Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

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

23 reviews

notlikethebeer's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.25

This is a really hard book to review. Part of that comes from the book being pieced together post-humously: there are several sections that were written based on McNamara's notes, rather than anything else. Given that it's complicated enough as it is - spanning decades, with a vast number of names to remember, and an ever-merging number of horrific crimes - the somewhat disjointed writing doesn't help! But equally, it is to be expected. I do think that there were better ways of arranging this, I felt very confused and the jumping between time and events didn't happen. As well, there were some threads that were begun and then just... lost.

Something I've heard about this book, and part of the reason I wanted to read it, is that it's meant to be very victim-centric, in a way that true crime often is not. There definitely was a lot of space given to the victims, including narratives of their life before they became victims. However, I don't know whether I'd describe the victims as being centered as such. McNamara was definitely eager to talk about gory details. And that has made me question, even more, whether victims CAN be centered within the true crime genre.

I think, as well, I would have liked some more reflexivity. McNamara was so caught up in this "mystery", and at times she talked a little about the desire to know, the urge to solve a puzzle. I also appreciated that she thought a little about her own experiences, and their relevance. However I never really understood why this "story" in particular, or why to such an intensity.

On that note, it's hard not to read IBGITD and wonder a little about McNamara's life, and the others in her life. I wonder what her daughter's autobiography might read like: whether she feels she even got to share her mother with this obsession. It IS an obsession, that clearly infiltrated every part of her life. Of course, I'm an outsider, but it does seem that it wasn't to a healthy degree. I'm struck by the knowledge that McNamara is believed to have died from an accidental overdose from various drugs. I wonder how much of her obsessive drive to solve a mystery she initially had no stake in lead to that. It's easy, in reading IBGITD, to wonder whether there is any harm in 'civilians' becoming involved in investigations, if they have the skills and can genuinely provide a benefit. Thinking about McNamara's lack of boundaries is just one example of the harms this can bring (note, just one!).

I will allow that we don't know whether this was the book McNamara wanted to write. We can hope, and trust, that it was. But we don't know. And that makes it difficult to critique. However, I came to this hoping for something that might humanize the true crime genre a little more: that might provide me with some of the understanding I seek in myself, as well as more broadly. I came away largely empty-handed.

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beltari's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Cristo santo. No me esperaba que fuese tan duro de leer. Es true crime bien hecho, sin romantizar al responsable, narrando siempre desde la perspectiva de la victima. Lo único que no me gustó, pero que no hay con qué darle, fue la falta de edición, totalmente entendible considerando que la autora falleció durante la investigación y esto no es algo que puede venir Brandon Sanderson a terminar. Es una historia real sobre un caso que todavía no se cerró. La puerta está abierta para que cualquier persona pueda acercarse e intentar ayudar a descifrar quién carajos fue este joputa.

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probablytoolate's review

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dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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jmkendall0218's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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lesseraliterary's review

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challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

5.0

the author had such a powerful way of writing that you could tell the difference in the sections that were pieced together posthumously. she was really respectful of the survivors and victims and you could tell that she was passionate about the subject matter in a way that you could see her whole heart was in this book

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