t be misunderstood.
In part one, we are told what Ramirez did in a seemingly fast-paced writing style. We are given the opportunity to take in the subject matter mildly, and slowly breathe into part two. Carlo revs it up again, moderately, to finally lead us to part three: discussing the crimes during the trial.
Since I had just finished American Predator, I could not help comparing it to The Night Stalker. The former was well-written and terrifying in its own right. But in comparison to Carlo’s Richard Ramirez depiction, American Predator is much milder in crime description.
They are both gruesome serial killers, but Carlo decided to be more transparent; really giving us a clear picture of “The Night Stalker” and his crimes.
He was able to research more inquisitively and dig deeper into who Richard Ramirez was, which provides readers an unbelievable depiction of his findings.
If you are testing the waters of true crime, start with American Predator. Then, continue onto The Night Stalker if you want more detail, particularly about the crimes committed.
My next true crime read will be Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, Iceman about Richard Kuklinski. I watched HBO’s Kuklinski documentary years ago that was mind-blowing!
I am really looking forward to begin that. Stay tuned.
—Chendo
ABOUT ME: I spend much of my time thinking about the intricacies of human behavior. My head is always in the clouds —either reflecting or finding lessons brought into life in the form of cataclysmic, sometimes fallible occurrences.
Sometimes these lessons aren’t cataclysmic, nor anything close to it. Either way, I’m able to extract the good from them.
I started jotting them down, for any and all to see, hoping that my writing will at least be relatable to readers. At most, genuinely helpful in any shape or form.
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Edited by NT.
