Billy Jensen

Jensen’s story and the way he tells it makes for interesting reading. I enjoyed learning about how he got into crime-solving, the cold cases he’s worked on, and his methods, and overall I liked the sections about his childhood. He’s a fascinating person to read about, but I’m not sure I’d like him in real life. He seems nice but also very driven and intense, and maybe a bit full of himself.

Honestly, half the reason I picked this book up is the connection to Michelle McNamara and show more I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which is the book that got me and a lot of other people into true crime. While I enjoyed the parts of the book where Jensen talks about his work on that one, I liked seeing his memories of McNamara more. That said, the amount of space those chapters took felt a little like bragging or pandering, like Jensen knew people would be reading for that connection and he played it up a little for them. (But then, I’m cynical.)

If you’re counting, that’s three threads: McNamara, his present-day work, and his origin story. And there’s stuff about trying to get a TV show off the ground, and finding a workable life-work balance, which he mostly fails at. It’s not told linearly, which is fine and easy enough to follow, but it’s also a lot to balance and for me a lot of the book felt like writing, not like story, if that makes sense. There wasn’t a whole lot to drag me forward, except maybe for one of his “white whale” cases.

The best thing about this book is that Jensen does convey the intensity of solving cases on social media pretty well, and there’s a section at the end that is equally a call to arms, a how-to manual, and a warning. You get drawn into the mystery and excitement and frustration, though it’s a persistent tug rather than an undertow—and I prefer the latter. The second best thing is seeing him work up from the kid getting bedtime stories to who he is now. The third best: the cold cases he hasn’t yet solved.

This is a solid “like, didn’t like a lot” for me, I think. If you’re interested in true crime, especially if you want to get involved yourself or are interested in the stuff in my previous paragraph, you’ll probably like it too. If you’re looking for a deep, compelling, hard-hitting look at crime or psyches, this isn’t for you. It’s definitely on the “light read” end of the true crime spectrum.

To bear in mind: It’s true crime, but it’s not particularly creepy and graphic true crime. Still, beware murdered women, serial killers, dead kids, cold cases, missing people, and various other forms of crime and murder. Also there’s one description of an on-camera death that’s … urk.

6.5/10 show less

Choose Darkness With Me is a fascinating account of Billy Jensen’s passion for investigating unsolved crimes, and developing new strategies with which to solve them.

“Whenever people ask me why I only write about unsolved murders, I always say the same thing: because I hate the guy who got away with it.”

Jensen’s obsession with true crime began in childhood, inspired in part by his dad’s rather inappropriate bedtime stories. After earning a degree in Religion, and forays into a range show more of diverse professions including house painting, web marketing, and professional roller hockey, Jensen became a journalist. Landing a job as a stringer he was on course to be a crime beat reporter but quickly realised that he wasn’t comfortable just writing about the awful things that happened to people. He wanted to help, and turned his focus to the hundreds of thousands of missing persons, and unsolved murders mainstream media deemed ‘low profile’, eventually leading to the development of the website ‘True Crime Daily’, and a desire to reinvent the way true crime stories are told, and solved, through the use of television, mobile and web.

The potential of crowdsourcing crime solving is something Jensen often discussed with the late Michelle McNamara while she was in pursuit of identifying The Golden State Killer. After her untimely death, Jensen helped to complete her book, “I’ll Be Gone In the Dark”, and was motivated to take more direct action.

“I’m not chasing people. I’m chasing shadows, phantoms that flit in and out of a surveillance video. That’s on a good night. On the other nights, I’m chasing darkness.”

Of course online armchair detectives have been active for years, Websleuths was launched in 1999, and they recognised the potential of social media as a source for solving crime early on. Jensen however claims to be one of the first to recognise the value geotargeted social media campaigns could have to help solve crime and set out to prove his theory. In Chase Darkness With Me he documents several intriguing cases in which geotargeting, primarily using Facebook’s and Twitter’s ‘boost’ tools (funded from his own pocket), in combination with other methods, has assisted in generating new leads, and even arrests, in cases deemed ‘cold’ by the police. This, Jensen believes, is something anyone can do, and to that end he also provides tips and advice for anyone interested in becoming a ‘Citizen Detective’.

“We are at the precipice of being able to solve more cold cases than ever before.... we need to get loud. Start fund-raisers. Recruit volunteers. You reading this book are deputized. Go get a megaphone.”

I found Chase Darkness With Me to be absolutely compelling reading. I’m certain those interested in true crime, law enforcement or related topics, will also find it entertaining and informative. show less

This is an interesting book for true crime fans, Michelle McNamara/Patton Oswalt/GSK connection notwithstanding. I've read both and IMO, this is the more interesting of the two although they're aiming to do different things.

McNamara's book is focused squarely on the GSK case - her personal connection to it and obsession with identifying and unmasking the killer and helping to bring him to justice.

Jensen's book is more about how he came to be fascinated with true crime, the cases on which show more he's worked or consulted, and a call to action to armchair true crime fans to do something to help whittle down the number of unsolved/cold cases, or missing person cases that go unresolved due to lack of police resources.

Part of this book is a how-to primer for others to put into practice the computer-based social media investigation practices Jensen has successfully used to crack or at least stir up interest in long-dormant cases.

Jensen is very thoughtful, with a strong and capable analytic mind (and journalistic skills). He's obviously ethically driven and wants to see justice realized for families who are desperate for it. That is a good thing. There is nothing wrong - and in fact, much is right about encouraging like-minded others to put their passion behind something useful.

But: not everyone who's interested in true crime - even if they're inclined to invest their resources to help and truly desire to see justice served - will have the same capacity, capabilities, network/experiences to draw upon, or as high a personal ethics bar as Jensen does.

Not all will have the same dogged, single-minded devotion to stick it out, investing their money and time into cases without expectation of a monetary reward or credit. Inserting themselves into an investigation, even a stalled one, isn't something that everyone can or should do. In fact, it could make things worse. Jensen, of course, isn't advocating or expecting all his readers to take him up on the idea, but still - even a few bad apples will create significant ripple effects of headache and heartache.

Another thing: Jensen is a huge fan of using genealogy and DNA databases for familial matching to find potential suspects of unsolved cases. There is a lot of investigative promise in that, but also thorny ethical questions and issues. Again, it's not Jensen himself that's a worry, but the others who come behind him that may be over-eager, social media vigilantes or form vigilante online justice mobs.

Where this book stops short is what makes it most interesting: There are gains and benefits from deputizing an army of true crime fans/justice seekers to work with local police/investigators and detectives. But, at best there will be unintended consequences, and at worst there's a dark side and cost that hasn't been well-considered.

Recommended--would make thoughtful book discussion. Also interesting reading for criminal justice students or practitioners, policymakers and others with interest in online/digital cultural and privacy issues. show less

I've read a quite a bit of true crime over the past year or so and Chase Darkness with Me is one of my favorites. I was drawn to it for a few reasons: it was cheap on Audible, I loved Michelle McNamara's [b:I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer|35068432|I'll Be Gone in the Dark One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer|Michelle show more McNamara|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499131009l/35068432._SY75_.jpg|56363890], and I fantasize about solving cold cases and wanted to read about someone who ended up doing it.

Jensen, who also narrates the book, lays out numerous cases that he worked on and I was interested in all of them. Whether it was the discussion of his methods or the family and friends of the victims, I had a tough time hitting pause to do other things.

Just like I did during and after reading I'll Be Gone in the Dark, I hit reddit looking at cold cases and all the true crime subs I could find. Almost immediately I was overwhelmed by just how many cases there are being talked about. And also by the daunting task of figuring out where to get started on even picking a case to start researching. The author clearly expects readers to feel this way and devotes time in an addendum to the book giving steps to follow to get started. I've already created my new reddit account and email address.

Jensen is coming to a local bookshop in the next few days and I've got my tickets to hear him speak. I'm hoping he'll offer some more tips on being a citizen detective. show less