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Book Reviews of The Blooding

The Blooding
The Blooding
Author: Joseph Wambaugh
ISBN-13: 9780553282818
ISBN-10: 0553282816
Publication Date: 11/1/1989
Pages: 432
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 64

3.6 stars, based on 64 ratings
Publisher: Bantam
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

20 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Blooding on + 223 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
An amazingly written true crime book. Don't start this one if you have things to be done, because they won't get done. You think you have it all figured out and wham another piece of the story is dropped.
reviewed The Blooding on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
First admission I'm making is that I love true crime books. The
second admission I'm making is that I love science/scientific proof. This book perfectly combines both. The true story of a murder in England with telltale biological evidence left behind had one obvious suspect that the authorities thought was a dead ringer. All of the men in the entire town helped solve the case by mostly voluntarily participating in a "blooding" which ultimately gave them the proof they needed. Excellent writing by an author more known for his best-selling fiction, mostly police novels.
swingsistert avatar reviewed The Blooding on + 78 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
an interesting true crime story of one of the first cases to involve DNA and 'genetic fingerprinting'. a quick and easy read and rather facinating!
reviewed The Blooding on + 37 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This was the first true crime I read and now I am hooked
reviewed The Blooding on + 33 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
From Library Journal
Wambaugh, best known for his books dealing with American crime and detection, here tells the engrossing story of two British sex murders and the police hunt for the killer. The title stems from a procedure of genetic fingerprinting detected by examining blood samples, and used by the police to catch the murderer. Armed with the new discovery for detection, the police launched a massive drive to "fingerprint" men in the Narborough village area. Wambaugh gives an inside look at the police and their intense and, at last, successful drive to catch the murderer. He also discusses the process, and some of its limitless possibilities. An excellent account of murder, detection, and this amazing scientific discovery. Recommended.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
reviewed The Blooding on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
great, couldn't put it down!
reviewed The Blooding on + 28 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The begining of modern crime detection.
reviewed The Blooding on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A very interesting look into how DNA profiling began.Horrible case but a great true crime read.
reviewed The Blooding on + 44 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
i really enjoyed reading this book. it gave a lot of personal details and didn't have a lot of dry legal stuff in it.
reviewed The Blooding on + 517 more book reviews
A true story of a murder solved by "genetic fingerprinting" the forerunner of DNA. Very good book
reviewed The Blooding on + 37 more book reviews
True crime at it's best by a master of the written word.
Readnmachine avatar reviewed The Blooding on + 1474 more book reviews
Intriguing true-crime tale of two murders in a small English village, eventually solved by the development of DNA "fingerprinting".

Wambaugh juggles two distinct plot threads here -- the advances in forensic science, and the search for the killer of two young girls. There's a plot twist of the must-be-true-because-no-one-would-believe-it-in-fiction variety, and a thoughtful study of what became of the victims' families, as well as a professional cop's take on the investigation itself.
reviewed The Blooding on + 8 more book reviews
Excellent depiction of the first crime investigated and solved using the DNA process.
RobbieM avatar reviewed The Blooding on + 71 more book reviews
The scientific aspect was interesting. The serial rapes and murders of young teenagers were not.
reviewed The Blooding on + 8 more book reviews
Good story, but it could have been a shorter book, My impression was that there was a lot of "filler" material added to make the book long enough for publication. I do enjoy police procedurals, Wambaugh as much as any, and it was a thorough treatment of the case.
reviewed The Blooding on + 84 more book reviews
This is a true story of the Narborough Murder Enquiry. The worlds first case to be resolved by genetic fingerprinting.
reviewed The Blooding on + 48 more book reviews
THE MURDER HUNT THAT REVOLUTIONIZED MODERN CRIME DETECTION

Fifteen year old Lynda Mann's savagely raped and strangled body is found along a shady footpath near tht English village of Narbourough. Though a massive 150 man police dragnet is launched, the case remains unsolved.
Three years later the killer strikes again, raping and strangling teenager Dawn Ashforth only a stone's throw from where Lynda was so brutally murdered.
But it will take four years, a scientific breakthrough, the largest manhunt in British crime annuals, and the blooding of more than four thousand men before the real killer is found.
Merlin avatar reviewed The Blooding on + 47 more book reviews
Fiftenn year old Lynda Mann's savagely raped and strangled body is found along a shady footpath near the English village of Narborough. Though a massive 150-man police dragbet is launched, the case remains unsolved.
Three years later the killer strikes again, raping and strangling teenager Dawn Ashforth only a stone's throw from where Lynda was so brutally murdered
But it will take four years, a scientific breakthrough, the largest manhunt in British crime annals, and the blooding of more than four thousand men before the real killer is found.
THE DRAMATIC TRUE STORY OF THE FIRST MURDER CASE SOLVED BY GENETIC "FINGERPRINTING"
reviewed The Blooding on + 42 more book reviews
I'm not sure why but I couldn't really get into this book. I only read the first few chapters.
reviewed The Blooding on + 4 more book reviews
Fifteen-year-old Lynda Mann's savagely raped and strangled body is found along a shady footpath near the English village of Narborough. Though a massive 150-man dragnet is launched, the case remains unsolved. Three years later the killer strikes again, raping and strangling teenager Dawn Ashforth only a stone's throw from where Lynda was so brutally murdered. But it will take four years, a scientific breakthrough, the largest manhunt in British crime annals, and the blooding of more than four thousand men before the real killer is found.