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A review by _lilbey_
Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer by David Reichert
3.0
2.5- Good look at the investigative pieces of the GRK case, but a bunch of stuff bothered me about this book.
So the first thing I thought was that it was weird that he had his title of Sheriff included in his author line... I mean... who does that? And HIS picture is on the front cover- just weird. Upon reading this book, I realized that titles and power over others are both very important to this guy and so he needed everyone to know his importance. While he was the primary on the GRK case, it wasn't because he was the best at his job, it was because he was there first. He resented anyone else who stepped in with advice or power over him (e.g. how apparently John Douglas offered no advice that they didn't already know themselves- yet they kept contacting him, and his refusal to accept a former coworker- a Black woman nonetheless- as his superior officer after she had earned that title) and was judgmental of people who made similar errors in the investigation as he had (it was reasonable that he spent a lot of time chasing down the wrong guy, but when others did it later with another suspect, well this was just a waste of time and resources). He complains about the media ruining the investigation early on, as well as the presence of the FBI and lack of funding later on- the lack of arrest could never possibly be due to something HE did wrong. When an experienced investigator reviews what has been done and has critiques, you can see Mr. Reichert was never going to listen to anything that was said and resented that someone would possibly find things wrong with the way he was doing things (again, he had this job due to being there, not due to vast experience with serial killers). He then seemed to hold a grudge against Keppel (who prepared the report with the critiques, a report that, I might add, encouraged- and got- increased funding for the GRK task force) for the rest of the narrative, if not into present day.
I also felt like much of the narrative was him trying to get the reader to like him- how he sympathized with the families of the victims, how he has no vices, his constant references to god and religion, how he donated time and money and a bike... and on and on it goes. Not sure what most of this had to do with the investigation and therefore the general topic of this book. Further, while he kept insisting he thought of the victims as people and not prostitutes, he did little to illustrate this fact- the only time we learned anything personal about any of these women was two statements made by parents during the filming of a TV show and the victim impact statements at the end. Nothing to show that he really did see these women as something beyond prostitutes. Coupled with his descriptions of the other prostitutes that were interviewed during the course of the investigation and how he repeatedly stated that these women were someone's daughters (so they are only worthwhile by virtue of their relationships to others?), his sentiments about the victims seemed unreal.
While he complained about people who contacted the police with tips saying they wanted fame and notoriety due to their connection with this case, that seems to be what Mr. Reichert wanted as well.
So the first thing I thought was that it was weird that he had his title of Sheriff included in his author line... I mean... who does that? And HIS picture is on the front cover- just weird. Upon reading this book, I realized that titles and power over others are both very important to this guy and so he needed everyone to know his importance. While he was the primary on the GRK case, it wasn't because he was the best at his job, it was because he was there first. He resented anyone else who stepped in with advice or power over him (e.g. how apparently John Douglas offered no advice that they didn't already know themselves- yet they kept contacting him, and his refusal to accept a former coworker- a Black woman nonetheless- as his superior officer after she had earned that title) and was judgmental of people who made similar errors in the investigation as he had (it was reasonable that he spent a lot of time chasing down the wrong guy, but when others did it later with another suspect, well this was just a waste of time and resources). He complains about the media ruining the investigation early on, as well as the presence of the FBI and lack of funding later on- the lack of arrest could never possibly be due to something HE did wrong. When an experienced investigator reviews what has been done and has critiques, you can see Mr. Reichert was never going to listen to anything that was said and resented that someone would possibly find things wrong with the way he was doing things (again, he had this job due to being there, not due to vast experience with serial killers). He then seemed to hold a grudge against Keppel (who prepared the report with the critiques, a report that, I might add, encouraged- and got- increased funding for the GRK task force) for the rest of the narrative, if not into present day.
I also felt like much of the narrative was him trying to get the reader to like him- how he sympathized with the families of the victims, how he has no vices, his constant references to god and religion, how he donated time and money and a bike... and on and on it goes. Not sure what most of this had to do with the investigation and therefore the general topic of this book. Further, while he kept insisting he thought of the victims as people and not prostitutes, he did little to illustrate this fact- the only time we learned anything personal about any of these women was two statements made by parents during the filming of a TV show and the victim impact statements at the end. Nothing to show that he really did see these women as something beyond prostitutes. Coupled with his descriptions of the other prostitutes that were interviewed during the course of the investigation and how he repeatedly stated that these women were someone's daughters (so they are only worthwhile by virtue of their relationships to others?), his sentiments about the victims seemed unreal.
While he complained about people who contacted the police with tips saying they wanted fame and notoriety due to their connection with this case, that seems to be what Mr. Reichert wanted as well.