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What makes this book five-star special is that Paul Holes's memoir is honest, personal, detailed about crime scenes and victims and killers but never lurid, exploitive or insensitive to the victims, unlike some others I've read. Unmasked is the true and honest story of the man who among other accomplishments helped catch the Golden State Killer, one of the most cruel and cunning serial offenders whose crimes Holes discovered on his first day of work in an old cabinet full of cold cases.

It's about the crimes he worked on the clock and the different aspects of each job he held as he was consistently promoted, and also the cold cases that from day one became his personal obsession. They haunted him, still do. Although he's retired he still works cold cases. Entwined throughout the memoir is the toll his obsession has taken on his personal life.

I've read true-crime books in which other famous figures present themselves almost as god figures or at the least don't admit to shortcomings or discuss the most intimate details of their lives. It's understandable those who deal with the worst crimes and killers wall off their work to preserve their life outside the job, as some in other professions do. Paul Holes has never been able to do that. It's all personal to him, never leaves him even in his sleep. He's a hero, exceptionally dedicated, who has paid a price for a career of working active cases, sometimes in twelve- or sixteen-hour days, and working cold cases on his own dime in his free time.

In here we read about the impact the work has had on his home life: wives, kids, even sexual problems and the reason why he's had them, which is chilling. He's struggled with alcoholism. Panic attacks from childhood have stayed with him, triggered by aspects of cases. Throughout he demonstrates empathy for and understanding of how those who love(d) him best have been affected and hurt by his obsession. It's written in a straightforward manner without excuses or self-flagellation. I appreciate this openness combined with the fascinating cases and detailed information about how he's worked crime scenes throughout his career and within that, the role different criminal specialists play. Embedded in the narrative is how they work in concert and separately, and the reader is introduced to some of Holes's memorable colleagues.

I was curious why Lacey and Connor Peterson are mentioned, wondering if it was hype. Not at all. He was present at the autopsies of Lacey's torso and of Connor, and this ties into something else impactful I won't spoil. Most of the cases I'd never heard of, including one that he characterizes as perhaps the oddest case he's worked. This chapter vividly presents aspects of his work start-to-end, from the time he entered the house alone as first responder smelling the reek of the decaying corpse, his preliminary examination of the body and the scene and his bizarre findings, then the legwork, the twists and turns as he worked out the how and why. Nothing is gratuitous.

Throughout the book are chapters on Holes's involvement in the Golden State Killer case, the case that he never gave up trying to solve, that made him famous, that didn't fit the standard profile of serial rapists or serial killers. Holes worked the case on his last day before retiring. Shortly after, GSK was arrested. There's enough about it in Unmasked so that someone unfamiliar with the horrifying details will understand but not enough to overwhelm. There's a lot of other information out there on this extremely sadistic rapist/killer. What's in Unmasked, up until the monster was caught, is there because it relates to work Holes did on the case.

His co-author is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former features writer for the NY Times. The quality of the writing and organization of the book are excellent. I went in with high expectations and Paul Holes's riveting memoir surpassed them. Unmasked is now among my all-time favorite true-crime books.

Thank you to Celadon Books for the print ARC