Loved the book. I always enjoy a good ride ,and this delivered. Thing is,I've been into Zodiac for decades and I just can't get on with the authors suspect. Circumstantial evidence galore,indeed! How could Mr Rodelli have not gone down the proverbial Zodiac rabbit hole ,when his suspect had all going that the author lays out. RG got hung up on Arthur Allen,and he got a Fincher film and the whole world convinced that weirdo was Z. I won't say it here ,but I do have a fav suspect and I really wish a family member would find something and come forward! I'm getting old ,I want to know just as much as all the other loons who have dived into the pool! I wish I could get on board Mr Rodelli,but I do appreciate the very fascinating book. This book does have a place in Z libraries! There are MANY that are pure garbage. Many!

Impressively thorough! It is interesting, but there is a lot of repetition and I think it could have been summed up in about 50% of the words.

Thanks to Netgalley and Indigo River for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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I've read more than my fair share of true crime, and the Zodiac has always fascinated me. This was one of the more well written accounts of the case, though repetitive at times. It was also hard to read on my Kindle because of the spacing.

Growing up in the 70's, I of course heard about the Zodiac Killer. Mostly from aunts and uncles talking about when they thought all the kids were outside.

As I'm trying to read more True Crime books, I was excited to receive this ARC from Indigo River Publishing (all opinions expressed are my own). I've watched at least one move on this subject but haven't ever read any books on it.

In the Shadow of Mt Diablo was well researched and presents an opinion by the author of who the real killer is. The book is presented in a way to allow you to come to your own conclusions at the end as of course, no one has ever been proven to be the killer.

The book itself was really long. I really wish it would have been more condensed as it was repetitive in several areas and included some details that really weren't necessary.

Overall, if you enjoy True Crime, this is a good book to have in your library.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, this book was LONG. While I think Mike Rodelli may actually have figured out who the Zodiac was, this book was really hard to slog through. It repeated itself a lot.

this was a really interesting book about the Zodiac killer, the author makes a good argument and shows evidence to back their claim.

I’ve always been interested in this case. It’s the stuff of horror movies. A man torments the Bay Area for 6 years, commits multiple murders, threatens to bomb a school bus, then fades away into obscurity.

How does a murderer in such a highly publicized case get away with it for over 50 years? How has no one come forward with information?

The book is about one man’s obsessive desire to solve the case. Rodelli isn’t the first - and probably won’t be the last - citizen sleuth to become obsessed with the Zodiac. (Robert Graysmith is likely the most notorious example).

Rodelli believes he has succeeded in unmasking the identity of the Zodiac. Is he right? You’ll have to read the book and draw your own conclusions. I won’t spoil the book by divulging the name of his suspect.

Rodelli makes a compelling case. At one point, he even interviewed his suspect at the suspect’s request. I’m not sure I agree with some of his conclusions, but no one can fault his dedication to trying to solve this case. He tracked down witnesses, met and befriended the original investigators. Rodelli even employed a forensic psychologist (the Vidocq Society’s Richard Walter) to take advantage of techniques that weren’t available to detectives in the 60s and 70s.

He lays out the clearest narrative I’ve read of the Zodiac’s crimes. Including details of the attack at Lake Berryessa that Graysmith got wrong. He also manages to bring home how seemingly minor, random decisions made by the victims were the difference between life and death - choosing to go to the library instead of the beach or simply staying out an hour past curfew.

He methodically takes apart Graysmith’s case for making Arthur Lee Allen the prime suspect. Too tall. Too hefty. Too bald.

Rodelli makes a compelling case for his suspect. Matching significant dates in this man’s life (one example: the suspect’s mother died on Dec 20, 1939. The Lake Herman murders were committed Dec 29, 1968) to the dates of the Zodiac’s crimes. Is this proof positive that his suspect is guilty? I wouldn’t say the case is closed, but Rodelli’s suspect is certainly far more viable than anyone else I’ve seen named.

If I fault the author for anything, it’s his tendency to try to drop Easter eggs in the narrative. Repeatedly alluding to things he’s going to tell you later in the book. I realize he’s doing this to maintain interest, but it occasionally disrupts the flow of his narrative.

On one point the author and I disagree. I still feel the DNA should be further analyzed (if possible).

I wonder if detectives have tried entering the “problematic” (as Rodelli puts it) Zodiac DNA into the Gedmatch database?

Even if the DNA on the envelopes isn’t his (as some have theorized), it belonged to someone close enough to lick those envelopes. Find that person and you’re one step closer to finding him. Even if he’s dead, the victims deserve to know who he was, and that he can never harm another person.

Even if you disagree with Rotelli’s conclusions regarding the identity of the Zodiac, his correction of errors made by Graysmith (and other Zodiac chroniclers) makes this book worth reading.

I really enjoyed this book! Having read quite a few books, watched a few docs and films about the Zodiac case, I can certainly say that this book raised some interesting (and original) points. Of course, not all the evidence was flawless (some even felt a bit repetitive), but even so, I liked the effort of the author in trying to back up all his claims with research and investigation.
I think it is impressive that more than 50 years after the murders, there are still people who attempt to actively contribute to the investigation of the zodiac case. This is something that every true crime lover, such as myself, can surely appreciate!
Thank you to @netgalley, Indigo River Publishing and Mike Rodelli for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is certainly different. I found it to be a bit dry if I’m being honest, and not really written the best. It’s bouncy and can be hard to follow, even for those like myself who know the zodiac case mildly well.

While this is an interesting read, I didn't really like it for a few reasons...
The author makes the same claims repeatedly, the author is also arrogant and upsetting because he truly believes he knows who the Zodiac Killer is without hard facts/evidence to nail it. I honestly wouldn't recommend this book.

I quite enjoyed this book and I do want to get a physical copy of this book. The author have some really good points but to me there were points that were a little stretched. At those points the author did lose me some and made question his suspect. Then at other parts he would make me come back to his side. I will be reading more from Mike Rodelli and I will recommend this book to all my true crime loving friends. I want to think Netgalley, Indigo River Publishing and Mike Rodelli for letting read and review this book.

<i>"How did I know I was right even with such little evidence? Because I had spent forty-three years of my life knowing what wrong felt like and this felt completely different"</i>

This start strong. Reading it felt like having a conversation in a living room with an eccentric friend. I was ready to hear him out, but I was a bit skeptical. But as I started to read, I was really pulled in to the story. The author gives the story, the details, the crimes and really spells it all out. By 50%, I was rooting him on and shaking my head at the police that wouldn't listen.

But around 50% I was wondering how I still had so many pages left to read. Even at half way, I felt like we'd rehashed things a few times and there were definitely some repeated areas. The story picked back up again around 75 or 80% with new information and I loved reading about the meeting. I just wish this had been skimmed down a bit and wasn't quite so long. But I found this fascinating and I'm glad I read it.

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

Uhm, wow! True crime fans, this is for us! The unraveling of the story of the zodiac killer is really fascinating and as a layman's person, I am in awe of all the work and the evidence that were pulled through in order to solve who the zodiac killer was. I couldn't put this one down!

This book was such great true crime madness. Basically in how dna is changing the way officers think and approach crimes, especially cold and unsolved cases.
Definitely worth the read if you are a true crime junky like me.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

So this book has taken me some time but the overall feel of the book is that Mr. Rodelli believes Robert Graysmith (the author of Zodiac, and other stories into whom he thought was the killer) is absolutely wrong on so many different points. To having information incorrect in his book from the police reports, to Graysmith ignoring certain information or excluding things that shouldn't be. Overall, you can tell Mr. Rodelli has an air of confidence regarding who he believes the killer is.

After awhile, it started to take a bit more to read through this. I did feel bogged down by nothing but wisps of data that may or may not have anything to do with cases pertaining to the killer. I won't lie, I started to have to skim a certain points. By a certain point, I had to stop reading because as hard as I try, as interested as I am of this mystery, I could NOT get through this book. Between the many times, "more on that later" to "we'll get to that in Chapter 18" it just got to be really repetitive and overall underwhelming. I know what the author was trying to do and see it being done well enough. But by the 7th time of seeing it and only getting a little over 30% in, I just could not finish this and had to DNF it. I hope at some point, maybe I can get back to it but as of right now, I need to put a pin in it.

On a positive note of this, I do like Mr. Rodelli's writing. It's done very nice and knowledgeable. Hoping maybe at some point I can get back to it and give it another try.

Thank you to Mike Rodelli and NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Can I say wow? I lived near SF during this time period and remember the fear. We wouldn't go to SF while this was going on and before we were there constantly.

I've probably read every book on the Zodiac. (I also worked with one of the people Graysmith dedicated his book to.) But I've always put the book down at the end with doubt. Yes, even Graysmiths. But not this one. Not. This. One.

Very well researched and investigated. All the pieces just fall into place. I do wish it was edited better so as not to be so repetitive but it's still a fascinating book. I'm so mad at myself for sitting on this book for a month.

First I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advance release in exchange for a fair and honest review. Sometimes that means I have to make an author unhappy...and on one of my last reveiws I had the author attack me because I didn't like the book...sooooo...

NOT THE CASE HERE! WOW....ok...slow down....deep breaths...

I have been a fan of true crime for over twenty years...I still remember the first one I read and how it hit me...how could that person get away for so long killing right in front of others noses???? and I was hooked...

When Zodiac was active...there was no internet...the only news was radio and television...and I was ten to fifteen years old...and had NO interest in the news....I don't remember the first time I heard about the Zodiac...but once I did I have always read pretty much everything on him/her...I have to say most materials are just rehash...or not credible...but still I read....so when I saw this book available I anxiously requested it...and luckily was granted the permission to read it...as I said ...WOW!

I honestly could write on this for hours....but of course...I don't want to...and you definitely don't want me to...

The preview promised a new suspect...that's what I was so anxious about...but as the author says ...1000 suspects have been looked....and many are still being touted by individuals even if they have been eliminated...everyone has a suspect...so hearing this is a new suspect...I was very anxious....but while anxious....and with caution...have heard this before...

The author starts the book with the murders and the details...when noting the suspect he does not name him/her as he wants to submit the background...it was frustrating but very well done...it is great to have the facts again refreshed before he starts to detail the items which lead to his conclusion...

And I will not name that person here...the author waits...builds...examines and explains...and then the reveal...and for that reason I will not spoil the thunder...read the book!

The book is very detailed along with all of the explanations of the thoughts and how they led Mr. Rodelli to the Zodiac suspect...and the author admits ...this evidence is entirely circumstantial....and if there was three ...maybe five...items named....it would still be in doubt...but there are DOZENS of details...there are interviews with those who haven't ever given interviews...with those that have never revealed details before...there are many exhibits added to show the details he is talking about...one complaint there...lol...he does not include a copy of the ciphers as he notes they are many places on the net...I understand but as I'm reading I like to just go back and forth...

The details are pretty amazing...and the exhibits...to see them as you read them...you again will go...ok...that's odd but hardly fast proof...but sooner or later you are going to come around...this subject...should be extensively reviewed by the police...but that's another issue...

You will read the reasons that the police do not want to investigate this person...why they would lie on national TV in an effort to discredit this theory...and ...in today's climate...it won't be hard to believe that they did...

A few things...you will read that there is a lack of DNA from the Zodiac and why....but there are many other items...the Zodiac cut the bloody shirt from Mr. Stine's body...I am sure they have the pieces of shirt that Zodiac mailed... touch DNA could possibly still come up with an answer...this isn't a dead issue.

I have a few items I disagree with author on....The author theorizes that Zodiac understood about DNA without knowing it based on other experience...mainly because there is no discernible DNA from the stamps or envelopes...I am not convinced of that.....Back in the 70's and I am sure before...many people who had lots of correspondence did NOT want to constantly be licking stamps nor envelopes...for that reason they had a bowl with a sponge...they would run the envelope or the stamp over the sponge...thus wetting it ...this was very common and I would be interested to know if the suspect had this...but next to impossible to know... One other thing that surprised me...the author had a chance to interview the suspect and answered questions...which after the interview were found to be lies...and the author was very upset he was lied to....he mentioned this several times...but all I kept thinking...uhhhh...murderer? liar? uhhh..yep.... I would have been amazed if he had told the truth on anything...

The author did review things several times...and sometimes I was ...ok..yes I know...but I can understand...he was building a case...and he did it well....

I was not far into the book when I was totally on board...if this isn't the Zodiac...then I don't feel it will ever be solved...this is just an amazing book with amazing stories of how the author first fell into this suspect...pretty much just a shot in the dark...and BANG!

Did I say the book was amazing? let me repeat ...This book is amazing!...for any true crime fan ...it is a fantastic book....for any Zodiac detective...it is the most important work to come out...possibly ever...the naysayers...well..there is a difference between wanting to solve the case and wanting the notoriety of solving the case...thankfully...this book...Mr. Rodelli....wants to solve the case...and I pray that enough pressure is put on San Fran Police to move on this...to get DNA to test...and find out...truthfully...no lie....is this the Zodiac....

Mr. Rodelli....fantastic job!

Rodelli is a very good writer and a very good sleuth. That makes the re-read of his Qvale theory easy to do. In this improved edition he has some new information and new ideas. Very good read if you are fascinated with the Zodiac case or crime in general.

Anyone who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s probably has an opinion or at least some curiosity about the Zodiac killer. Never definitively identified, this serial killer was known for targeting young couples and following up his grisly crimes with letters and cards sent to various media outlets in the Bay Area with taunting messages, including several cryptograms.

I lived very near both Lake Berryessa and Lake Herman Road, two locations of Zodiac attacks on couples in parked cars. I also was a college student, and I had a very weird professor who taught computer science at night and supervised an IT department by day. I was completely freaked out by the idea that he was the Zodiac because one night after class, he took me for a drive that included Lake Herman Road, and showed me the giant flashlight on the floor of the back seat, which had clear red plastic wrap covering the lens, which he said looked just like a police officer in the rear view mirror if he came up behind a car. EEEK!

Anyway, about the book In The Shadow of Mt. Diablo by Mike Rodelli, which I received from Indigo River Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for this review. Mr. Rodelli states that he knows without doubt who the murderer was, and he has spent years researching and documenting the case (and no, it isn’t my former professor). In his book, subtitled “The Shocking True Identity of the Zodiac Killer, Rodelli provides an exhaustively researched, fully documented book. There are a ton of footnotes to support his claim, and it differs completely from Robert Graysmith’s book Zodiac, in which he identified Zodiac as Arthur Leigh Allen…but a partial DNA match from the saliva on the stamps used by the Zodiac Killer to send the letters and cards didn’t match him. Attempts to use the method of DNA matching using genealogy databases (the technique used to identify the Golden State Killer) have not been successful as of May, 2021, and the case remains open in San Francisco, Vallejo, and both Napa and Solano Counties.

Yes, the book is heavy on detail. Yes, Mr. Rodelli has done a ton of research. But I’m not convinced the Zodiac is the person identified in Rodelli’s book — although many people seem to believe that he was, or at least that the man identified hid the actual Zodiac Killer in his San Francisco apartment after one of the crimes. I think the book definitely needed an editor to make the presentation of the results of Rodelli’s hard work more coherent and readable. It’s a story that still fascinates many people, and this book will only add to the interest. And, TBH, since Arthur Leigh Allen and all the other named suspects have been ruled out, I still think my professor is a possibility — especially since he also looks as much like the sketch of Zodiac as the man named in this book. Two stars.

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.