I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle Mcnamara book review
By maezee
@maezee (41985)
United States
January 27, 2020 9:14pm CST
I just finished reading this book after several people suggested it to me, "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" by Michelle Mcnamara. Have you heard of it? This is a non-fiction investigative piece about the Golden State Killer, an active serial rapist & killer (I believe it was he killed 12, raped 50, and burglarized 120 homes) in the late 1970s-1980s in and around Sacramento and Southern California.
This author brought light to this serial killer with her investigation and this book, which may have inspired or helped investigators eventually nab the correct suspect, after 30+ years of not knowing.
This book goes into some detail about the different crimes, some of the patterns, some of the theories, and the multiple red herrings and dead ends reached by the author, Mcnamara as well as the multiple different jurisdictions involved in the case.
Some of the writing, since it was largely unfinished, was scattered and compiled together from her notes. Which at times felt scattered and a little bit hard for me to keep up with.
Almost more famous than the book itself, is that the author died WHILE writing the book. She had been obsessed with this case, spent many a'night awake after her husband and kids went to sleep, researching and writing. She died in her sleep at the young age of 46 (I believe it was, correct me if I am wrong). Shortly after she died and after her book came out, police managed to solve the case and arrest the perp. The police claim that her book did not LINK anyone to the crimes but kept the "Golden State Killer" in people's minds and public.
It really makes me wonder how they did end up solving the case or how they made the connection with this particular person.
5 people like this
4 responses
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
28 Jan 20
I've not heard of this book but it does sound good.
Um thinking something in the book helped them catch the killer even if they don't plan on acknowledging that fact or possibility.
I read some years before that the sherlock Holmes books helped police keep the public away from crime scenes and other things still used to this day that were not being used prior to them being written.
Prior to that crime scenes weren't being condoned off among other things.






