Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

10 reviews

lauraleenstra's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Stalking

I feel like its more actually just minor but there is quite alot of mentions of it because of course the book is about the Golden State killer and his MO was rape, murder, and stalking.

ohyeah_karyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Stalking

polarbearisla's review

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

It was enjoyable. The story around the story was the most interesting thing, I think. The story of Michelle’s obsession juxtaposed with the obsession of the GSK, and how her death brought the spotlight to his story was fascinating.  If you like true crime but can’t handle a bunch of gratuitous gore, this is a good read for you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Rape, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Rape

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Animal death

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Rape, Stalking, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, and Murder

slutforhotwings's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

kingrosereads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Sexual violence, Child death, Blood, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Misogyny, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Stalking, Torture, and Gun violence

v_neptune's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, Child death, Rape, Stalking, Sexual assault, Blood, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Miscarriage

i definitely feel like this book talks about these subjects in a way that is appropriate, thoughtful, nuanced, and shows care to the victims, and i didn't feel particularly triggered by the way these topics were discussed, but nonetheless it covers a lot of pretty dark subject matter

annabunce's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage

tieflingkisser's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.5

I saw that there is a documentary inspired by this book and wanted to read it first before watching. The combination of the horrific details of a string of rapes and murders interspersed with her personal anecdotes about how she came be obsessed with true crime in general and this criminal in particular make for an emotional rollercoaster where you learn as much about the author and other true crime fans (devotees? obsessives?) as you do about the monstrous man she hunted. I'm excited to see the doc now and learn even more, including the effects this book had on the investigation! Spoilers: 

they caught him after this book came out, and I'm interested to see how much impact this book had on that

!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Pedophilia and Grief

Minor: Child abuse and Bullying