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The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father . . . and Finding the Zodiac Killer

by Gary L. Stewart

A family-search memoir framed as a true-crime investigation

Regular price $17.88 USD
Regular price $27.94 USD Sale price $17.88 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Bestseller

    New York Times bestseller

AlbakiReads Editorial

A family-search memoir framed as a true-crime investigation

Gary L. Stewart recounts the decade-long search for the biological father he had never known after being contacted by his birth mother at age thirty-nine. The account follows his examination of public records, news coverage, and conversations with people connected to his father, assembling clues that Stewart says link the man to the Zodiac case. Combining personal questions of adoption and identity with an investigation into a notorious unsolved series of murders, the book centers on the consequences of pursuing an answer that reshapes a family history.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • True-crime readers interested in the Zodiac case
  • Readers interested in adoption, biological-family searches, and identity
  • Those who enjoy investigative memoirs built from records and interviews

Themes

Adoption and identityBiological familyInvestigative researchThe Zodiac caseFamily secrets

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"I promise that you've never read anything like The Most Dangerous Animal of All. Mesmerizing from the first page, the story includes a shattering surprise that will sear itself in your memory. Be prepared to read non-stop; this really is a book you won't be able to put down." --Jeff Guinn, author of Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson

An explosive and historic New York Times bestseller of true crime and an emotionally powerful and revelatory memoir of a man whose ten-year search for his biological father leads to a chilling discovery: His father is one of the most notorious-and still at large-serial killers in America

Soon after his birthmother contacted him for the first time at the age of thirty-nine, adoptee Gary L. Stewart decided to search for his biological father. It was a quest that would lead him to a horrifying truth and force him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about himself and his world.

Written with award-winning author and journalist Susan D. Mustafa, The Most Dangerous Animal of All tells the story of Stewart's decade-long hunt for his father following a complex trail of startling twists and connections. Combing through government records and news reports and through conversations with his father's relatives and friends, Stewart turns up a host of clues, including forensic evidence, identifying his father as one of the most infamous and still-wanted serial killers in American history.

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