The Yorkshire Ripper was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981 for the murder of l3 women. Gordon Burn spent two years living in Peter Sutcliffe's home town researching his life, and in this book he addresses questions left unanswered by Sutcliffe's trial and reveals some of his macabre fantasies. The book is based on conversations with Sutcliffe's wife and family, his neighbours, friend and workmates. The person Burn found in their collective memory was a chronically shy child, a super-sensitive teenager, and a well-mannered but strangely remote young man who had worked as a gravedigger and undertaker before he was scorned by a prostitute. Burn recreates the world of inner-city drinking clubs and red-light districts, and in doing so addresses questions left unanswered by Sutcliffe's trial.