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

True crime book depicting the crimes and investigation of the Golden State Killer that terrorized Californians from San Francisco to Los Angelos from 1976 to 1986. At the time the book was published, these crimes were unsolved.

This book was also a memoir of author, Michelle McNamara, who died in the pursuit of uncovering GSK’s identity. McNamara died in 2016 before her book was completed and before the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, was arrested in 2018. Researcher, Paul Haynes, and investigative journalist, Billy Jensen, finished the book for McNamara with an afterword from her husband, Patton Oswalt, and updated news articles about the capture and arrest of Joseph DeAngelo.

McNamara coined his moniker, Golden State Killer. Originally, he was known as the East Area Rapist (EAR) when he raped over 50 people, and then would become known as the Original Night Stalker (ONS) when he killed over a dozen people. It’s 21st century technology that connected the rapes of EAR with the murders of ONS. There wasn’t two offenders, just one, and he’d become known as EAR-ONS until McNamara renames him.

I truly loved this book, and I know that’s a weird thing to say, but it was genuinely good, addictive even. I watched the HBO docuseries two years ago and it very subtly creeped me out. It wasn’t until I tried to sleep that night that I realized how anxious I was. I kept getting up to check the door was locked without thinking why I had the urge to do so. The same with this book. There were a couple of nights I triple checked the locks or thought I heard a noise. And it’s not just the crimes of GSK that have me unsettled, and trust me, the crimes are truly at a level 100 on the creep factor, but it’s the way McNamara writes the book. The several times she addresses the killer himself, a man without a face for her, just had the hairs on my neck standing up. I’ve listened to a few true crime podcasts on this case and even discussed it in my undergrad studies, none of those elicited this response. It’s all McNamara and her incredible ability to tell a story.

It was already creepy as it was, but I wished it contained more of what he did before he attacked these people and also highlight the survivors. The main focus was on the investigation and the investigators which I thought was a great take instead of hyper-focusing on the crimes themselves. It feels respectful to the victims and the survivors while educating the public on the events and investigation, while getting across the urgency to help find this killer.

I also think the memoir chapters added something special to this book. It helped me to connect to McNamara and even the other investigators (law enforcement and civilian) on the case.

It was hard to put down. Completely riveting and an excellent example of true crime reporting.

Content Warnings

kingsteph's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

twistykris's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

v_neptune's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

erikawynn's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

1.0

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.

Content Warnings

citrinuke's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

More...