Bad Vibes

I couldn't sleep last night. So I stayed up reading Strange Piece of Paradise. It's not my usual kind of read--the book covers the author's search for the man who tried to kill her and a friend while camping in 1977. It took the author 15 years to head back to Oregon and investigate the case. Turns out the entire community and the police knew exactly who did the crime, but there was never an arrest. The man went on to beat and torture his wife and girlfriends, sell drugs, and just be a horrible, horrible person until finally serving some jail time for threatening somebody with a gun. The author looked into other cases of violent crimes against women to try to understand criminal behavior. She also looked into how the legal system changed over time to protect victims rights.

It was a creepy book. Not the kind of book to read after moving to a different part of the city and living next to complete strangers. I do live in one of the safest cities in the US, yet still, the possibility that something bad could happen is very much lurking in the background. And I can't overlook the fact that I feel extra scared at times because I am a woman. I hate reading and hearing how that vulnerability is exploited so easily and frequently.

The book got me thinking about my own friend who was murdered some years back. The investigation and trial was heavily publicized. The different townspeople in Strange easily remembered that traumatic event and I think that would be true here too. Something dawned on me after finishing the book--the significance that my friend's murderers were convicted. Justice was served. The system worked. One victory while so many cases go unresolved.

I don't know how to feel yet about that. Strange's author took fifteen years before looking into her own case. It hasn't been that long for me, so maybe I'm still processing the experience. My head hurts tonight, though. Sleep will wash away these bad vibes.