Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

34 reviews

srah's review against another edition

3.5

I think Ted Bundy's Wikipedia page is heavily based on information from this book... which means that at the time it was a lot of inside information and now it doesn't really add a lot if you've already read his Wikipedia page.

The audiobook is read by the author, which adds an interesting layer, but she definitely does not have a trained voice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gore, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Murder, and Sexual assault

cmorehouse's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, and Violence

miggyfool's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Abortion and Gun violence

christikb's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

This is not by a long shot my first time reading A Stranger Beside Me. I first read it when I was 11, a burgeoning true crime afficionado, a fact that somehow simultaneously concerned and intrigued my parents. It was my second true crime book (behind Helter Skelter) and I knew clearly what murder and rape were, knew that they were crimes. But the true wrongness of these young women's deaths and assaults, the sheer emotionality of it, eluded a young me. This is my most recent re-read, completed at 32 years old with 1/6 of my M.S. in forensic psychology, six years of practicing law and writing about mental health in the law, and a thesis on the qualitative lifeworld of serial killers under my belt. As an adult, this book hurt. It isn't a great serial killer book; it is a phenomenal true crime novel. In a way that few true crime authors can because most will never have the experience to do so, Ann Rice is able to analyze the vast confusion of mourning the death, not of a person, but of something that you thought a person was. Bundy committed unspeakable crimes against women, victimizing them for years. But he created victims of the living too, those who survived their loved ones, his family, and those who knew him, cared for him, were hoodwinked by him. This book isn't just a factual accounting of the Ted crimes nor is it just for the women he murdered and assaulted; this book is for every person of whom he created a victim. Rule meanders through her account because to be snowed under so deeply by someone creates confusion of its own, a confusion that she replicates beautifully in this novel. I highly recommend that every woman read this book at least once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Sexual violence

cosmiccutlass's review

dark informative slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Blood, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Gore, and Mental illness

bibliozeka's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

kraken14's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

hesticht's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Rape, Body horror, Murder, Death, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty

akswhy's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.75

Come for the definitive tome on Ted Bundy from a firsthand source, stay for the care given to describing the full life of each of his victims. The book was good, but too long and too slow for my taste. I didn’t need nearly so much information about Ann’s prison correspondence with Ted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Incest

christinesreads's review against another edition

dark informative tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault