Chase Darkness with Me

It's been years since I've read any nonfiction...but when I did, true crime was 90 percent of it. When I won this in a giveaway I knew it kismet.
This reads like part memoir, part true crime documentary ( which makes up 50 percent of what I watch on tv. Some weeks it's 100 percent.) While I was in it for the murder stories ( yes I get that that sounds weird but I mean from like a clinical POV. Not in a I'm getting off on this stuff kind of way), I got really sucked in by Jensen's stories about his dad. So when I get to the chapters with the crimes, I found myself more invested.
I'm really glad this was my first book back into non fiction. Honestly it set it up for me get back into the genre.

Have to DNF shelve this for right now. Put off by the cutesy Karen Kilgariff intro

(“OMG I didn't want to meet him but then I did but I thought I would hate him but OMG we totes love each other now true crime besties forever he totes listens to my podcast and you should too”)

but I forged ahead. How Jensen became interested in true crime had my attention and was truly unusual (and might be considered parental enmeshment?)...but then he goes into meeting Michelle McNamara...

And I was right back into the tone of the intro. What is it about a certain small corner of the informal true crime community (i.e., those that come at it from a paraprofessional angle) that becomes a such co-self-congratulating echo chamber?
If you are really into the work for seeking truth and helping victims, then why do you spend so much time squeeing about knowing each other and knowing other people? I stopped when he admitted that he and McNamara had a squeal fest (only a gentle paraphrasing on my part) upon getting the chance to speak to prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in the phone. That has nothing to do with the murder victims not seeking justice.
If my murdered best friend were the subject at hand, and her case's prosecutor were the celebrity they were squealing about, I would be horrified.
I may return to this book. But right now I am really turned off, and there is so much more I want to read. And I will be reading it in print. Jensen's narration sounds in part like he has a cold. I'm going to be returning it to Audible. What a disappointment.

I was bored, the author jumps around a lot. It was jumbled at times and aggravating at others. I love true crime, but this was just, I don't even know. He seemed to think chasing a new case was more important than his family when they were on a vacation. The story he went to was important, but still, the kids are only young once.

I liked the emphasis Jensen put on the victims no matter how “perfect” or “troubled” they are and the need to stop glamorizing killers. I wish he used the word “female” less as a shorthand for “female victim” but overall, I enjoyed this!

If you love the true crime genre, you'll love this story and appreciate Jensen's creative use of social media targeting to help ID murderes.