Michelle gave the victims a voice, she did not focus too much on the gruesome nature of the crimes, she was able to breath life into the detectives working a decades long case. Her wording made the reader feel as though they too were on the hunt, with her as she retraced the steps of a mad man. I have never been so invested in the capture of a criminal whose crimes were committed before I was born. The book made me equal parts horrified, disgusted, but also hopeful. This man was methodical, but also the community did not quite know how to be cautious or diligent; often times, he may have been caught if a witness came forward or contacted the police sooner. Michelle's book reopened a case few remembered, allowing for a wider range of people to read all of the details and maybe one of them could possibly know the identity of this elusive criminal. The book can be grim, some of the details so shocking that I had to set the book down and come back to it for the sake of my own comfort. However, it was never gruesome to the point of being simply shock value writing. No, the details were added to highlight the depths this depraved man would go to to inflict fear and pain on those he decided would be his targets. He would stalk, hunt, target, then he would attack; victims would be woken by harsh light and be groggy as he came into view; the shadow in the night, the sound of a window being removed, the whisper of something touching your skin. He left destruction in his wake. This novel is also a study of a communities response to these terrifying acts. I could hardly believe, same as the author, all those witnesses approached by police after the fact, that did nothing. People witnessing strange lurkers, or men in backyards. Why not report this when you see it? The author was baffled, and one of the police on the case said simply that this perpetrator is always said to be smart, but a lot of the time he did not need to be, because even at the height of his terror people were not as vigilant as they could have been. Or even more baffling, police would not necessarily follow up on a possible suspect, because they were eliminated for unbelievable reasons (penis size, yes, penis size was one reason). Would that still be true today? I would like to say no, but I believe that maybe this would still happen (we are becoming less community driven). I was also disgusted to find out how many serial rapists were around during the 1970s in California. The East Area Rapist was one of 5 or 6 serial rapists around that time. This novel was well written, gripping. I especially enjoyed that the author was candid about herself (the story of her and her mother, in context with her own passing, was heart breaking), about her obsession with finding the GSK or providing the evidence needed for someone else to find him. She was dedicated, determined, often at the expense of her own health. This was a fantastic book, even if you are not a fan of true crime!
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