“I’m envious, for example, of people obsessed with the Civil War, which brims with details but is contained. In my case, the monsters recede but never vanish. They are long dead and being born as I write.”
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
“It was funny how high and bright the red flags flew in hindsight,”
― The Lost Man
― The Lost Man
“I love reading true crime, but I’ve always been aware of the fact that, as a reader, I am actively choosing to be a consumer of someone else’s tragedy. So like any responsible consumer, I try to be careful in the choices I make. I read only the best: writers who are dogged, insightful, and humane.”
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
“One day soon, you’ll hear a car pull up to your curb, an engine cut out. You’ll hear footsteps coming up your front walk. Like they did for Edward Wayne Edwards, twenty-nine years after he killed Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew, in Sullivan, Wisconsin. Like they did for Kenneth Lee Hicks, thirty years after he killed Lori Billingsley, in Aloha, Oregon.
The doorbell rings.
No side gates are left open. You’re long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper, gulping breaths. Clench your teeth. Inch timidly toward the insistent bell.
This is how it ends for you.
“You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark,” you threatened a victim once.
Open the door. Show us your face.
Walk into the light.”
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
The doorbell rings.
No side gates are left open. You’re long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper, gulping breaths. Clench your teeth. Inch timidly toward the insistent bell.
This is how it ends for you.
“You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark,” you threatened a victim once.
Open the door. Show us your face.
Walk into the light.”
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
“That’s what we do. All of us. We make well-intentioned promises of protection we can’t always keep. I’ll look out for you.”
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
― I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
Cate’s 2025 Year in Books
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