I heard about this book a few years ago and kind of let it slip by. I continued seeing the cover on people's bookhauls and their most anticipated reads. My friend Penelope talked about it this year and how she really wanted to read it so I finally bought the book. Then of course I heard that it was on HBO as a docuseries and I needed to watch it, so I had to read the book first. 5 stars!! This book is phenomenally written. Let me tell you why.
In my past I have read true-crime written by mostly men. They were absolute fact based, dry and to the point. Here's the killer, this is how he did it. It was procedure based and most of the time the true-crime was written by the detective who spent all his time with the madman, the killer. So I would go into these books expecting horrific facts and more of a textbook of this particular case and killer. Now....lets talk about the way Michelle wrote this book.
Michelle McNamara has always wanted to be a writer. She absolutely has a way with words and its very soothing to read. She takes her time. She really captures the feel, the essence of what she is about to say. Not only was she a great writer, but she had a true-crime podcast that really honed in her skills and helped her shine when it came to killers. A lot of people "tuned" into her podcasts. She would talk about a new killer/ unsolved crime and humanize the story. Allowing the listeners/readers to be captured in the story and eager to find out more. It was like Michelle was telling you a scary bedtime story, but with real facts.
Michelle spent a few years following EAR/ONS. EAR stands for East Area Rapist and ONS stands for Original Night Stalker. Those two acronyms are ugly and dull. Not that a killer/rapist needs a jazzy name. But....when it comes to awareness to the public? A catchy name helps keep the bad man close so that way people are still out looking for them. Michelle penned the name Golden State Killer. Her helpful, jazzy name for this very mysterious bad man helped bring more awareness to himself and the cold cases. People had forgot about him in America. Maybe not for the people who lived in the neighborhoods he prowled, but police stopped caring for the most part. People assumed he was dead. Once a killer stops killing....is there still a reason to look? Of course! But, we have new killers everyday. Sometimes those cold cases stay cold cases. Michelle however wanted....needed more. She felt a deep connection to this case (maybe because she was raped herself when she was younger). She kept the momentum alive to catch this guy.
The book is broken up into 3 parts. Part one describes the different areas the rapist chose to pursue his victims. At first it was just peeping into their windows (he only ever attacked people in one -story homes), then he started raping. At first it was just girls when they were home alone, then he upped his game and started raping women while their spouses were home. Tying up the husband/boyfriend, while he raped the women. Eventually that was not enough thrill for him. After 50 rapes the Golden State Killer started killing his victims so there wouldn't be anymore witnesses to describe what he looked like. He ended up killing 10 people.
Part two we follow Michelle on the ways she tried to help the detectives solve this case. She was apart of a forum exclusively working on solving this four decade long cold case. These public sleuths or civilian detectives really helped the police figure out different angles. They had everything mapped out. They cross referenced all the cases. Putting people with the similar attacks in the same boxes. Over the years they figured out that attacks that were not assumed was from EAR/ONS...really were the work of the same man. The section also talks about how the old detectives traced their findings through early DNA.
Part three is the aftermath. This section was written after Michelle died. Her husband, along with the civilian detectives and real detectives helped finish this part of the book for her. They told their stories to the editor that put the rest of the book together. It's sad that Michelle didn't get to see how much she helped solve this case and how she effected the ones surrounding this case.
The book as a whole was wonderfully written not only because Michelle has a way with words, but because she focused a lot on the victims. They weren't just some names on a sheet. They were and are, flesh and blood people. Their stories are important and Michelle in her own gracious way, told these stories to the masses. She allowed the victims privacy by not giving us their real name, but also by being so delicate with the way she told it. She didn't glamorize their unfortunate situation. She was trustworthy. The victims could feel that she only wanted to help, not get money off of their stories and so they told them. And she did a great job speaking for them.
I'm at the point of rambling now. If you have never picked up a true-crime before, I'd pick this one up. It's written like fiction with all the emotional parts and like a non-fiction with all the technical parts. It's just so well written. Once you are done, go and watch the docuseries on HBO. It was directed so well. I just loved having the faces to the names that I read about in the book.
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Popular Highlights in this book
I love reading true crime, but I’ve always been aware of the fact that, as a reader, I am actively choosing to be a consumer of someone else’s tragedy.Highlighted by 581 Kindle readers- Holding my newborn daughter, I got it. I got the love that guts you, the sense of responsibility that narrows the world to a pair of needy eyes. At thirty-nine, I understood my mother’s love for me for the first time.Highlighted by 507 Kindle readers
- We swim or sink against our deficits in life, and she made it a point to encourage me in ways that she had not been.Highlighted by 422 Kindle readers
- I need to see his face. He loses his power when we know his face.Highlighted by 369 Kindle readers
- “Make one move and you’ll be silent forever and I’ll be gone in the dark.”Highlighted by 361 Kindle readers
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Instagram| @Booked.Everynight
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I’ll Be Gone In The Dark will have you sleeping with a night light! Earlier this year the unsolved East Side Rapist / Golden State Killer case was brought back to light! Reward money was offered to the public, new documentaries came out, & as an avid true crime reader- I was on the case & sleuthing (with thousands of others) every night! I had just finished this book & shut the cover when breaking news hit that they made an arrest in the case. I legit paused the tv to make sure I was seeing this correctly! Talk about perfect timing... I’ll Be Gone In the Dark dives deep into every little detail on these crimes looking for whatever was needed to solve the the case. They explore the link between the East Area Rapist & Golden State Killer & why people believed (correctly) they were the same person. The investigative work is exhaustive & impressive. The stories told from survivors and victim’s family members are breathtaking. I have NEVER been scared reading a book EVER but during the time this was an unsolved case & some aspects truly made my skin crawl. One chapter in this book made me stop reading and turn a lamp on... not kidding. If you’re looking for a true crime story, or just something scary for October, move this to the top of your list!P.S. The corresponding Podcast & documentary specials are equally enthralling & I highly recommend listening / watching them while you read!
Top reviews from other countries
Freya Fowles
Fascinating and tragic for so many reasons
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2023
Karine D.
A book that is difficult to rate.
Reviewed in the Netherlands on May 24, 2021