Chase Darkness with Me ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Genre: True Crime

US Publication: August 13, 2019

Print: 336 pages

Audio: 8 hours 19 minutes

Confetti Rating: 4 stars

REVIEW:

For those out of the true crime loop, Billy Jensen is a journalist, citizen detective, and author who helped finish Michelle McNamara’s genre classic, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, after she passed away before its completion. His connection to McNamara and her obsession to identify and capture the Golden State Killer (“GSK”) is what really put him on the map, but his dogged determination to solve cold case murders is what keeps him there.

Chase Darkness with Me is his first solo memoir, in which he chronicles not only how he helped with the GSK case but also how he became obsessed with armchair sleuthing to begin with. He has pioneered methods of using social media to put lesser-known killers behind bars, thereby helping victims’ families find closure if not peace.

Jensen’s book is a fascinating glimpse at how interest can turn into action. If you are drawn to true crime stories and want to get off the couch to help actually solve them, it can actually read like a “DIY Sleuthing for Dummies” tutorial. I personally found it to be even more engaging than I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, and I’ll definitely be reading any future true crime stories by Jensen.

For those with Audible Plus memberships, Chase Darkness with Me is currently included in that catalog for immediate streaming.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

Have you ever wanted to solve a murder? Gather the clues the police overlooked? Put together the pieces? Identify the suspect?

Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common―they didn't have an ending. The killer was still out there.

But after the sudden death of a friend, crime writer and author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara, Billy became fed up. Following a dark night, he came up with a plan. A plan to investigate past the point when the cops had given up. A plan to solve the murders himself.

You'll ride shotgun as Billy identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You'll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle McNamara's pursuit of the Golden State Killer and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown Four. And Billy gives you the tools―and the rules―to help solve murders yourself.

Gripping, complex, unforgettable, Chase Darkness with Me is an examination of the evil forces that walk among us, illustrating a novel way to catch those killers, and a true-crime narrative unlike any you've read before.