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A review by justinkhchen
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
5.0
5 stars
A tremendous documentation of one's relentless obsession, 5 stars is really the only rating reasonable for I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a posthumous collection of research and personal reflection written by Michelle McNamara on the case of the Golden State Killer (a now mainstream 'nickname' she coined). To think that an amateur individual, doing the research on a then obscure slew of unsolved cases simply out of curiosity (and personal healing), was able to connect (and gained trust) with people closely associated, got her hands on police files/evidences, and being on the right track before the authority, at the same thing narrated the journey in a compelling, heartfelt way, is just a combination of devotion and skill rare to coexist on a single individual.
However, I'll caveat if you're completely novice to the history of this case, I'll Be Gone in the Dark will not be that one-stop shop providing the clear-cut, definitive rundown of events. One because of Michelle's passing before the book's completion, it is evident there are sections of the book that feel incomplete and out of sequence, clearly could benefit from more rounds of revision. As well as Michelle's biographical story—which is very compelling on its own, but I can see it being one thread too many in an already complicating web of name, place, and time. I was already pretty familiar with the case going in, so I appreciated the personalized aspect of her telling.
We all, at one point or another, have had the experience of being obsessed about a subject matter, but to have actually go down the rabbit hole to the depth Michelle McNamara had done, while maintaining rationality and avoiding fetishizing/glorifying the subject matter, and then assembling the puzzle pieces (obviously she didn't solve the case, but she most definitely paved the path towards it), is simply jaw-dropping. I'm very happy that her effort is made available to the public.
A tremendous documentation of one's relentless obsession, 5 stars is really the only rating reasonable for I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a posthumous collection of research and personal reflection written by Michelle McNamara on the case of the Golden State Killer (a now mainstream 'nickname' she coined). To think that an amateur individual, doing the research on a then obscure slew of unsolved cases simply out of curiosity (and personal healing), was able to connect (and gained trust) with people closely associated, got her hands on police files/evidences, and being on the right track before the authority, at the same thing narrated the journey in a compelling, heartfelt way, is just a combination of devotion and skill rare to coexist on a single individual.
However, I'll caveat if you're completely novice to the history of this case, I'll Be Gone in the Dark will not be that one-stop shop providing the clear-cut, definitive rundown of events. One because of Michelle's passing before the book's completion, it is evident there are sections of the book that feel incomplete and out of sequence, clearly could benefit from more rounds of revision. As well as Michelle's biographical story—which is very compelling on its own, but I can see it being one thread too many in an already complicating web of name, place, and time. I was already pretty familiar with the case going in, so I appreciated the personalized aspect of her telling.
We all, at one point or another, have had the experience of being obsessed about a subject matter, but to have actually go down the rabbit hole to the depth Michelle McNamara had done, while maintaining rationality and avoiding fetishizing/glorifying the subject matter, and then assembling the puzzle pieces (obviously she didn't solve the case, but she most definitely paved the path towards it), is simply jaw-dropping. I'm very happy that her effort is made available to the public.