2.33k reviews for:

The Stranger Beside Me

Ann Rule

4.01 AVERAGE

dark tense

I like Ann Rule as a writer. I do find it difficult to see the destruction that one person is able to cause to so many other people's lives.

I knew Ted Bundy was a serial killer, but I didn't know the extent of his crimes or personality. Ann Rule's story is unique and powerful, and this book is a unique insight to a serial killer in a way that a lot of intimate true crime novels are not. The way Rule wrestles with guilt in both directions and the truth are extremely compelling. You get a full picture of Ted, of who he was and what he did, but you also get a full picture of everything else surrounding him. Rule struck a powerful balance between factual and thrilling. I was captivated as she explored who Ted really was, and the reader was able to come to the same startlingly reality of what type of person Ted was. All this being said, the book is a heavy burden, not because of prose, but because of the impact of the subject matter. I enjoy the true crime genre a great deal, but this novel featured murder and death that made it real and horrifying. It's painful to think of his
Spoilerprison escape
, and the lives that would have been spared without that mistake. I'd encourage others to pick it up and avoid the temptation to "spoil" themselves by reading up Ted Bundy and his crimes beforehand. Reading the details through Ann Rule's eyes was powerful, and despite the weight of the subject matter, the read had me hooked throughout the novel.
adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Ann Rule's unnerving story of how she found out, handled , and accepted that her dear friend Ted Bundy was indeed a serial killer. Ann's story takes you on a roller coaster ride of her personal experience and facts of the cases. This story will keep you up at night and wondering, do we ever truly know someone.

every time someone describes bundy as handsome (or GENIUS) i lose a day off my life, that's probably why i despise his story so much. i do like ann, i had to read her so famous book eventually.

reading bundy's story through her perspective is a lot more interesting and less irritating that simply reading a cold description of his crimes, she's a a great writer. i liked her here a lot more than in small sacrifices, perhaps because she was so close to this case.

I read this in grad school and was fascinated. I wanted to read it again after reading "Brave Young Women" and was disgusted! Hearing Ann Rule humanize such a horrific human who gained celebrity status infuriates me. I wonder how her book would have been written if she KNEW any of the young women he victimized.
challenging tense slow-paced

An interesting perspective of a fascinating and terrifying case. Informative and written decently enough. Relatively impartial, not much analysis of Bundy's character or motives.
dark reflective tense medium-paced
challenging dark informative tense fast-paced

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