I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, True Crime Review

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Author Michelle McNamara

Michelle McNamara was a true crime author who spent endless hours trying to find the identity of the Golden State Killer (GSK), unfortunately she passed away before his capture but left this book as her legacy.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is the story of the Golden State Killer, a monster who terrorized over 50 victims across California. He left many of his rape victims alive and killed several other victims along the way. His rampage left communities paralyzed by fear and changed the course of the American Criminal Justice system permanently.

This case is a huge precedent for how DNA evidence is used in cold cases and how DNA evidence can be used to link seemingly unrelated cases. It also raises many ethical questions as to how DNA from sites like ‘23 and me‘ and ancestry should be used.

Slightly on topic, but before you send your DNA to one of these sites just keep in mind that there are NO legal regulations set in place that determine how they are allowed to use that DNA. The company may say that they won’t sell your DNA to anyone else, but that can be changed at any time. Until there are strict rules about it I’ll be keeping me gene sequences to myself.

McNamara describes the crimes committed in a manner that is both factual and literary. She never veers far from the evidence. She speculates only within reason and even then, minimally. She simply puts forth the events as they happened and presents what clues are actually present. She also performs interviews only with experts close to the case. There are no superfluous detours in this book.

Every one of us is a detective in our own lives, searching for the clues that’ll lead us to our missing pieces

Michelle McNamara, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

Because she passed away before the book was published and before the case was solved the book also focuses on her own dedication to the case. It becomes a true crime slash memoir of a woman who so tirelessly fought for the truth that it occupied her up until the very moment of her passing. Someone with this kind of passion for justice should never be discounted when considering what brought this killer in.

It is truly tragic that the killer’s identity was revealed only shortly after her death. It’s touching that this book can at least show how much of an influence she had in the case.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is a lovely tribute to McNamara and is a compelling read for any true crime fan. We truly lost a great influence with her.

5/5 evidence notebooks 📒📒📒📒📒

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I’ll be Gone in the Dark has since been adapted into a documentary series on HBO. The series is 7 episodes long and features the late McNamara’s husband Patton Oswalt. It was released in 2020 and is available to watch now.

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