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johhrdan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
gobriol's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
pipcorn's review against another edition
I may give this another try in the future. But I don't usually read any true crime and it was just too much for me.
odin45mp's review against another edition
3.0
This was a page turner. I had to know more, more, more. McNamara crafted a compelling narrative as we bounced from crime scene to crime scene, back and forth through time, tracing the steps taken by both the criminal and the investigators, as well as herself. I'm not certain why she didn't take a linear approach to the crimes, and just interspersed her own work and the detective work done in the last two decades as advances in DNA testing have lead to new connections.
I feel like despite the successfully ending to the book (unrelated to her work, the Golden State Killer was caught), it fizzled out. I think because there was no coda that explored his motivations and what he has done to evade the law for three decades. I wanted to know more. The book let me down there. I don't know if that was due to McNamara's unfortunate death, her research partners who finished up the manuscript didn't want to add anything more to her notes than necessary, or some other decision. Despite the victory, it felt a little hollow and unsatisfying.
I feel like despite the successfully ending to the book (unrelated to her work, the Golden State Killer was caught), it fizzled out. I think because there was no coda that explored his motivations and what he has done to evade the law for three decades. I wanted to know more. The book let me down there. I don't know if that was due to McNamara's unfortunate death, her research partners who finished up the manuscript didn't want to add anything more to her notes than necessary, or some other decision. Despite the victory, it felt a little hollow and unsatisfying.
taelerk's review against another edition
4.0
Not your typical true crime read. It's part true crime, part memoir. Michelle McNamara's prose is humanizing in a genre that is loaded with facts. This book is the only one I've read in the true crime world that provides a voice for the online sleauth and truly helps explain why we are all so fascinated with the genre.
Theres a point that you get to where Michelle's writing stops and the partners on this load you down with facts and facets about the case. I felt a bit weighed down by the maps and I feel like it could have been wrapped up better and I skipped a few pages here and there to get back to Michelle's last writings.
Theres a point that you get to where Michelle's writing stops and the partners on this load you down with facts and facets about the case. I felt a bit weighed down by the maps and I feel like it could have been wrapped up better and I skipped a few pages here and there to get back to Michelle's last writings.
feyley's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audiobook edition which was brilliantly done, I teared up when listening to Patton Oswald talk about his wife and how sad he was that she was not there to see the Golden State Killer after all the years she had spent hunting him down. While the case of the Golden State Killer might not be the most interesting for all true crime enthusiasts, I do think the audiobook of this is worth listening to. The desperate search for him comes through so clearly in the narration of this book. The introduction read by Gillian Flynn and the afterward read by Patton Oswald were amazing, they were each so personal and provided insight into the kind of person Michelle was.
Listening to this kept me on the edge of my seat. It was so sickeningly detailed. At times, it felt like we were sorting through the facts and leads with Michelle McNamara. Each new lead was an excitement that was quickly proved false or a dead end. Each thread to the Golden State Killer lost broke your heart, for the victims and for Michelle. She was so invested in finding him. She knew that her searching would eventually find him, if only she could dig deep enough in the files and evidence that was already there.
I was quite disappointed that some law enforcement involved in the capture of the Golden State Killer tried to diminish the impact of Michelle's research or the fact that her book did lead, in some part, to his capture. While the evidence and leads she dug up did not directly lead to his capture, she did shed new light on the cases and brought people's attention back to the Golden State Killer. I do believe that without her research or her book, this case might have remained a cold case. He was caught because a new task force was formed and they used her name for him when he was eventually captured.
This book illustrates what it is like for cold case hunters and armchair detectives everywhere. While Michelle was certainly more invested than others, this is what it looks like. A particular cases can completely consume your mind and you spend hours, or years in Michelle's case, trying to figure out what really happened with what limited evidence exists on the internet. This fervor is what creates true crime enthusiasts.
Listening to this kept me on the edge of my seat. It was so sickeningly detailed. At times, it felt like we were sorting through the facts and leads with Michelle McNamara. Each new lead was an excitement that was quickly proved false or a dead end. Each thread to the Golden State Killer lost broke your heart, for the victims and for Michelle. She was so invested in finding him. She knew that her searching would eventually find him, if only she could dig deep enough in the files and evidence that was already there.
I was quite disappointed that some law enforcement involved in the capture of the Golden State Killer tried to diminish the impact of Michelle's research or the fact that her book did lead, in some part, to his capture. While the evidence and leads she dug up did not directly lead to his capture, she did shed new light on the cases and brought people's attention back to the Golden State Killer. I do believe that without her research or her book, this case might have remained a cold case. He was caught because a new task force was formed and they used her name for him when he was eventually captured.
This book illustrates what it is like for cold case hunters and armchair detectives everywhere. While Michelle was certainly more invested than others, this is what it looks like. A particular cases can completely consume your mind and you spend hours, or years in Michelle's case, trying to figure out what really happened with what limited evidence exists on the internet. This fervor is what creates true crime enthusiasts.
shelbyslifer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
sammy_hen2's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Michelle McNamara was a true crime author who spent a big portion of her career investigating the elusive Golden State Killer up until her untimely death in 2016. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is the posthumously published account of her obsessive vigilantism. Her writing was sharp and detailed, and I learned a lot about the GSK, a prolific rapist and murderer whom I had never even heard of before this. But I have to say, I was a bit bogged down by the details of the case and finished the book feeling very underwhelmed with the impact of her journalism. Michelle never did crack the case—it’s public knowledge that the GSK was not caught until 2018 via DNA testing. So what we end up with is a fragmented account of her amateur detective work, which also did not give enough voice to the victims (but that’s another discussion on the ethics of true crime). Overall I felt this was very over-hyped and forgettable, and I have some beef with the way it was marketed.