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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I don’t rate books like this but I’ll just say, looking at this as a novel itself, it was not the best.
1. I understand Bundy had a lot of victims but the lack of insight into the victims as people rather than just as another name on a list bugs me. If you do not provide insight into the women as people, then you just degrade them into objects unto which murder was committed, and is that not what Bundy did? Maybe she could’ve gotten rid of random details about her home life and her family that were completely irrelevant and instead talked more about the victims. Pretty sure at points she just completely skips over particular murders. I would be able to get on board with this if the point of the book was to delve into Bundy’s psyche, or the personal relationship with Bundy or Rule, except she fails to do both of those things. She only ever really digs into the psychological side of Bundy in her additions years later, but the majority of the book fails to really connect the information we’re being told about Bundy with the behaviors he displays. Additionally, Rule consistently referenced to letters and other communications with Bundy, but never shared much information from them, as if she was still trying to protect him. Although, to be fair, I listened on audiobook so there’s a chance there are like scans of letters in the physical copy that just weren’t read aloud.
2. Rule’s relationship with Bundy is just odd. At points I could understand it, and at others I was very confused. It felt like every argument I (or Rule) would make for why she continued to be close to him was contradicted by something else. She couldn’t believe it was him, and yet even without all the evidence in front of her, long before he was caught, she herself mentioned him to police because she suspected him. She felt he needed somebody, and yet she also mentions on multiple occasions that he wrote with many people while in prison.
3. Also on the point of Rule and Bundy’s relationship, how close were they really. We’ve all had coworker friends and we all know how it goes. You like ‘em, you stick around them at work, maybe meet up at some outside social functions, but once one of you leaves the job the contact fades away. And that’s pretty much how Rule describes her relationship with Bundy. Nothing more than your average coworker friendship. Yet at the same time the way she portrays this relationship with Bundy is as though they are very close. And one could argue that though they were maybe not very close initially, they grew closer through being pen pals during his many incarcerations. Except no, because he pretty much ghosts her after the first few years and Rule herself mentions that he was in constant contact with many other women. Really, it seems Bundy used Rule as a conduit to the Seattle police and she fell for it and continues to fall for it. At one point she says something along the lines of “I knew him perhaps better than anyone”. But that makes no sense. This man has a family, he had a fiance, and two wives. He wrote to other people from prison far more often than he wrote to Rule. He had lawyers, he’s spent countless hours with correctional officers and police officers. There’s so many people who have opportunities to get to know Bundy on a level far more nuanced than Rule. Everything she summed up about Bundy in her updates were with a lens of retrospect: things that anyone could’ve told you. But in the moment it was clear that as much as she judged other woman for falling for Bundy, she did too.
That’s all I can think of for now.
1. I understand Bundy had a lot of victims but the lack of insight into the victims as people rather than just as another name on a list bugs me. If you do not provide insight into the women as people, then you just degrade them into objects unto which murder was committed, and is that not what Bundy did? Maybe she could’ve gotten rid of random details about her home life and her family that were completely irrelevant and instead talked more about the victims. Pretty sure at points she just completely skips over particular murders. I would be able to get on board with this if the point of the book was to delve into Bundy’s psyche, or the personal relationship with Bundy or Rule, except she fails to do both of those things. She only ever really digs into the psychological side of Bundy in her additions years later, but the majority of the book fails to really connect the information we’re being told about Bundy with the behaviors he displays. Additionally, Rule consistently referenced to letters and other communications with Bundy, but never shared much information from them, as if she was still trying to protect him. Although, to be fair, I listened on audiobook so there’s a chance there are like scans of letters in the physical copy that just weren’t read aloud.
2. Rule’s relationship with Bundy is just odd. At points I could understand it, and at others I was very confused. It felt like every argument I (or Rule) would make for why she continued to be close to him was contradicted by something else. She couldn’t believe it was him, and yet even without all the evidence in front of her, long before he was caught, she herself mentioned him to police because she suspected him. She felt he needed somebody, and yet she also mentions on multiple occasions that he wrote with many people while in prison.
3. Also on the point of Rule and Bundy’s relationship, how close were they really. We’ve all had coworker friends and we all know how it goes. You like ‘em, you stick around them at work, maybe meet up at some outside social functions, but once one of you leaves the job the contact fades away. And that’s pretty much how Rule describes her relationship with Bundy. Nothing more than your average coworker friendship. Yet at the same time the way she portrays this relationship with Bundy is as though they are very close. And one could argue that though they were maybe not very close initially, they grew closer through being pen pals during his many incarcerations. Except no, because he pretty much ghosts her after the first few years and Rule herself mentions that he was in constant contact with many other women. Really, it seems Bundy used Rule as a conduit to the Seattle police and she fell for it and continues to fall for it. At one point she says something along the lines of “I knew him perhaps better than anyone”. But that makes no sense. This man has a family, he had a fiance, and two wives. He wrote to other people from prison far more often than he wrote to Rule. He had lawyers, he’s spent countless hours with correctional officers and police officers. There’s so many people who have opportunities to get to know Bundy on a level far more nuanced than Rule. Everything she summed up about Bundy in her updates were with a lens of retrospect: things that anyone could’ve told you. But in the moment it was clear that as much as she judged other woman for falling for Bundy, she did too.
That’s all I can think of for now.
dark
tense
slow-paced
What I really liked about this book, is the fact that the author did a good job laying down the foundation of the Ted she knew and the Ted she didn’t, the murderer, it’s clear she was thorn between those two Teds, until she realized he was guilty (Although she kept sending him money and stamps, like, girl come on, at some point she had to been stopped because it was too much).
Anyway, this book was on my tbr for years, and I finally got to it, thankfully, it didn’t disappoint, I would have been devastated, thank you Ann Rule.
Anyway, this book was on my tbr for years, and I finally got to it, thankfully, it didn’t disappoint, I would have been devastated, thank you Ann Rule.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
reflective
medium-paced
I'm no stranger to true crime, so this is a refreshing (reading it for the first time in 2025) change. I appreciate Rule's openness about her feelings and her very human connection with Bundy. She never makes excuses for him. We could never fully understand her position (nor should we want to)
As for the audiobook version, Loreilai King is incredible.
As for the audiobook version, Loreilai King is incredible.
informative
fast-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
It's a true crime classic. It's great, everyone knows it. It was my first Ann Rule book and although I really really enjoyed it I have to say the most recent edition is hella long.. Like hella long. But it's because of the updates and the re-writes and the extra information.
I was, obviously, aware of Ted Bundy but I wanted to learn about his victims and his crimes, this book was excellent for that. I personally prefer the first half to the second, maybe because I feel like I want to know the victims stories more than Bundy and his infamy and escapes and all that madness. Nonetheless, my boyfriend who doesn't like reading or true crime, would ask me to read this out loud to him and was equally as engaged in the book as I.
I was, obviously, aware of Ted Bundy but I wanted to learn about his victims and his crimes, this book was excellent for that. I personally prefer the first half to the second, maybe because I feel like I want to know the victims stories more than Bundy and his infamy and escapes and all that madness. Nonetheless, my boyfriend who doesn't like reading or true crime, would ask me to read this out loud to him and was equally as engaged in the book as I.
The fact that on the cover Ann Rule's name is three times bigger than Ted Bundy's is a hint.
Rule has had an unparalleled chance to write the definitive Ted Bundy book. She was a friend or at least a close acquittance of Bundy's since before he started his crimes (barring, perhaps, one or two unsolved cases) and she was in correspondence with Bundy nearly until the end. Unfortunately Rule has gone for a 'human interest' approach, spending a lot of pages discussing her own feelings at different points of the investigation and judicial process. Personally I much prefer to more matter-of-fact approach of works like 'Helter Skelter' and 'The Evil that Men Do'. Equally, I don't think fans of more emotion driven writing will find the book too riveting. While Rule writes a lot about her feelings and thoughts, the overall picture is still rather shallow, skipping quickly over the point where she first began to suspect and when she became sure that her friend was the 'Ted'-killer.
It should also be noted that the 2009 contains two prefaces and three prologues, most of which overlap and which go a long way of accounting for the nearly ridiculous length of the book.
Still, for a fan of true crime -books 'The Stranger Beside Me' is an OK read.
Rule has had an unparalleled chance to write the definitive Ted Bundy book. She was a friend or at least a close acquittance of Bundy's since before he started his crimes (barring, perhaps, one or two unsolved cases) and she was in correspondence with Bundy nearly until the end. Unfortunately Rule has gone for a 'human interest' approach, spending a lot of pages discussing her own feelings at different points of the investigation and judicial process. Personally I much prefer to more matter-of-fact approach of works like 'Helter Skelter' and 'The Evil that Men Do'. Equally, I don't think fans of more emotion driven writing will find the book too riveting. While Rule writes a lot about her feelings and thoughts, the overall picture is still rather shallow, skipping quickly over the point where she first began to suspect and when she became sure that her friend was the 'Ted'-killer.
It should also be noted that the 2009 contains two prefaces and three prologues, most of which overlap and which go a long way of accounting for the nearly ridiculous length of the book.
Still, for a fan of true crime -books 'The Stranger Beside Me' is an OK read.
2023 PopSugar challenge-A book published the year you were born