Review: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well-written delve into the activities of the Golden State Killer. Thoroughly addictive!

This unpacks the many, MANY crimes of the serial killer who was active from roughly 1975-1986 in the Sacramento area and surrounds. This dude was so prolific he was known by several different monikers - it took a while for detectives to connect the crime sprees in the different areas to the same person.

I have a bit of a morbid fascination with serial killers (and true crime books would hardly sell if I was alone in that) so it was amazing to see the details laid out here as they were. There's something about puzzling over clues and trying to solve the unsolved that stirs the blood, and there were so many red herrings in this case.

There's an abundance of detail here, and the author treats the victims with such compassion. It's a testament to her character that she became close with many of the authorities that worked on the case throughout her many years of research.

I did get a little confused by the time jumping, since this opened with his later, most heinous crimes then tracked back a little haphazardly through other crimes attributed to the same man. I wanted a tidier timeline to help me make sense of things. Fortunately, now that the killer has been unmasked, these details are readily available online.

This is an updated edition that includes news articles pertaining to the killer's arrest, though I wanted more than just the bare bones of his being arrested. Still, their inclusion is a satisfying end to a book that details such bald-faced atrocities.

Well written, insightful and interesting, this is a great true crime novel that will lead you down a rabbit hole. Highly recommend.

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