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

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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v_neptune's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

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erikawynn's review

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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.

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citrinuke's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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librarymouse's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Michelle McNamara's work to hunt down the Golden State Killer is exceptional. Her dedication to the work and her writing style make the book an engaging read that made me want to keep reading long into the night despite the content. The sections compiled after her death were done with so much respect for her and her work show how much she meant to her friends, loved ones, and colleagues.

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ivana's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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savvyrosereads's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

If you don’t already know the story of Michelle McNamara, I encourage you to read up on her and her life/writing, but the nutshell version is this—Michelle was a brilliant and dedicated true crime writer/blogger who dedicated a significant chunk of her life to investigating the identity of the serial murderer/rapist she dubbed the Golden State Killer. Although Michelle passed away unexpectedly before GSK was identified (and before the book was completed) he was finally identified and apprehended in 2018. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is a captivating and brilliantly written exploration of GSK’s crimes, a portrait of his victims, and an insight into the investigation that ultimately led to his arrest.

This was exceptional—though I’m still fairly new to the world of true crime I can already tell that this deserves a spot as one of the classics of the genre. It is incredibly well-written and detailed while still being compulsively readable and engaging. There are many reasons to be saddened by Michelle McNamara’s untimely passing, and one of them is the fact that we cannot look forward to more of her books. Indeed, the only part of the book that was less-than-stellar was the structure—undoubtedly due to the fact that Michelle never got to finish the book and much of it was pieced together from her notes or written after the fact by others—but the final product is still unquestionably good enough to compensate for this minor defect.

Recommended for anyone, but especially those who like: true crime; investigative journalism.

CW: Sexual assault/rape; murder/death; cruelty to animals.

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