Play Book Tag discussion

What great potential this book had. It is stated at the beginning that the author had an untimely death while writing this book, extremely tragic. I can't believe it took until this book, and McNamara's coining of the term the GSK for this criminal to have a name (although he did have multiple previous names as they didn't know it was all being committed by the same person). After over 50 rapes, multiple murders, robberies, burgleries, and more, you'd think more people would know about him. The ultimate (and depressing) kicker is, two months after the author's death, an arrest was made- and the culprit is now behind bars.

The book has a few parts- first being obviously about the crimes. Some stories are glossed over, some stories are told in depth. There are so many different crimes the GSK was committing over time, so this really kept the story interesting, despite sometimes being a long list of names and red herrings. The second layer to the book was more 'memoir' sections of Michelle. These were the parts I really liked, how one goes into the rabbit hole of true crime, how this case literally consumed here. I loved getting to know her 'process' and finding how she, as a a citizen (not a cop, detective, anything like that) befriended people, was able to get critical information, got to know the case, and how she planned to solve it. She seemed to strike a perfect balance between hard facts, sympathy for the victims and family, and was the person they needed to keep interest in the case so it could be ultimately solved. Then the third part is written/put together after her death.

The problem was this book was very scattered. There was quite a bit of repetition throughout the sections. It stinks because many of the chapters start with "editors note: this chapter was put together though a series of notes, interviews, and past articles written by the author". The flow of the book isn't great. I feel like this was all ultimately editing decisions, and I feel it unfair to judge this book and author based on something she had no control over after her death. 4 generous stars.

I just did a search on her death, I knew nothing about it-how tragic!

That being said, I use to be a "True Crime" addict in my reading, but this is one that slipped by me-I will keep it in mind should a tag or challenge come a long-nice review

I read this when it came out. I am a true crime fan and the story is fascinating, unfortunately more so than the book. I think I gave it 3 stars for all the reasons you mentioned. It would've been a much tighter and successful final product had she been able to finish herself.

Meli wrote: "It would've been a much tighter and successful final product had she been able to finish herself. "

100%. I wonder if she would love this, or be rolling in her grave with how they finished it.

Joi wrote: "Meli wrote: "It would've been a much tighter and successful final product had she been able to finish herself. "

100%. I wonder if she would love this, or be rolling in her grave with how they fin..."

As a writer she might be cringin a little, but as a friend / partner / wife I think she would have to recognize it was a labor of love.

This is also on my shelf so I will be curious to see where I sit when I finally read it.