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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'
Nieuchwytni. Jak rozwiązywałem sprawy z Archiwum X by Paul Holes
20 reviews
brookey8888's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was good, but hard to read at times. The different cases he talked about were very interesting and it was interesting to see the behind the scenes and how investigations work. I also liked learning more about the golden state killer and his friendship with Michelle. The only thing I didn’t like was hearing about his horrible marriages. I get why he talked about them because the job took over his life, but I didn’t care.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Child abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Addiction, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Grief, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Death
mahmabaer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
This was the longest audiobook I have listened to up to date, and it was also the most challenging. Paul Holes knows his job and he does it well, and he doesn't shy away from some of the more graphic aspects of his work. There were several times I almost stopped listening because I didn't know if I could stomach the information. Hearing about rapes, abuse, dead bodies, murdered children and brutal crime scenes is not for the faint of heart or the middle of the night. I found that most times, if I stopped, put on a funny video and gave myself a break, I could get back to the story and make it through the darkness and onto the next chapter. Though the thing that has been the most unsettling was a brief, passing comment that had no merit in the story, and it hasn't left me since I heard it (when the marriage councilor told him that most people's spouses dont want to hear about a baby being put in boiling water ), which I assume is a crime scene he had to attend that I hope to God never ever ever happened, and yet, I know it did.
While, surprisingly, I found the scientific and legalistic aspects of Paul's story fascinating and compelling, I struggled a bit with the personal aspects of Paul's story. I haven't decided if I find Paul to be a man who recognizes his faults and accepts them, specifically when it comes to his family and marriages, or whether I am turned off by the bravado and arrogance that comes through at times in respect to his job and the satisfaction he gets from being so good at it. I have never met the man, but I suspect the truth falls somewhere in the middle -- that he's just a guy who is another imperfect human, like the rest of us, trying to make up for those imperfections the best way he knows how. He makes mistakes and tries to fix them, and in doing so, he either fixes things or makes more mistakes. In short, he puts his pants on one leg at a time like any other man -- his pants just happen to be plastic coveralls, to protect him from the crime scene evidence he has to handle.
While, surprisingly, I found the scientific and legalistic aspects of Paul's story fascinating and compelling, I struggled a bit with the personal aspects of Paul's story. I haven't decided if I find Paul to be a man who recognizes his faults and accepts them, specifically when it comes to his family and marriages, or whether I am turned off by the bravado and arrogance that comes through at times in respect to his job and the satisfaction he gets from being so good at it. I have never met the man, but I suspect the truth falls somewhere in the middle -- that he's just a guy who is another imperfect human, like the rest of us, trying to make up for those imperfections the best way he knows how. He makes mistakes and tries to fix them, and in doing so, he either fixes things or makes more mistakes. In short, he puts his pants on one leg at a time like any other man -- his pants just happen to be plastic coveralls, to protect him from the crime scene evidence he has to handle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Torture, Murder, Mental illness, Gore, Child death, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicide, Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Child abuse
Minor: Alcoholism
emily_mae08's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Death, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, and Sexual violence
wanna_read's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Alcohol, Torture, Suicide, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Child death, Murder, Stalking, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Rape, Gore, Drug use, Death, and Blood
travelseatsreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Most true crime fans have a case that truly captivates & terrifies them & for me it was the Golden State Killer. It baffled me that someone who kept raging such a widespread & prolonged reign of terror & heinous crimes was still out there. The day it was announced that he was finally in custody a chilling shiver ran down my spine, could it really be true? That day & many more after, one name kept popping up, & after reading the many books & listening to the varied podcasts on the case it was one I was familiar with as being crucial to the investigation & that was Paul Holes.
Within the pages of Unmasked, Holes gives an honest, enthralling & detailed account of his life, the cases which still haunt him & of course his involvement in catching the GSK. In this part memoir/part true crime story Paul chronicles his career from the early days of wetting his feet in the crime lab, to helping solve some of the most horrific crimes but old & new as Chief Of Forensics.
Holes gives some pretty gruesome & grisly accounts of the crime scenes, this book isn't for the faint hearted but what he does master is retelling the stories of the crimes while remaining fully respectful & empathetic to the victim & their families. Often in true crime books the voice of the victim is overshadowed by that of the perpetrator but it's clear Holes always holds the victim & justice in the forefront of his mind.
He also brings the reader along into the fascinating world of forensics & crime scene investigation & gives an insight of the wide-spanning painstaking cooperative effort that is involved in investigating a case, while being very honest about many of the roadblocks & hurdles (from political to human error) that can turn a case upside down. His honesty also reaches past his career and Paul details how his obsessive nature & need to find answers has had a huge impact on his family life over the years.
It's almost impossible to imagine the possibility of DeAngelo currently wasting away in Corcoran State Prison without Holes dogged & obsessive perseverance and even for that alone this book is worth your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Rape, and Violence
sarabook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Child death, Blood, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Sexual content, Rape, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
princesspunx's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicide
carissa230's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Paul Holes does a great job of bringing us into the life and career of someone slightly obsessed with solving crimes. Paul wasn't holding back when he told of his personal relationships he ruined with his career. He does a great job of honoring the victims while telling of the crimes and the reason he never gave up on the cold cases.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Rape, and Child abuse
elisabethshelby's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
This book is the perfect read for anyone who loves Dateline or solving cold cases. Paul takes the reader behind the scenes to really understand what goes on when law enforcement reviews old cold cases. The details are specific, and sometimes even reading what goes on can be a bit jarring to realize. Hey, let's look at this face covered in maggots to try to determine a time of death. Oh....ok.
Paul's book mostly looks at his career-long hunt for the Golden State Killer, and his work towards finally tracking down the correct person. Between his hunt, he looks at other memorable cases he helped with, including Jaycee Duggard, Laci and Connor Petersen, and more. The stories are well told, and only in a handful of places does the narrative seem to slow down a little too much. For the most part, this is a well written story.
Paul's book mostly looks at his career-long hunt for the Golden State Killer, and his work towards finally tracking down the correct person. Between his hunt, he looks at other memorable cases he helped with, including Jaycee Duggard, Laci and Connor Petersen, and more. The stories are well told, and only in a handful of places does the narrative seem to slow down a little too much. For the most part, this is a well written story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Child death
ajediprincess's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This book was extremely fascinating, if not a little disturbing. I do not normally read true crime. I’m typically very sensitive to subject matter that would incite fear and anxiety. But, my library has an annual reading challenge that involves reading books from 50 different genres, so I chose this book to fit the “true crime memoir” category. It was good—well written, interesting, cinematic, and it had the sort of feeling of sitting down and talking to a friend who is a detective, a detective who is really passionate about his job and kind of overshares without realizing it. That’s what reading this book was like for me.
I loved hearing about the crime solving tactics and strategies and all the dead ends and false leads Det. Holes experienced through his work. As someone who has worked for the police for the better part of a decade, I will always find the methods detectives use to solve cases to be infinitely fascinating. Cold cases are especially interesting to me, I think, because of the feeling of justice finally being meted out after years with no resolution. For those reasons, I thought I would love this book, when a friend in my forensics lab recommended it to me. To a certain extent, I did. But, it was difficult for me to get through this book without wincing and feeling bone-chillingly frightened at times.
While Det. Holes does a great job of mentally bringing the reader into his office and unpacking his thought process when trying to solve a cold case, he also delves pretty deeply into the crime details and methods of the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Golden State Killer and sets the scene for each horrific attack. Between 1974 and 1986, EAR/ONS/GSK committed 120 burglaries, 51 rapes, and 13 murders; and, while Holes doesn’t explore every single one, he does touch on several that stood out to him. I was deeply unsettled by the way Holes described individual attacks as though I was watching a flashback to the night that these crimes occurred. Perhaps that was the point, but I could have done without the somewhat cinematic detail. It is clear that Det. Holes has a great deal of empathy—that the injustice of these cold cases and the psychological wounds they left on each surviving victim haunt him regularly. I suppose the way Holes tells his story is meant to share that experience with the reader and if so, job well done.
One of the most interesting and compelling aspects of this book for me was seeing how the development of technology, particularly the progression of DNA research and genealogy tracing, has affected the police department over the years and really can mean the difference between apprehending the bad guy or unwittingly allowing the perpetrator to get away with murder. Det. Holes describes this experience as he worked relentlessly to identify the monstrous person behind these vile crimes in California and how the progression of technology across forty years was a key factor in solving these cold cases. Holes also describes his experience with some of the more bureaucratic aspects of working in law enforcement and how it can sometimes feel like one is banging one’s head against a wall of red tape, which is something I can relate to.
As with most memoirs, the reader gets to know the man behind the detective badge in this book and Paul Holes becomes something of a friend by the end. He shares in detail about his personal struggles with alcohol, night terrors, panic attacks, navigating relationships as a husband and father, and trying but failing to achieve the coveted “work-life balance.” I really felt for the guy as I was reading about the agonizing dichotomy between his wishes, hopes, and plans for his life and the crushing reality he faced daily. There are many ways one could look at Det. Holes’s story: the triumph of a modern day superhero, the cautionary tale of a man who gave up too much for the demands of his job, the self-absorbed boasting of a real-life Sherlock Holmes who let celebrity go to his head, the obsessive ravings of a cold case addict unable to resist the next “hit,” list goes on. One thing is for certain though, Paul Holes is a damn good detective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Stalking, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse