JUST FINISHED LISTENING: MAN IN THE WINDOW

In Man in the Window, Paige St. John, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter has uncovered never before revealed details about the man who would eventually become one of California’s most deadly serial killers. From Wondery and the LA Times comes a new series that traces his path of devastation through his victims’ eyes.

MY VERDICT: I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts. I am interested in stories about how people can be compelled to commit some of the vilest acts known to man but even more enjoyable to me is learning how these people are caught. Never has a true crime story kept me up at night like the story of the man in the window. If you read my review of the book I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle Mcnamara on my previous blog then you’ll know that the hard-core true crime nerd in me thought I was immune to the terror that sets in when you learn about all that this guy, who went by many different but equally worrisome names, did for so many years. If you have read that book then don’t let it put you off listening to this podcast (unless you want to sleep of course, in that case forget it). Again I was walking home listening to the stories of victims and crime reports and it made me become more aware of the surroundings of that dark street and all the dark corners in which someone could hide. This podcast includes some of the same details as the book but it’s different. Mcnamara was investigating, trying to get to the bottom of who was responsible for these terrible crimes, this podcast is reporting on them. By the time this podcast came out we have already been aware of who was responsible for the mindless murders and rapes of so many and so this podcast gives an interesting perspective, it chronicles the crimes and the names the Original Nightstalker went by and it also gives us the survivors’ viewpoint and we hear from people living during the terror of that time. In a differing perspective, we also hear from the victims who get mentioned the least; the men, I found this segment of the podcast moving and am thankful to the creators of the podcast for sharing these stories.

I would recommend this podcast to anyone interested in true crime and if you don’t know anything about the Golden State Killer then this is as good a place as any to start but please also read I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle Mcnamara, it’s excellent and she’ll be greatly missed.

Find more information and listen to the podcast here…