Non-Fiction Of Note

Nonfiction of Note: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Last year I read more non-fiction and one of those books was I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara.  This was a haunting book that was well researched, fantastically written, and it’s publication was well-timed despite the tragedy surrounded by the author’s death.  However, the book is one that gives a terrible account of a serial killer who was wreaking havoc in California, taking lives, and causing fear among the citizens.

This book is an account of a killer who seemed to target couples, would break into their home, incapacitate the man, and rape the woman.  This was a violent series of events that took the lives of many people over the course of the killer’s crimes. Michelle McNamara did an amazing job of “hunting” this man and looking at not only his crimes but the people that were involved in tracking him down.

Her interviews and accounts were very well done and the story itself was a real hook from the beginning, only getting better as it went along, and the tale was one that was unbelievable, despite it being true.  It was hard to believe that this person got away with this for so many years and I was in disbelief that the killer could completely invade these people’s lives and take over.

While these types of books aren’t everyone’s choice, I think this is one that is really worth the read.  There is a great deal of violence and it’s frustrating, as a reader, to know this type of person was out there (and there are likely others) so long without being caught, despite the best efforts of the police.  However, this book, its dark content aside, was written out of a passionate pursuit of justice and I think that comes across in the writing. For that reason alone, this is a great book worth a read.