Book: “Unmasked” by Paul Holes
Meeting Date: March 20th 2022
Genre: True Crime
Synopsis: Amazon synopsis below
Blogger’s Note: The Lit and Lattes Book Club was gifted a set of these books from Celadon Books. [Partner] Thank you Celadon!
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 have 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.
Amazon Synopsis
Our book club read this one during the month of February and into March! I’ve finished it and I can’t wait to discuss it with the group! This one is sure to stimulate a lot of discussion among group members as it is outside our typical genres. We’ll see what everyone has to say on March 20th at our meeting!
Happy Reading!
Blogger’s Note: At this month’s meeting, we will also be discussing “Unapologetically Ambitious” and chatting about a new format called Videobooks. There will be a screening event and we will be discussing the book and format etc. Want to learn more? Feel free to visit the “Let’s Talk” page and send me a message!
Literature & Lattes 