The Zodiac - Robert Graysmith

GCSE: English Literature

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The main character of the book is the author, Robert Graysmith. He was a political cartoonist for the most popular newspaper in northern California. At the time of the murders, he was young and eventually had a wife and two kids. At first he thought his life was so boring and not filled with any excitement, but once the occurrence of these murders happened he was strangely fascinated with them and wanted to find out who did them. There were two kids as main characters in the beginning of the book named David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. They were high school kids who went on a first date. It was Christmas time and Betty Lou tells David about a man who has been stalking her and the night of December 20, 1968, he kills both of them after they are pulled over at a popular teen spot on Lake Herman Road. After this first murder three more victims were killed and two were wounded. The main police detective, Detective Sergeant Les Lundblad, was a very tired person the whole time because of the phone calls he got in the middle of the night due to the Zodiac murders. He despised most people in the book and showed a lot of anger from the stress of these killings the whole time. The main victim that is known during the murders was Darlene. She was the one who the Zodiac liked but was rejected by her which made him want revenge. Darlene was very outgoing and talked to everyone she met. Darlene went out with all types of men even while married to her husband, Dean. Darlene was so scared for herself about the Zodiac that she became depressed and got into drugs and other illegal acts. Then there is the Zodiac, he is the mystery man that commits the murders and who’s identity isn’t revealed until the end of the book. He was a “professional student” working on a biology degree and described as highly intelligent, who lived with his mother, whom he hated. During the killings, he is described as an older, heavy set guy with a curly crew cut and glasses who liked hunting and worked in a hardware store. He was suspected of being the Zodiac and was even arrested once for a child molestation charge in 1975.
There are 3 main settings in the Zodiac. The first place is in San Francisco, California. The branch settings in San Francisco are the police department, the news paper place where the author worked, Robert Graysmith’s apartment, and the spot where one of the murders occurred by the Zodiac. The police department of San Francisco was where Robert Graysmith got more secret information about the murders. He went there many nights and got most of his facts there to find out who the Zodiac was.
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