If you love true crime, I bet you’ll love this book!
The podcast My Favorite Murder has introduced me to many things: a love of the morbid and unsettling, books, TV shows, movies, podcasts. It’s been a fun journey getting to expand my circle of interests and Chase Darkness with Me is an excellent culmination of those interests.
If you’ve listened to Murder Squad with Billy Jensen and retired Contra Costa County detective Paul Holes, you’ve probably heard Jensen mention his recently published book. A reporter for many years, Jensen has written a lovely (maybe a strange word to use in reference to murder and rape and other horrid topics) book, telling his story along with the many unsolved cases he is working to solve.
Each chapter connects to one another, effortlessly weaving multiple cases together and telling us a bit about Jensen’s life as well. He uses direct quotes from family and friends of the victims, allowing them to tell their experience in a way, through the book. He also discusses his methods, how he analyzes crime scene videos, and utilizes social media and familial DNA techniques. He’s really written a how-to book of assisting detectives on unsolved cases, without it being step-by-step. He walks the reader through his thought and action processes, staying totally transparent the whole way through. Jensen doesn’t sugarcoat things: he has had plenty of cases that turn up no leads, nothing he can turn over to detectives and say, “I think this is it.” But the ones he figures out? The reader can feel his joy through the pages, a real sense of hey, maybe I could and should do this too.
Like I said, Jensen doesn’t sugarcoat things. The addendum to the book goes into depth about how anyone can get started helping to solve cold cases like he does through social media and getting loud. It seems tough, with long hours on-call and a low success rate. But it truly felt like Jensen is rooting for us, giving us all the tips and tricks we need to begin this journey. He’s honest and harsh while staying optimistic and clever. I appreciated how he writes and the content he was writing.
Compared to other true crime books, this isn’t a deep dive into one particular case. Jensen certainly provides plenty of details about specific crimes but doesn’t overwhelm the reader. If we look at I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, a close friend of Jensen’s, there is so much analysis of one person’s crimes. Keeping track of the names and places was challenging for the layperson like myself. Jensen’s book piques the reader’s interest, allowing you to do some research on your own if you so desire.
I enjoyed the book overall and left with a better understanding of how social media can be used to solve crimes. It seems foolhardy to put this type of sensitive material in the hands of random civilians. Ideally, everyone would follow the rules Jensen laid out in the addendum and listen to law enforcement and the families. Unfortunately I can see that not happening. Jensen references the online community Reddit “solving” the Boston Bomber identity, which turned into a horrible spectacle. That’s why it’s important to lay out guidelines. Hopefully that sort of thing happening dwindles even as more civilians continue to help. The effort needed to do something like this seems like it would deter people from being reckless, so we’ll see.
Music: Portugal. The Man and DNCE (obsessed with Cake By the Ocean, yes I know I’m years late)
Linnea Books It 