I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer in PopSugar Reading Challenge en Español

Aug 11, 2018 Jen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime

I was not prepared for this book. This is not the kind of book you can snuggle in with and read yourself to sleep. To be frank: I'll Be Gone in the Dark scared the shit out of me. If you can read this book - especially at night or alone in your home - without looking over your shoulder, you are a lot tougher than I am.

For so many reasons, this book had me in pieces. Not only did the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist rape, kill, and/or rob his victims, he psychologically tormented them. This b ...more

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May 31, 2019 Paloma rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed-reseñados, literatura-estadounidense, audiobooks, not-my-cup-of-tea, reading-challenge-2019, 2019-popsugar-challenge, non-fiction, true-crime

Review in English | Reseña en Español
This was a disappointing book for me –it started out quite interesting, but I guess the end did not deliver what I expected from a true crime story. I’ll be Gone in the Dark documents the quest of Michelle McNamara, the author, to discover a man who raped 50 women and killed a dozen people in Sacramento, California, and surrounding area, over 10 years, and then vanished without a trace. The premise sounded amazing, though the identity of the criminal (at leas Review in English | Reseña en Español
This was a disappointing book for me –it started out quite interesting, but I guess the end did not deliver what I expected from a true crime story. I’ll be Gone in the Dark documents the quest of Michelle McNamara, the author, to discover a man who raped 50 women and killed a dozen people in Sacramento, California, and surrounding area, over 10 years, and then vanished without a trace. The premise sounded amazing, though the identity of the criminal (at least until the time of the publishing of the book) remained unsolved. However, how many crimes are still unsolved and yet remain chilling?

And I feel that is what this book lacked –mystery, true emotion, something even darker. Ok, the crimes themselves were awful, the criminal’s modus operandi was cruel and sick – but I just did not feel this was conveyed in the writing. I felt it was just a listing of the crimes and the scenes, combined with odd memories from the author’s childhood, which added little to the story. Perhaps the fact that McNamara died before completing the book led to this result; I read in a review that she had completed only 50%, so who knows if she wanted this as the final result?

The last chapters –which were written by someone else, were plain boring – and could not wait for the audiobook to be over. I guess the main issue was that in a true crime story one would expect, perhaps, a portrait of the person committing the crimes or if his or her background, even if it was only a reconstruction or hypothesis.

Another book for which I do not get the hype.
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Este libro me decepcionó –empezó bastante bien pero el final no cumplió con las expectativas que tenía de un libro sobre crímenes reales. I’ll be gone in the dark documenta la búsqueda de Michelle McNamara, la autora, por descubrir a un hombre que violó a 50 mujeres y asesinó a casi una docena de personas en Sacramento, California y áreas adyacentes, por más de diez años, y después desapareció.

La premisa sonaba increíble, a pesar de que la identidad del criminal (por lo menos hasta la publicación del libro) aún era desconocida. Sin embargo, ¿cuántos crímenes permanecen sin resolver y aun así, son escalofriantes?

Y creo que es precisamente eso lo que al libro le faltó –misterio, más emoción, algo incluso más oscuro que podría haber nacido de un potencial perfil del criminal. Si bien es cierto que los crímenes fueron horribles y el modus operandi del perpetrador era cruel y enfermo, sentí que esto no fue reflejado en la escritura. En mi opinión, solo fue un listado de los crímenes y las escenas, combinado con recuerdos de la infancia de la autora, que añadieron poco a la historia. Quizá el hecho de que la autora murió antes de completar el libro llevó a este resultado –en otra reseña leí que solo alcanzó a completar el 50% del texto, entonces, ¿Quién sabe si era esto lo que ella había visualizado como el libro final?

Los últimos capítulos –que literalmente fueron escritos por alguien más, me parecieron infumables, aburridos y no podía esperar a que terminara el audiolibro. Creo que la cuestión es que, en un libro sobre crímenes reales, uno espera un elemento distintivo –un perfil del criminal, de su contexto o entorno, a pesar que no deje de ser una reconstrucción o hipótesis, si el asesino continúa siendo desconocido.

En fin, desafortunadamente este es otro libro del cual no me queda claro porque la calificación es tan alta. ...more

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