Finding a true-crime reader, or even an American over the age of 40, unfamiliar with the name Polly Klaas seems unlikely. The case --- a girl kidnapped by a stranger from her bedroom, the ensuing search for her, and the eventual conviction of her killer --- held the country enthralled. The broad outlines of her disappearance and the tragic outcome are well known. Yet journalist and historian Kim Cross presents a more in-depth examination in her book, IN LIGHT OF ALL DARKNESS.

On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was thrilled to have a sleepover with two friends. Her mother and little sister were asleep in the next room when she opened her bedroom door to find a man standing just outside it. As he bound and gagged the three girls and covered their heads with pillowcases, he assured them that he wouldn’t hurt them and was only there to rob the house. He selected Polly, perhaps because she lived there, and took her from the bedroom, telling her two friends to count to 1,000 and that he would bring her back after he found valuables. They heard the door open and close but never saw Polly again.

"Cross handles well the anxiety and fear that this story produces; she is clear in the facts and compassionate in the telling. IN LIGHT OF ALL DARKNESS is a must-read for true-crime aficionados."

The girls woke up Polly’s mother, who then called the police. Key members of the Petaluma, California, community organized a search for Polly that ran parallel to, and often intersected with, the search conducted by the local authorities and the FBI. It was just over two months before her body was found, and it was her murderer who led the investigators to the spot.

This terrible case took place at a time when modes of communication and investigation were shifting. News cycles were becoming increasingly rapid and far-reaching, and new technologies and scientific methods were being developed to better help policework. Those changes factor greatly in Cross’ narrative and continue to be impactful to this day. Polly’s family and others personally close to the case declined to work with Cross on this book. However, she had access to all the official records of the investigation, the trial and published media reports.

Additionally, as the daughter-in-law of one of the lead FBI case investigators, Cross was able to speak to many of the men and women who worked on the case officially and review their materials. This gives the book a unique look into the methods of the search for Polly, as well as the evidence gathered and used to put her killer away. It also provides insight into the emotional toll the case took on those who were intimately, yet professionally, close to it. Cross highlights how the case became one of celebrity and celebrities, a fact that only serves to underscore how inequitable the American desire to find and save Black and Brown children in this country was and continues to be.

To say that this is an awful story to read would be an understatement. Even after all the years that have gone by and the details we already know about Polly’s abduction and murder, it remains shocking and nightmarish. Cross handles well the anxiety and fear that this story produces; she is clear in the facts and compassionate in the telling. IN LIGHT OF ALL DARKNESS is a must-read for true-crime aficionados.