Book Review: Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases
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.
My Review
I like reading true crime books. What I really loved about this book seeing the various crimes featured in this book from Paul's perspective. The way that he assessed each case with his scientific and analytical mind was very intriguing. I think a lot like him and thought about pursuing forensic science as a career.
So many true crime books focus on the crimes and not so much on the details on how the cases are solved. Getting to see this side of things was interesting. I flew through this book as I could not read it fast enough. It must not have been easy to share personal details about your personal life but Paul did. With these insights, into his life, it brought me closer to him as a person. Thank goodness for people like Paul who dedicate their lives to solving the "cold" cases, so that the victims get justice. Fans of true crime books will want to pick up a copy of this book to read for themselves.
Comments