Behind the Door: The Dark Truths and Untold Stories of the Cecil Hotel by Amy Price
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Behind the Door: The Dark Truths and Untold Stories of the Cecil Hotel is a Memoir written by Amy Price, who was the manager of the Cecil for a decade.
I really enjoyed this. As memoirs go, I feel it was quite interesting and it kept me engaged. I completely understand why Amy felt compelled to share her story.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with this historic L.A. property. While I knew that the hotel was considered a haunted place, steeped in dark history, including as the place the Night Stalker was staying during the time of his killings, I really knew nothing else about it.
I learned so much and have a new appreciation for the complicated purpose and history of this hotel.
If you arrive with this book in your hand and you are expecting a strict True Crime story, maybe focusing on the infamous case of Elisa Lam, you may be disappointed, because that is not what this book is.
Amy was the manager of the hotel during Elisa’s stay, and she does discuss it, but it is by no means the focus of this books. It is one amongst many tragic stories that Amy watched first hand play out and relays here.
As mentioned above, I completely understand why Amy would want to tell this story. Particularly after the Netflix documentary on the Lam case released. I think it was easy for people to sort of vilify Amy as the person in charge, and say she should have done more when Elisa was exhibiting unusual behavior.
But I feel like when you hear the greater context of the hotel, its function, it’s location, the types of things that happened there on an all too regular basis, you’ll come to maybe understand that Elisa’s behavior really wasn’t that unusual at the Cecil. It was just another day.
I wasn’t reading this for the Lam case, so I didn’t mind that it wasn’t focused on. I was reading it more for the history of the hotel and what it would be like to work there.
Amy delivered those things to me very well. I walk away with a better understanding of this property that has become as infamous as The Overlook in pop culture.
Thank you to the publisher, William Morrow, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This was a quick read, and a fascinating glimpse into a place I will most likely never see first hand.