For forty years, he was a ghost. A masked predator who terrorized California, moving from a prolific rapist in the north to a brutal serial killer in the south. Known as the East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker, and finally, the Golden State Killer, he was the author of one of America's most terrifying and enduring cold cases. From the Crimes That Echo series, author Eva R. Smith tells the definitive story of the hunt for a phantom. The Golden State Killer is a journey into a half-century-long reign of terror and the revolutionary new science that finally unmasked a monster hiding in plain sight. How does a monster hide for so long, and what can force a ghost to give up his name? This epic, sprawling investigation explores: The Cop in the Suburbs: The shocking double life of Joseph James DeAngelo, a police officer, husband, and father who was also a sadistic predator. - A Writer's Obsession: The powerful story of Michelle McNamara, the citizen detective whose brilliant investigation in I'll Be Gone in the Dark gave the killer his name and reignited the hunt. - The Genetic Detective: Go inside the groundbreaking forensic genealogy that used a public ancestry database to build the killer's family tree and lead the police directly to his door. - The Voices of the Survivors: The powerful, cathartic story of the dozens of victims who, after forty years of silence, were finally given the chance to confront their attacker in court. The Golden State Killer is a landmark true-crime narrative, a testament to the victims who never lost hope, and the definitive story of how a ghost from a bygone era was finally caught by the science of the future.