Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

This is alllllllll about the cops on the case and not at all about the victims and it’s entirely uncritical about the policing involved, even when describing some disturbing victim-blaming. In the afterword, Patton Oswald even writes that Michelle McNamara had “a true cop’s heart and mind.” I’m not a big true crime fan but have been impressed by some victim-centered takes on the genre (like the podcast Truer Crime) and this book was everything I dislike about the genre.

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jrmrf's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

4.5

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

3.0

I wanted to read this book as I’ve read the interview and seen the book recommendations in the Crime Monthly UK magazine, I read every month. I enjoyed this book, but I found it very difficult to get into and very difficult to finish.

This book is about the Golden State Killer, who was a serial rapist turned murderer who terrorised California in the USA for over a decade. However, this is from Michelle’s point of view. She offers a unique inside to what it was like in the 1980s with this monster roaming free. This is about her obsession and her pursuit for the truth to find. Three decades later, all is revealed but at what cost? This has updated material in which takes place in the events that followed its initial publication of Michelle’s first and last book.

I enjoyed seeing Michelle’s personal journey with this and the fact that she had to go through all the research and trying to get the trust of the police, victims, family members and seeing the effect that it has on Michelle’s family in her hunt to find this monster. I also liked the fact that it all wasn’t based on the monster who caused this crime – it wasn’t to do with his life story or why he was like this – it was based on what he did, who the victims were and Michelle’s journey.

I rated this book three stars just because I felt like I had to power through it to finish it. Even though it different from other crimes book, I was just struggling to finish it. I know that they mentioned several times that Michelle was doing this journey to find the monster, but I felt like sometimes it was about Michelle’s journey to fame especially with how many times it was mentioned that she brought the attention to the case and they wouldn’t have find him without her and that she named him the Golden State Killer.

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