I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK
Michelle McNamara, In The Footsteps of a Serial Killer
When someone hears Michelle McNamara’s name, it’s natural to link her to true crime, specifically the Golden State Killer. The first wife of Patton Oswalt wrote I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, now being adapted as a six-part HBO docuseries.
I’ll Be Gone In The Dark tells the story of McNamara’s fascination with a serial killer, rapist and burglar in California from 1974-1986. Before McNamara started writing about the Golden State Killer (GSK), he held other titles: East Area Rapist, Original Night Stalker, Visalia Ransacker, East Bay Rapist and Diamond Knot Killer. It was McNamara who tagged him with his last alias. McNamara was closing in on the identity of GSK through DNA technology when things took a turn.
McNamara died in 2016 from an accidental overdose while she was working on her novel. Oswalt and a team of writers finished her book and posthumously released the best seller in 2018. That same year, Navy veteran and retired cop Joseph James DeAngelo was apprehended and charged, including eight counts of first-degree murder based on DNA evidence.
The upcoming docuseries follows McNamara’s journey to identifying the killer. In 2013, because of McNamara’s blog TrueCrimeDiary, the case was reopened. The documentary features excerpts from her book narrated by Beautiful Boy and The Office actress Amy Ryan plus the trial that put DeAngelo behind bars.
HBO said the series also gives voice “to the survivors and their families, documenting an era when sex crimes were often dismissed or hidden in shame. A timely inquiry into our macabre preoccupation with true crime and a cautionary tale of the dangerous lure of addiction, the series is a riveting meditation on obsession and loss, chronicling the unrelenting path of a mysterious killer and the fierce determination of one woman to bring the case to light.”
The dark, sinister plot uncovers the power of addiction and the forms it takes. PROVOKR and true crime lovers will devour this enticing tale of actual events.
