by Abeer Hoque
“By May 16, a surge of newly installed floodlights lit up the east side like a Christmas tree. In one house tambourines were tied to every door and window. Hammers went under pillows. Nearly 3000 guns were sold in Sacramento County between January and May. Many people refused to sleep between one and four a.m. Some couples slept in shifts, one of them always stationed on the living room couch, a rifle pointed at the window. Only a madman would strike again.”
In I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara tells the story of her hunt for the identity of a man who terrorized Californians in the 1970s and 1980s, committing more than 50 rapes, a dozen brutal murders (mostly husband-wife pairs), and countless burglaries and break-ins. McNamara is credited with giving him the moniker the Golden State Killer. When the book was released in February 2018, he was still at large, with generations of survivors, detectives, and private citizen investigators on the hunt for his identity. Since the release date, police have made an arrest.
Two years before a combination of factors and DNA databases led to the identification of the Golden State Killer (GSK), McNamara died. She hadn’t finished the book, which led to some odd or forced editorial choices. The narrative jumped back and forth so much in time that I lost a sense of chronology. These jumps took away from the forward motion of the book – understanding how the bloody jigsaw pieces fit into a widening scope of terror, at least from the perspective of the detectives, survivors, and families and communities concerned. It was only towards end of the book that I got a better sense of what the detectives and citizen investigators like McNamara were dealing with, in the long decades during and after the GSK’s reign.
That said, every chapter was detailed enough to be its own story and narrative arc. The first few chapters were marvelous: terrifying enough to keep me waking with nightmares the first night I read it. They were chockfull of the kind of character details and psychological depth that would make Margaret Atwood proud. McNamara applies this laser insight to victims, survivors, cops, local communities, and her own life, family, and personality. As per the latter, her obsession with the Golden State Killer case and that of other cold case enthusiasts is one of the themes of the book.
One of compelling parts of the book for me were the smart thoughtful portrayals of the detectives and criminologists that McNamara met and worked with over the years. In these days of knowing more about racist killer cops and rampant police brutality, it is sometimes hard not to paint all law enforcement with the same violent brush. This book serves as one counter example. At least when it comes to the white victims of white serial killers.
If you have a penchant for true crime (hello Law and Order fans), cold cases, and detective stories, all written with exquisite characterization, this is a book for you.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
Michelle McNamara
Harper
ISBN: 978-0062319784