Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases
Apr 2022 · Celadon Books
4.5star
13 reviewsreport
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336
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**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
"It’s a mark of the highest honor when I say it’s even more riveting than an episode of 'Dateline'."
—The New York Times
From Paul Holes, the detective who found the Golden State Killer, Unmasked is a memoir that "grabs its reader in a stranglehold and proves more fascinating than fiction and darker than any noir narrative." (LA Magazine)
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.
"It’s a mark of the highest honor when I say it’s even more riveting than an episode of 'Dateline'."
—The New York Times
From Paul Holes, the detective who found the Golden State Killer, Unmasked is a memoir that "grabs its reader in a stranglehold and proves more fascinating than fiction and darker than any noir narrative." (LA Magazine)
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.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
13 reviews
Karen Dowling
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March 18, 2022
This was such a fascinating memoir, perfect for lovers of true crime! Thanks to @bookishfirst and @celadonbooks for an early copy! * In his memoir, Paul Holes tells about how he got involved in criminology, and his fascination with and work on cold cases. This was absolutely fascinating. It does a really great job of blending the background on the cases with Paul's personal story, and showing how he managed a career in such a field (and ultimately the price he paid for having a career in such a field.)*I really liked how it intertwined anecdotes of cases that he successfully solved immediately, with the cold cases he later cracked, with the cases that were ultimately never solved. It showed that he was a real person, not a superhero able to solve any case that came his way. * It was also a really great look at how DNA testing has changed over time, and how law enforcement has been able to change their approach to have more success in solving cases. * I loved how this incorporated some very well-known cases, including the Golden State Killer (I'd read Michelle McNamara's book, and this continues her story wonderfully), Laci Peterson, and Jacee Dugard. There's so much he has been involved in, and it was so exciting to see how these famous cases were handled. * I'd definitely recommend to any fan of true crime! You get so much out of this book!
orchidbeautiful21
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June 3, 2022
The shows I like to watch on the ID channel are the ones where the cases get solved. The open ended ones are just way too frustrating! That being said, while this book was attention catching and a compelling read, I was disappointed in some of the cold cases that Paul Holes introduced that were intriguing but he never solved them. That would be why I can't give this book the full five stars. It would have been better to only put in the solved cases, though that is just my opinion.
Christine Books
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June 10, 2022
I enjoyed my time spent with Paul Holes, "the detective who found the Golden State Killer." In this memoir, he recounts his career investigating cold cases (as well as the impact on his personal life). I was struck by how kind he comes across. Often these sorts of memoirs can have an author who seems arrogant, self-centered, bombastic... instead Holes was almost deferential. I found the text very readable. UNMASKED was cowritten with Robin Gaby Fisher, who shares a Pulitzer for news coverage.
About the author
In 2018, Paul Holes retired as a cold case investigator after spending more than twenty-seven years working in Contra Costa County, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Paul specialized in cold case and serial predator crimes, lending his expertise to notable cases, including the murder of Laci Peterson and the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard. Most prominently, Paul’s career culminated with his identification of the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, the most notorious and cunning serial predator in U.S. history.
Since the arrest of DeAngelo, Holes has been very involved on the media side, continuing to assist law enforcement and victims’ families with their unsolved cases through the television shows The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes and America’s Most Wanted and the podcast Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad.
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