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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
This book (or at least my copy of it) is very dated in ideas and prose, to the point of being uncomfortable at times. I won't criticize the author for using common vernacular of the time. It is however something to keep in mind.
What interested me, and kept me reading, was Ann's relationship with Ted. Yes, it was intimate- but it did not feel like friendship. More like symbiosis. Ann sends Ted money in jail, she gets her story. Etc. Quid pro quo?
I did however find myself bristling at Ann's narrative voice. At one point after describing his jail cell, she transitions to describing her own "cell"- a seedy hotel room. Interesting comparison. I was also surprised at how pathetic Ted was, but maybe this helped him manipulate the women in his life.
Overall, it was an interesting book. I can't discount Ann's contribution to True Crime. It is nice to see how the genre has shifted and evolved in the 40+ years since Ann wrote The Stranger Beside me
And just as a quick side note- I refuse to read Ted Bundy's shitty poetry. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
3.5/5
What interested me, and kept me reading, was Ann's relationship with Ted. Yes, it was intimate- but it did not feel like friendship. More like symbiosis. Ann sends Ted money in jail, she gets her story. Etc. Quid pro quo?
I did however find myself bristling at Ann's narrative voice. At one point after describing his jail cell, she transitions to describing her own "cell"- a seedy hotel room. Interesting comparison. I was also surprised at how pathetic Ted was, but maybe this helped him manipulate the women in his life.
Overall, it was an interesting book. I can't discount Ann's contribution to True Crime. It is nice to see how the genre has shifted and evolved in the 40+ years since Ann wrote The Stranger Beside me
And just as a quick side note- I refuse to read Ted Bundy's shitty poetry. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
3.5/5
Listened to this on audiobook. I recommend to choose the one read by Ann Rule as the other audiobook drags on.
Ann is detailed in what happens. She mentions her history with him as well.
Ann is detailed in what happens. She mentions her history with him as well.
I was expecting more facts about Ted Bundy and the inside story of Ted's murderous affairs. However I felt it was mostly descriptive about Ted's character, his life and his charms. It felt this book was a homage to Ted and the unresolved guilt Ann felt towards him, which was not justified. She did end up talking about why Ted might be Ted, not why he did want he did. Again, I felt if anyone was in a position to reveal Ted, the mass murderer, it would have been Ann but I was left disappointed that not much was revealed and my curiosity towards the mass murderer has been left unquenched. I do understand that Ted was a manipulator, a good one at that, and Ann herself admits she has been manipulated by him. However, I am left wanting to know how and why this charming gentleman who managed to woo so many is at the same time capable od savagely smash someone's head with so much force that their brain was squashed to one side and died within the first blow due to its shear shock of violence. They passed away in their sleep, did not even have a chance to wake up; how this charming gentleman who has still managed to manipulate a level-headed, intellectual, and an experienced officer of policing and related background for so many years and she is still very much split about Ted's truth. This individual who many believed to be innocent and have profoundly their deep love for him can be the same who bit huge chunks of a victim's bottom! I cannot rest until I find these answers and learn the psychology of Ted Bundy's mind. We had plenty of opportunity to ask these questions, he managed to escape execution for 8 years! It is a shame that we missed the opportunity and if only John E. Douglas et all interviewed him before it was too late. I have realised that Rob Keppel et all managed to interview him a few days before his execution and we managed to get a lot of details out of him, unfortunately it wasn't enough. He has killed in hundreds but we only know of a few tens.
OK. WILD. Ann worked along side Ted Bundy at a crisis hotline and was shocked when she realized the soft-spoken colleague who she looked upon as a little brother was a serial killer. She has a background as a police officer, yet was unable to pick up on the eccentricities and that fact alone blows my mind — how would other people be able to piece that together?! We get first hand accounts from one of Ted’s friends and confidants, he actually kept in touch with Rule when he was in jail and shared snippets and stories about the work he was doing. Ted Bundy is a fascinating subject in himself, he had so much potential with his education and public roles within the Republican Party and he instead became one of the most horrific serial killers with an unknown death count even now. An incredibly unique perspective on who the man behind the murders is and clear proof that psychopaths like Ted can seamlessly blend among us and in certain circumstances, there might really be no way to change their behavior. She talks a lot about his romantic partners, in particular Stephanie, who she believes triggered Ted’s spree, as if he is taking revenge on Stephanie by murdering all these innocent women who appear to look like her. If you read one of the later editions she has revisions tacked to the end, some are a bit redundant but you can see Rule’s mind changing as she acknowledges the extent of Ted’s horrors and how she never really knew him throughout the snippets at the end too. I finished this book about a week ago and I am still thinking about it.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Very good true crime
I struggled with the writing style, but appreciated the deep dive into this terrible story. The second half, once we got into the trials, was easier for me to get through - perhaps Rule's style is more appropriate for court procedurals. Read the afterwards - the second especially gets into the final days before Bundy's execution, including his confession.
Wow. The personal connection elevates this record of true crime to another level, rather like Helter Skelter. This is certainly one of the best books I’ve read in this genre so far.
Very compelling, fulfilled my true crime addiction :)
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
It's interesting reading this account now on Ted Bundy having decades of knowledge and new information as a lens. Over 300 pages in, Rule, at the trial in Florida, accepts that her friend is in fact the one behind the horrible murders in Washington/Utah/Colorado and reading it my first reaction was "no duh Ann." That being said, she writes from a place of empathy and gives the victims great care in writing about who they were, the people who loves them, and the great loss felt following their murders/assaults. Living in Seattle gave this book a great sense of unease. The street numbers, the areas he visited, the restaurants and bars, it all gave the book a close to home feel that made me feel uneasy reading it on my commute in and out of work. Definitely worth the read, though I think in the years since the initial publication there have been a number of great works that go into more depth and present a fuller picture of the horror of his crimes. Rule's gentleness and care in maintaining the humanity of the women Ted attacked a cut above most true crime.
Reading this was a little like solving an internal mystery I didn't know existed.
When I read [b:Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer - America's Deadliest Serial Murderer|225384|Green River, Running Red The Real Story of the Green River Killer - America's Deadliest Serial Murderer|Ann Rule|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1422494905l/225384._SY75_.jpg|218291] a few years back, I believed, at the time, it was my first Ann Rule book. I certainly didn't remember reading anything else by her prior to that.
And then I read this and I kept being surprised at how much of the information I already knew, how many of the passages sounded incredibly familiar. At first, I chalked it up to murder shows and podcasts quoting it but I don't think that's the case. I think I read this in high school - the original, not this copy - when one of the girls in our group, she who wanted to marry Stephen King, got hold of this.
The Stranger Beside Me had been one of those forbidden texts when my peers and I were younger so, of course, we passed it around and were horrified yet titillated. And that may have been what put me off Ann Rule, why I avoided her for so long despite knowing she wrote things that should have been of interest.
While I continue to appreciate Rule’s attempts to tell the stories of murdered women and survivors, this book focuses more on Bundy because she had loved him at one point. It’s jarring to hear the final follow-up she wrote for his execution, how she was still struggling to explain what had happened to the man she’d thought of as her friend while also knowing that her career was launched by the sensational subject matter of this very book.
As is the case in the two other books I've read by this author, people's appearances, specifically the attractiveness of women, is highlighted regularly. There’s a lot of emphasis put on “tiny” women and girls - under 5’4” and less than 120 lbs; how they look, beyond the straight, brown hair parted in the middle, is often mentioned. Men's appearances are described as if an investigator needs to know what a person looked like. Women's appearances are described based on attractiveness. It's weird.
Also weird is some of the outdated wording. I would have thought when the last last last epilogue was written in the 90's, there would have been some editing to update language but, no.
I imagine this was originally the most comprehensive look at Ted Bundy and it has probably been used as source material for many other Bundy bios since. More telling, however, is this story of a woman sideswiped by finding out her friend was a vicious murderer and trying to come to terms with her shock, doubt, fear, and grief.
2.5 stars
When I read [b:Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer - America's Deadliest Serial Murderer|225384|Green River, Running Red The Real Story of the Green River Killer - America's Deadliest Serial Murderer|Ann Rule|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1422494905l/225384._SY75_.jpg|218291] a few years back, I believed, at the time, it was my first Ann Rule book. I certainly didn't remember reading anything else by her prior to that.
And then I read this and I kept being surprised at how much of the information I already knew, how many of the passages sounded incredibly familiar. At first, I chalked it up to murder shows and podcasts quoting it but I don't think that's the case. I think I read this in high school - the original, not this copy - when one of the girls in our group, she who wanted to marry Stephen King, got hold of this.
The Stranger Beside Me had been one of those forbidden texts when my peers and I were younger so, of course, we passed it around and were horrified yet titillated. And that may have been what put me off Ann Rule, why I avoided her for so long despite knowing she wrote things that should have been of interest.
While I continue to appreciate Rule’s attempts to tell the stories of murdered women and survivors, this book focuses more on Bundy because she had loved him at one point. It’s jarring to hear the final follow-up she wrote for his execution, how she was still struggling to explain what had happened to the man she’d thought of as her friend while also knowing that her career was launched by the sensational subject matter of this very book.
As is the case in the two other books I've read by this author, people's appearances, specifically the attractiveness of women, is highlighted regularly. There’s a lot of emphasis put on “tiny” women and girls - under 5’4” and less than 120 lbs; how they look, beyond the straight, brown hair parted in the middle, is often mentioned. Men's appearances are described as if an investigator needs to know what a person looked like. Women's appearances are described based on attractiveness. It's weird.
Also weird is some of the outdated wording. I would have thought when the last last last epilogue was written in the 90's, there would have been some editing to update language but, no.
I imagine this was originally the most comprehensive look at Ted Bundy and it has probably been used as source material for many other Bundy bios since. More telling, however, is this story of a woman sideswiped by finding out her friend was a vicious murderer and trying to come to terms with her shock, doubt, fear, and grief.
2.5 stars