cover image Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders

Chase Darkness with Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders

Billy Jensen. Sourcebooks, $25.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4926-8585-2

In this engrossing memoir, journalist Jensen takes the reader on his quest to hunt down killers using internet sleuthing and crowdsourcing. He came by his calling early in life: “I didn’t have podcasts and documentaries telling me about the most horrific crimes of the era. I had Dad.” From hearing his father read crime headlines from the paper to becoming a journalist for major magazines and crime shows, Jensen eventually worked with fellow journalist Michelle McNamara, who was investigating the Golden State Killer. After McNamara’s sudden death, at the request of her husband, Jensen helped finish I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, her book about the serial killer, which was published in 2018 and prompted renewed interest in the decades-old case that led to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo. Jensen details many other cases where he helped find killers for police departments around the country using Facebook, and he writes about his elation the first time his methods solved a case. At the end, Jensen lays out exactly how the reader can join the chase and work to track killers and fugitives as an online citizen detective. For fans of true crime, this is a fascinating story. [em]Author tour. Agent: Marc Gerald, Europa Content. (Aug.) [/em]