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

very good, couldn’t put this one down.

Her writing is beautiful and the way she weaves you into the settings and the details and the agony of not finding this guy for so long is incredible. She practically killed herself writing this novel and I’m happy to have it in my library. It’s amazing how she is able to conjure up the fear in you the reader that he caused in California.

As a True Crime addict this book did not live up to the hype. Yes Michelle did her research, yes Michelle talked to families but really all of this information can be found by googling. The book comes off more as a fan girl inserts herself into an investigation. The when the author died her husband and friends patch the book together and attempt to give her credit for solving the crime. This is simply not true. What Michelle DID do was name the killer. OK, good but the writing comes off as self absorbed and at times rather boring.

Having lived in one of the areas that this serial killer terrorized, I was really looking forward to this book for a long time. I really thought that Michelle was going to bring this whole case alive, having devoted so much of her time to researching it. I will admit that true crime is not a genre that I frequently read. But I guess I expected to be more engrossed in the book. All the factors were there for a thrilling story. And yet, the book just kind of plods along. Yes, the facts are there, but I could have gotten those on Wilkpedia. I did finish the book, But was left feeling kind of blah. It’s not a bad book. It just isn’t a “Gee, I stayed up until 4:30 AM” kind of book. And yes, I do that pretty often if a book is gripping. This one just was not.

This book was so beautifully written. Everything Michelle wrote was so perfectly put together, even when she herself wasn't the one to put it together. Knowing now what the answers to this big questions of this case leads to an interesting perspective on the writing and makes the words so much more powerful. She was so right on so much stuff, and I have no doubt that she knew the answer (even if she didn't know it yet).

Fantastic book even considering it needed to be put together from the notes of the author, after her untimely death. I really enjoyed it.