2 True Crime Books That Are Haunting

Read, Listen, & Review: I'll Be Gone in The Dark & Chase Darkness with Me

Buckle up, everyone, we have a two book review this week! I put these books together because they have similar themes, writers, and topics. They also pair perfectly together since there is some overlap, but I’ll get to that a little later.

I’ve read and listened to the audiobook for these two novels, and they are easily in my top 5 favorite books of all time.

Spoilers Ahead: Read at Your Own Risk!

Let’s start with Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders. Investigative journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years of his life investigating unsolved murders. Despite every story he worked on having no ending, he still fought for the victims and their families.

After the sudden death of Michelle McNamara, a friend and fellow crime writer, he became overwhelmed and fed up with the unsolved crimes he had written about for so long. He decided enough was enough, and he was going to solve these cold cases himself.

Utilizing social media, he shows how crime solving has evolved throughout the years and how they can be successful. He also provides tips on how you can help solve crimes, which if you’re interested in that like I am, is fascinating.

He perfectly weaves in true crime and his own life story that keeps you reading though until the end. I actually read his book in one sitting and he keeps yo u on the edge of your seat.

While I was physically reading the book and listening to the audiobook (that Billy Jensen reads himself) I caught myself so many times feeling just as frustrated as he was, heartbroken for these families waiting for justice, and near tears. It’s another book I think about a lot in my everyday life, and whichever way you choose to read it, you’ll definitely enjoy it, even if true crime isn’t a genre you venture into that often.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer is a book I love so much. Michelle’s voice and dedication leaks through the pages and you can feel her dogged determination to find answers.

A quick word of warning about this book: it goes into great detail about the crime scenes and the crimes he committed. Please take care and use discretion.

The person we now know as The Golden State Killer (as dubbed by author Michelle McNamara), terrorized Northern California for over ten years by committing heinous sexual assaults and burglaries before he moved to Southern California. Once there, he brutally murdered ten people. And as soon as he came, he vanished, and the case was unsolved for decades.

Decades later, true crime journalist Michelle McNamara wanted to know who was responsible. She went on a years deep-dive into these cases, getting police reports, files, interviews, recordings, anything she could get her hands on to find the man who committed these horrible crimes.

Sadly, Michelle didn’t get to see her book finished or the killer caught, as she suddenly and tragically died in April 2016. Her researcher, Paul Haynes, and fellow true crime journalist and friend, Billy Jensen, helped finish the book and compile her notes.

Arguably my absolute favorite part of this book, both in the physical copy and the audiobook, is the epilogue: “Letter to An Old Man” written by Michelle before she died. I won’t spoil that because it is chilling, moving, and so incredible.

Throughout this book, I found myself double checking my locks and looking out my windows. Before The Golden State Killer was caught, he truly lived like a poltergeist: suddenly appearing in people’s homes and wreaking the worst kind of havoc.

Two years after her untimely death and two months after the publication of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, The Golden State Killer was arrested. Now that’s some divine intervention.

Without a doubt, these two books will be ones you think about for a long time. They both are so quotable and are tearjerkers. As I said at the top of this review, these are in my list of my top 5 favorite books. In a word, these books are unforgettable.

5/5 across the board for both.

Have you read either of these haunting books? Are there other true crime books you recommend? Let me know in the comments below!