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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail
A a reader you get so drawn into the story and I could not stop reading.
I´ll be gone in the dark by Michelle McNamara get a 8.8/10 stars.
I´ll be gone in the dark by Michelle McNamara get a 8.8/10 stars.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
"Kept me up at night" is a cliche that fits Michelle McNamara's I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK well. I'm a pretty hardened true crime and crime fiction reader. It takes a lot to bother me. But McNamara's incisive, human and meticulously researched book on the Golden State Killer got to me. Like other great true crime stories, McNamara knows that a book needs more than a laundry list-like recap of victims, evidence and investigations. It needs heart, and it needs details that grab the reader beyond the gory or graphic. In fact, the book is light on queasiness-inducing detail, but loaded with facts, terrifying snippets from the crimes themselves and insider information that are a testament to the author's obsession and diligence in researching the murders and sexual assaults perpetrated by the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Golden State Killer. The book is also loaded down by the tragedy of McNamara's untimely and sudden death, adding a cloak of sadness to her personal, intensely written chapters and making the sections written by her researcher and a journalist who helped finish the book tragic (but also very informative). The team that helped piece the book together do a great job of striving to maintain McNamara's voice and vision, only interjecting where appropriate and making every effort to finish the book McNamara wanted, as opposed to making it something else. I read this book quickly - another cliche, I guess, in that I couldn't put it down. But it stuck with me when I wasn't reading it and added to my insomnia some night. It'll go down as a true crime classic, I'm certain, and reminds me of recent true crime books that raised the bar for the genre, like LOST GIRLS by Bob Kolker and THE GRIM SLEEPER by Christine Pelisek - which you should check out if you enjoyed I'LL BE GONE IN THE DARK.
dark
informative
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
slow-paced
It's hard to judge this book. It felt all over the place, and while it kept coming back to the crimes (and criminal) in question, there were a lot of tangents along the way.
Many of these tangents go over Michelle McNamara's personal life and her process. I gotta tell you - she doesn't come across like a very considerate person. As the subtitle suggest, Michelle was obsessed, and she did center herself a lot throughout the book, which left me with mixed feelings.
The author also died before she finished the book, so who knows if her final draft would have included many of these parts that don't show her in such a favourable light. Her husband's afterword speaks so highly and warmly about her, it's hard to consolidate the two perspectives.
Many of these tangents go over Michelle McNamara's personal life and her process. I gotta tell you - she doesn't come across like a very considerate person. As the subtitle suggest, Michelle was obsessed, and she did center herself a lot throughout the book, which left me with mixed feelings.
The author also died before she finished the book, so who knows if her final draft would have included many of these parts that don't show her in such a favourable light. Her husband's afterword speaks so highly and warmly about her, it's hard to consolidate the two perspectives.
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced