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A Dark Night in Aurora
- Inside James Holmes and the Colorado Mass Shootings
- Narrated by: William H. Reid MD MPH
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
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A Dark Night in Aurora
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Publisher's Summary
James Holmes killed or wounded seventy people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Only one man was allowed to record extensive interviews with the shooter. This is what he found.
On July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, a man in dark body armor and a gas mask entered a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises with a tactical shotgun, a high-capacity assault rifle, and a sidearm. He threw a canister of tear gas into the crowd and began firing. Soon twelve were dead and fifty-eight were wounded; young children and pregnant women were among them. The man was found calmly waiting at his car. He was detained without resistance.
Unlike the Columbine, Newtown, San Bernadino, and Parkland shootings, James Holmes is unique among mass shooters in his willingness to be taken into custody alive. In the court case that followed, only Dr. William H. Reid, a distinguished forensic psychiatrist, would be allowed to record interviews with the defendant. Reid would read Holmes’ diary, investigate his phone calls and text messages, interview his family and acquaintances, speak to his victims, and review tens of thousands of pages of evidence and court testimony in an attempt to understand how a happy, seemingly normal child could become a killer.
A Dark Night in Aurora uses the twenty-three hours of unredacted interview transcripts never seen by the public and Reid’s research to bring the listener inside the mind of a mass murderer. The result is chilling, gripping study of abnormal psychology and how a lovely boy named Jimmy became a killer.
What listeners say about A Dark Night in Aurora
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- April Phelps
- 2021-11-03
Fantastic Objectivity
I thought the author did a great job at being as unbiased as he could be. It was interesting, insightful, thought provoking, and engaging. I believe this is the first novel I’ve listened to that was from a psychological perspective and I appreciate all the work Dr. Reid put into his work.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Langer MD
- 2022-02-07
A Straight Recitation of Clinical Notes
I kept waiting for Dr. William H. Reid to deliver his subjective thoughts on Mass Killer James Holmes, but they never really come until the trial in the final couple of chapters. In one way, that's appreciated (Dr. Reid basically provides every possible bit of research he could find and trusts the listener/reader to draw their own conclusions), but it's also somewhat disappointing - he's clearly a perceptive clinician.
I am an MD - and have some experience with forensic psychiatry (albeit in Canada) - so I can testify that Dr. Reid's survey of the BioPsychoSocial causes and expression of Holmes's mental illness (including his shocking crimes) is complete. Less fortunately, Reid is pretty clearly sympathetic/empathetic to the Century-16 Cinema killer. While admirable, Reid clearly decides to treat Holmes as a patient rather than as a case (which is fine.. just be aware that it might color his observations).
As to narration: Brilliance Audio should have insisted on a professional reader. Dr. Reid was clearly told to read slowly and enunciate. He is clear and has a comfortable timbre & cadence, but the overenunciation is striking at times and consuming this recording at 1.25X is a must (Reid's reading rate is *glacial*). That said, the technical support is exemplary.
Altogether, this exhaustively informative audiobook rates 5 stars out of 10. If you are fascinated by the case of James Holmes (or want some insight into how extensive court-ordered evaluations can be), this is a very good option (and I got it for free) - but you could do better in the "sensational crime aftermath" genre if they ask for money (Dave Cullen's 'Columbine' is a must-listen, for example).
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- EmSprack
- 2021-10-20
Insightful and real
Dr. Reid does a great job of telling the events as they unfolded. I believe his insights and retelling of the events do it great accuracy. James Holmes is a disturb young man, who might have been discounted in psych. But accountable for all his actions.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-12
Like reading the side of a cereal box
Too slow and drawn out. I felt the “he was a normal kid” point was stated over and over and the narration was completely flat. I don’t know why I struggled through. It’s few chapters on the court preceding near the end gave a lot of background information on how the trial system works and I did find that interesting so it earned a star back for that.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amber
- 2022-04-12
Sad
This one is difficult. I cried for the people James murdered of course, but I also cried for him. His life story is sad in my opinion. I can't help but like him and feel sorry for him. He reminds me of my son, which is a little scary, but I have empathy for his plight with fitting in and finding friends. I feel bad for his social awkwardness. I can relate that.
Unlike most true crime books, this one tells James' whole life story. And he wasn't a terror who mutilated animals as a kid, like a lot of serial murderers. He was a happy, sweet kid. It's hard not to like him. The book portrays him as a human being, not just a monster.
In my humble opinion, it sounds like the murder was an act of OCD. A crazy compulsion. Extreme OCD. I have it myself, and while most of us with it feel compulsed to do things like clean or pick at our skin, it seems he had a compulsion to kill. He doesn't have any good reason for doing it. He just talks about feeling a need to complete it to feel better.
The narrator sounds like he's half asleep. Sometimes he nearly or does slur his words. Not succinct at all. It's quite annoying.
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1 person found this helpful