Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Voted by members for Nonfiction Additional Nominee Read

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases by Paul Holes



From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards--and toll--of a life solving crime.

I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to me lately. I’m drinking too much. My sheets are soaking wet when I wake up from nightmares of decaying corpses. I order another drink and swig it, trying to forget about the latest case I can’t shake.

Crime-solving for me is more complex than the challenge of the hunt, or the process of piecing together a scientific puzzle. The thought of good people suffering drives me, for better or worse, to the point of obsession.

People always ask how I am able to detach from the horrors of my work. Part of it is an innate capacity to compartmentalize; the rest is experience and exposure, and I’ve had plenty of both. But I had always taken pride in the fact that I can keep my feelings locked up to get the job done. It’s only been recently that it feels like all that suppressed darkness is beginning to seep out.

When I look back at my long career, there is a lot I am proud of. I have caught some of the most notorious killers of the twenty-first century and brought justice and closure for their victims and families. I want to tell you about a lifetime solving these cold cases, from Laci Peterson to Jaycee Dugard to the Pittsburg homicides to, yes, my twenty-year-long hunt for the Golden State Killer.

But a deeper question eats at me as I ask myself, at what cost? I have sacrificed relationships, joy—even fatherhood—because the pursuit of evil always came first. Did I make the right choice? It’s something I grapple with every day. Yet as I stand in the spot where a young girl took her last breath, as I look into the eyes of her family, I know that, for me, there has never been a choice. “I don’t know if I can solve your case,” I whisper. “But I promise I will do my best.”

It is a promise I know I can keep.

I'll be starting this one tomorrow. It looks interesting.

Started this last night.. Its quite interesting. I'll be finished with it by tonight.

I just barely started, but had to send it back to the library. Hopefully, I'll get it back before the end of the month.

I just got this one from the library. I will be listening on audio.
Just the description makes him sound like a haunted soul. It also seems like it is going to be heavy.

I thought it was pretty heavy, but I'm glad that there are people like Paul out there. I probably wouldn't want to work with him, or be his daughter, or be married to him, but I am glad that there is somebody out there who likes to solve the unsolvable cases.

I finished and rated this one 5 stars.
Dark and disturbing, but good to hear of some of these predators being off the streets now.

(how weird... I thought I posted something else here yesterday and it isn't here today. I probably put it in the wrong thread or a different group! )

(view spoiler)[ I didn't remember Michelle McNamara dying from an accidental drug overdose due to self medicating when I read her book about the GSK. That is so sad that he attributed to her death as well as so many others.
I had empathy for Paul Holes, but felt so bad for his family. He was so good for the community, but not present for the people who loved him most. (hide spoiler)]

Glad you loved it, Vicki. I still want to read it.

Maybe you never hit "post"? It'll be interesting to see if you find your comment elsewhere. lol