Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
In this book, Ann Rule delivers a fantastic, investigative, and revealing account of her lengthy friendship with one of America’s most infamous—Ted Bundy. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was phenomenal. I did recoil upon hearing the R word the first couple of times out of shock, but I had to remember that this book is a bit older now and that term was more accepted at the time. It was interesting to learn about the progression of the bizarrely unique relationship between Ann Rule and Ted Bundy. Beginning simply as empathetic coworkers, Ann likely never could have imagined that she would be maintaining a deep friendship with an admitted serial killer. Even through his admissions of guilt and up until his execution, she remained an ally to Ted: writing to him, providing him with cigarette money, and never betraying his trust. The entire account of his crimes, beyond merely what he has admitted to, will likely never come to light. With this, I am left to wonder how many undiscovered bodies of innocent women and girls across America will remain buried, without so much as a hint of justice.
This book is intense and terrifying and very, very thorough. The fact that Rule was already Bundy's friend/coworker while at the same time working with the police department to chronicle and organize the information regarding local dead and missing girls is almost too perfect- if it was a movie premise, it'd be unbelievable that the crime writer was one of the serial killer's closest friends. It wasn't until chapter 49, the epilogue, the afterword, and the last chapter-1989 (pgs 357-450 in my book, the updated twentieth anniversary edition) that Rule really delves into what she believes made Bundy tick. You also finally read about how he carried out these heinous crimes as he confesses before his execution. Of course now, decades later, it seems insane to ever think he was innocent. But Rule writes about her state of mind at the time, the evidence against Bundy, and his seemingly normal behavior and you honestly start to think maybe he was innocent, maybe it was just a case of wrong place, wrong time. But she continues to explain and explore and you realize the truth right along with her and it's sickening. This book is 450 pages and the book itself is 9.5" tall, so it's no small read by any means but like I wrote earlier, Rule is very, very thorough. A fascinating book in itself, but don't be surprised if it gives you nightmares.
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
medium-paced
What the fuck
This rat was the defendant, his own defense attorney and also the witness??! AND he got so many privileges and access to law libraries cause he has to build his case ??!? Which ultimately gave him the opportunity to escape -_-
Amazing retelling from the author. It really details how confused she feels having been his friend - in denial of his atrocities - to then ultimately have to come to the conclusion that, yes, the person beside you was a stranger and America's most notorious killer. It is scary how we will never completely know someone.
This rat was the defendant, his own defense attorney and also the witness??! AND he got so many privileges and access to law libraries cause he has to build his case ??!? Which ultimately gave him the opportunity to escape -_-
Amazing retelling from the author. It really details how confused she feels having been his friend - in denial of his atrocities - to then ultimately have to come to the conclusion that, yes, the person beside you was a stranger and America's most notorious killer. It is scary how we will never completely know someone.
This book was so good but also took me forever to finish because the court proceedings weren’t captivating. Still, this is the most in depth account of Ted Bundy’s crimes that I’ve ever read and it definitely made me scared to be alone at night! It’s terrifying that these things actually happened. This is so much scarier than any Stephen King book!
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
This is such an interesting view of Bundy and a serial killer in general with it being from someone who knew him as a friend. I particularly like the fact that the author was already set to write a book about the “Ted” killer before she even realized her connection to the killer.
But, this book is incredibly long and because of the subject matter it’s exhausting. It’s just under 600 pages of Bundy and that’s a bit much.
But, this book is incredibly long and because of the subject matter it’s exhausting. It’s just under 600 pages of Bundy and that’s a bit much.