I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara

Author: Michelle McNamara 

Title: I'll Be Gone In The Dark

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: 2018

Pages: 368

Genre: True Crime 

     The masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer - the serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade - from the late Michelle McNamara. I'll Be Gone in the Dark offers a unique snapshot of suburban West Coast America in the 1980s, and a chilling account of the wreckage left behind by a criminal mastermind. It is also a portrait of one woman's obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth, three decades later, in spite of the personal cost.

     It's funny how some books you see everywhere when they first come out but within a few months the book circle has moved on. There are new smash hits and authors to be talking about. But when it comes to I'll Be Gone In The Dark something seems to have staying power. I realize I'm a good couple of years late to this book but yet when I walked up to the counter with it the girl behind smiled a knowing smile and said "We've all read that one, it was all we could talk about." How often can that be said of the true-crime genre in this day and age when after just a few clicks on google all is at our disposal. Not to mention the sheer amount of people who would never normally touch this genre who felt compelled to go and grab a copy.  

     So why, we ask our selves has this book stuck. After all, there are plenty of true crime books out there all trying to lure us in with their gory details. From Manson to Bundy you can just about find a book from everyone who had even the slightest encounter with them. And it's a question I asked myself when I picked it up. I'd never heard of the golden state killer before this book. Had I heard of the author, well to be honest no, her husband yes from shows I'd watched. But that I feel is getting into seven degrees of Kevin Bacon. Maybe it's in part down to the untimely death of its author, as much as we would not like to admit it I think it added to sales. But that should be seen as a disservice to McNamara as what she has produced is a brilliant piece of reportage. 

     There are a great many true crime books for us to scan through at any given book store. In fact, where I bought this, there were at least four shelves rammed full of them. And whilst I do enjoy picking them up from time to time, you have to in my opinion be careful what you let into your head. Some are as cold as the victims they talk about. All facts and details, nothing to show any warmth to the victims. whilst others seem to go for covering as many plages in the bloody details as they can. Neither of these work so well for me if I'm honest. I need balance, something to show compassion but also a better understanding of the killer if such a thing is possible. I realize it's a very fine line to walk. But is ever-present in my head you are taking something from victims who never asked to be such. 

     The sad truth is we as people have had an obsession with murder since we could put pen to paper. People relish in the details, I suspect more than anything there by the grace of God go I comes into play.  And it's an interesting thing when it comes to this book. It's all about obsession be it from a man who struck fear to California for a decade or that of the author. Her need to unmask this man and bring justice to those he not only killed by those who lived and have spent the greater part of their lives living with the trauma and the fear. McNamara seems to tread carefully when it comes to the victims. Not wanting to tell us all the brutal details of what happened to them. Maybe this is in part down to her own caring nature but also perhaps due to the fact that a great many of them are still alive.  After all, no one wants to see the ordeal they went through use for Saturday afternoon entertainment. What I would say is she gives us enough that you can understand just how brutal this man was. 

     For me, another thing that is ever-present in reading this book was that she never got to finish it. We can not say with any definitive certainty what would or wouldn't have made it to her final cut, but I think those who followed in her footstep did their best to fill in the blanks. It must be a hard thing to do in trying to work out what she would have wanted. I guess at the end of the day it was to give us as much information about this killer as she could. Wanting him to know that his crimes were not forgotten and his victims certainly never forgot. 

     To some extent, I always find it hard to write reviews for true crime books. After all we a gaining something from someone else's misery. How would I feel if someone was to write about me if I was murdered. But never the less I still pick up such books and dive in. For me, McNamara and her band of cohorts did their very best in giving us this book. We get to grips with a killer and his crimes, but not only that we get to see the obsession for people who go in search of true crime fanatics. And I don't use that word lightly. To devote your life to such endeavors when not serving in the police force is a mystery to me. To sink yourself down into the mire of the real depths of human depravity when you don't have to takes a special kind of person. 

     Within these pages is a how-to guide on how to become an amateur detective. She gave us as many clues as she had at her disposal hoping that even if she could not solve it, just maybe it would jog someone's distant memory and a killer might be brought to justice. And whilst the outcome of this is all too well known now just maybe it might work for another elusive killer or rapist out there. We can but hope this to be true, to ease the mind of the victim knowing their atacker can no longer hurt anyone else. Never the less what this author has created fro me was worth my time and if like me you are way late to this one I can recommend  it with full confidence to you