ApsûVoyage of a Thousand Books
Apsû World Map
Find the answer you need
Key-idea notes · about 5 minNot the full text — the essentials. Get 80%+ of the book's key ideas in minutes, then decide if it's worth buying.
Who is this book for?
- Readers who like true crime and cold-case investigation stories
- People interested in new investigative techniques such as DNA testing and genetic genealogy
- People who want a work that combines investigative reporting with personal memoir
- Readers who care about the situation of crime victims and survivors
Who is the author?
- Michelle McNamara was an American writer who ran a true-crime blog and long pursued unsolved cases
- In 2013 she published an article about the case in Los Angeles magazine and coined the name "the Golden State Killer"
- In April 2016, with about two-thirds of the manuscript completed, she died unexpectedly at the age of forty-six; the book was completed by researcher Paul Haynes, journalist Billy Jensen and her husband, comedian Patton Oswalt, and published in February 2018
Book notes
A serial offender with no name
Between 1974 and 1986, a serial offender committed at least thirteen murders and dozens of sexual assaults in California. These cases were at first given different names, such as the "Visalia Ransacker," the "East Area Rapist" and the "Original Night Stalker," until DNA evidence later showed they were the work of the same person.
The book's title comes from a threat the assailant made to a teenage girl during a 1976 attack. The case moved from city to city, and police records were scattered across different jurisdictions, making the investigation extremely difficult.
The birth of the "Golden State Killer"
A girl's obsession
Investigating like a detective
The investigation scene of the 1970s
Seeing the survivors
The unfinished manuscript
Two months after publication
Two sides of obsession
Adaptation and impact
Bottles that drifted to this book
You might also like
Shang
Shang's reading list
Voyager's Guide
The world
The Sea of Books has 24 real islands, one for each subject. Every building on an island is a book.
What you can do now
- Tap an island on the chart to go ashore
- Tap a building to read the notes on that book
- Meet Shang, the Navigator
Coming soon
- Chapter 2: register as a voyager, sail your ship, collect building badges, send bottles
- Chapter 4: private chats with other voyagers
Symbols
Ship's Registry
Before you set sail, let's get your ship registered.