I'll Be Gone In The Dark is a true crime novel about a former journalist's obsession with the Golden State Killer. The Golden State Killer was known to be behind multiple rape and murder cases.

**Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault, and Rape***

Okay, wow!

I've never actually read True Crime before. My boyfriend is currently in school for forensic and all that good stuff and he really got me into True Crime, and investigating serial killers. He bought me this book as a late Christmas gift and I'm so happy he did because I devoured it!

I wasn't too familiar to the Golden State Killer prior to this. So reading this book was technically introducing me to not only this horrible human, but also the horrible crimes he's done in 70s and 80s.

I was at a loss for words reading this book.

Michelle McNamara has amazing writing, might I mention. Her writing is so interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. At most points, I had goosebumps chilling down my spine because it was written so well and in depth.

I listened to most of this book on audiobook while I was running errands and I remember feeling so uncomfortable hearing everything this GSK was doing to people in California. It freaked me out while I was getting groceries, I was starting to get paranoid.

I wanted to add that for a while after reading this book, I was terrified of my home at night.

For those who don't know, the Golden State Killer was responsible for about 13 murders, more than 50 rapes and and over 100 burglaries in the 70s and 80s in California.

The GSK would break locks of homes at night, and roam around homes, steal what he wanted, then proceed to rape females and in some cases, kill them and their families.

I was drawn aback by this whole book and this whole case. Mainly because he wasn't caught for over 40 years, and thanks to this book, the man is now in custody.

I saw a lot of reviews from people saying it was sometimes hard to follow, but I thought it flowed quite well.

The book went in order by events, adding a bit of the author's life here and there.

At first, I wasn't a huge fan of the additional chapters about the author's life, mainly because I thought she didn't play a part in this case at all. But after a while, you start to appreciate those chapters. You see her personal relationships and her real obsession to this case. And it's even more heartbreaking she had died before the GSK was even caught.

The author goes quite in depth with these cases, she tells you as much detail as you'd like to hear. If you are triggered to these situations, I definitely do not recommend reading this book because McNamara really doesn't hold back.

My whole thought process whilst reading this book is, how in the world did this guy get away with so many cases of assault and rape and murder for over four decades and no one had no idea who he was until recently.

There were so many moments when reading this book where I was like, "Couldn't they have found this person because of this" and it irritated me. The Golden State Killer wore a mask while I did these crimes, so no one has actually seen his face while I was going from home to home.

But still, I was so angered that he hasn't be caught until 2018.

Like I said earlier, this was my first true crime book and I loved it. It brought high standards for this genre to me. Ever since, I've been searching for new True Crime books to read that could potentially be better than this.

Joseph James DeAngelo was caught as the Golden State Killer in 2018 and from what I learned from this novel is how evil this man is. Disturbing and evil. And I'm so happy they caught him and he's now in custody.