HBO missed the mark on this one. This was marketed as the hunt for the Golden State Killer but in reality it's a biography about Michelle McNamara that's intermixed to a frustratingly low degree with hunting a killer. The whole thing is poorly made with a lot of filler. There is a substantial amount of time in this that's just text messages on screen not to mention that they use one specific scene from The creature from the black lagoon over and over and over again. I'm not a Netflix fanboy by any means but I can't help wonder if they couldn't have made this a lot more interesting as this really is subpar.

It's okay. Perhaps tries to be too many things and ends up thinly spread - documentary about the killer and victims, whodunnit, biography of Michelle, extended true crime podcast advert

An enticing documentary series, but not put together with as much skill as I had expected. Delving into a sprawling case like this one of the most important things a documentary can do is establish a clear timeline, and this doesn't attempt to do anything of the sort. It's frustrating that we jump in somewhere in the middle and then consistently go back and forth. What it does have is a massive emotional punch. The stories being told by the survivors are heartbreaking and the tale of the author herself, Michelle McNamara, and her unexpected death really add a lot. Her role in uncovering further details about the East Area Rapist cannot be understated, and the time devoted to her was very welcome. Aesthetically, there's a bit too much "podcast"-style delivery here. A lot of voice overs, scribbled text fading in and out of the screen, images of fingers typing and reconstructed backgrounds being slightly out of focus with ominous music. This would have worked far better if they'd kept it simpler and just told to the story from beginning to end.

Complete garbage. Don't waste your time! It's not even a documentary, especially not crime. It's a tribute to a drug addict blogger/podcaster who was not the least bit likable.

I loved this series, and was shocked by the real-life people not cops actually getting so much traction and making a real difference. Feels like Netflix tried to capture some of this with "Night Stalker", and did exactly that, captured 'some' of it, NS is about half as good.