Amanda 's Reviews > I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever

I had previously read Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer and I was interested in viewing this case through the lens of DNA sleuthing.

The referral of Rae-Venter as an amateur DNA sleuth is a bit of an understatement, given that she was a genetic genealogist biologist by trade. I found some of the scientific lingo to be too technical for my understanding and the book to be very dry at points. The story kind of meandered all over the place, talking about different point in Rae-Venter's life, intermixed with the Golden State Killer's life as well as the lives of people Rae-Venter helped through her DNA sleuthing. Rae-Venter brought up some interesting points about the intersection of ethics and genealogy and how many people felt that they were entitled to privacy from government intrusion when they submit their DNA to ancestry tracking sites. She discussed how the laws have made it much more difficult for law agencies to perform the type of sleuthing that Rae-Venter was able to do in the case of the Golden State Killer.

I had to skip over parts that detailed the Golden State Killer's crimes, as they were too graphic for my tastes.

Overall, this was a good book and one you will enjoy if you come from a scientific background or have an interest in crime.