Gone at Midnight

The case that captivated a nation and inspired the Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel!
 
A Fortune Magazine “Most Anticipated Books of 2020” Selection
A Goodreads Featured Release for February 2020
Oxygen’s List of “Best True Crime Books of 2020” Selection
“The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles is a palpable presence in Gone at Midnight. Given the checkered history of the Cecil Hotel (which was recently named to the Los Angeles registry of historic landmarks), I wouldn’t rule out Jack the Ripper.”
—The New York Times
 
“Outstanding…true crime buffs won’t want to miss this gripping search for the truth.”
—Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
A Los Angeles hotel with a haunting history. A missing young woman. A cold-case mystery that has become an internet phenomenon—and for one determined journalist, a life-changing quest toward uncomfortable truths.

Twenty-one-year-old student Elisa Lam was last heard from on January 31, 2013, after she checked into downtown L.A.’s Cecil Hotel—a 600-room building with a nine-decade history of scandal and tragedy. The next day, Elisa vanished. More than a week later, complaints by guests of poor water quality led to a grim discovery: Elisa’s nude body floating in a rooftop water tank. The only clue was a disturbing surveillance video of Elisa, uploaded to YouTube in hopes of public assistance.
As the video went viral, journalist Jake Anderson set out to uncover the facts. In Gone at Midnight he chronicles eye-opening discoveries about who Elisa Lam really was and what—or whom—she was running from, offering stunning new insights into one of the most chilling and obsessively followed true crime cases of the century.
 
“Extremely detailed and featuring new evidence. … Anderson’s thorough research and passionate writing make a fascinating read.”
—Booklist
 
“Riveting . . . scary, compelling . . . and expertly told.”
—M. William Phelps, New York Times bestselling author