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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
This was so interesting but a very long listen!
Ann Rule is thought of by many as the mother of today's true crime genre, and this book is a shining example as to why. In thoughtful, well researched prose, Ann lays bare her relationship with Ted Bundy and Ted the Serial Killer, and the journey she went on trying to understand how the two Teds could possibly be the same person. Much of her stylistic choice echoes through the decades and shapes how writers research and compile their true crime books today.
Her writing style, while a tiny bit dated, is still easy to read and accessible, and her first-hand accounts of Ted Bundy interacting with humans in real life are highly compelling, to the point that it will shock me if this book doesn't become a classic of the genre. While obviously biased toward Ted, Ann Rule doesn't let that sway her in her search for the truth, and freely admits to Ted and detectives on the case alike that she doesn't know what she believes about his guilt or innocence. In fact, it's not until very late in the book that Ann finally has the realization that yes, Ted really did all those things, killed those women, raped and stalked and hunted girls young enough to be friends with Ann's own children. Despite the dawning horror, Ann remains friends with Ted and positive about their previous relationship and interactions, compartmentalizing the man she knew all those years ago and the dangerous serial killer into very different boxes in order to continue her work.
Overall, the book is dark, tragic, and while not quite what I'd describe as a page-turner, still definitely a book that I wanted to keep coming back to so that I could find out more. Even all these decades later, Ann Rule managed to educate me about the women Ted Bundy killed, the way he killed them, and how he evaded detection for so many years. For anyone interested in true crime, or in famous mysteries, serial killers, and the like, I can't recommend this book enough. I think it should rank up there with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood as a classic of crime writing, and Ann Rule mixes narrative prose with fact-based non-fiction writing brilliantly.
(I do want to mention here, that I refer to Ted Bundy and Ann Rule by their first names because while this is a work of non-fiction, Ted is a character that Ted Bundy played, and probably not his real persona, which I believe was much darker and more violent and dangerous than he ever let on to his casual acquaintences; also, Ann's role as reporter and writer meant that she was close to the investigations before anyone even had an inkling that these brutal murders and strange disappearances were related. It is for these reasons, as well as Ann's use of both their first names throughout the book, that I chose to use them too. I wouldn't normally bother with this kind of disclaimer, but one of the eeriest things about Ted Bundy is that even from beyond the grave, he still manages to ensnare female admirers and there are quite a few rabid fans around the internet, even today, glorifying this despicable man and his crimes. In the interest of distancing myself from that faction, I wanted to make my position perfectly clear--Ted Bundy murdered over thirty women, most of them college age or younger, and manipulated and lied to the people in his life on a regular basis. He was not misunderstood. He was not a victim. He was a murderer, and a terrible human being, and possibly a psychopath or sociopath, definitely a narcissist.)
Her writing style, while a tiny bit dated, is still easy to read and accessible, and her first-hand accounts of Ted Bundy interacting with humans in real life are highly compelling, to the point that it will shock me if this book doesn't become a classic of the genre. While obviously biased toward Ted, Ann Rule doesn't let that sway her in her search for the truth, and freely admits to Ted and detectives on the case alike that she doesn't know what she believes about his guilt or innocence. In fact, it's not until very late in the book that Ann finally has the realization that yes, Ted really did all those things, killed those women, raped and stalked and hunted girls young enough to be friends with Ann's own children. Despite the dawning horror, Ann remains friends with Ted and positive about their previous relationship and interactions, compartmentalizing the man she knew all those years ago and the dangerous serial killer into very different boxes in order to continue her work.
Overall, the book is dark, tragic, and while not quite what I'd describe as a page-turner, still definitely a book that I wanted to keep coming back to so that I could find out more. Even all these decades later, Ann Rule managed to educate me about the women Ted Bundy killed, the way he killed them, and how he evaded detection for so many years. For anyone interested in true crime, or in famous mysteries, serial killers, and the like, I can't recommend this book enough. I think it should rank up there with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood as a classic of crime writing, and Ann Rule mixes narrative prose with fact-based non-fiction writing brilliantly.
(I do want to mention here, that I refer to Ted Bundy and Ann Rule by their first names because while this is a work of non-fiction, Ted is a character that Ted Bundy played, and probably not his real persona, which I believe was much darker and more violent and dangerous than he ever let on to his casual acquaintences; also, Ann's role as reporter and writer meant that she was close to the investigations before anyone even had an inkling that these brutal murders and strange disappearances were related. It is for these reasons, as well as Ann's use of both their first names throughout the book, that I chose to use them too. I wouldn't normally bother with this kind of disclaimer, but one of the eeriest things about Ted Bundy is that even from beyond the grave, he still manages to ensnare female admirers and there are quite a few rabid fans around the internet, even today, glorifying this despicable man and his crimes. In the interest of distancing myself from that faction, I wanted to make my position perfectly clear--Ted Bundy murdered over thirty women, most of them college age or younger, and manipulated and lied to the people in his life on a regular basis. He was not misunderstood. He was not a victim. He was a murderer, and a terrible human being, and possibly a psychopath or sociopath, definitely a narcissist.)
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