The People vs. the Golden State Killer

In this satisfactory true crime memoir, Sacramento District Attorney Ho recalls the search for and trial of serial killer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. Between 1974 and 1986, DeAngelo killed at least 13 people and committed a handful of rapes and burglaries across California. Ho recounts well-known details of DeAngelo’s crimes and covers the decades-long assumption they were committed by multiple suspects, but his account foregrounds the legal proceedings, explaining the DNA technology that helped Ho and his colleagues catch DeAngelo (using samples from a 1986 rape that investigators neglected to throw out) and the logistical challenges of holding the trial during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most affecting are Ho’s interviews with DeAngelo’s surviving victims, who starkly recount their kidnappings and assaults. The autobiographical sections in which Ho discusses his path from Vietnamese war refugee to Northern California prosecutor are inspiring, but they don’t always braid together neatly with the main narrative—though his firsthand memories of ’70s and ’80s California help anchor his journalistic accounts of DeAngelo’s crimes and law enforcement’s fruitless searches for the culprit. It’s a worthwhile account of a well-covered case. (Nov.)