duckoffimreading 's review for:

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

4.0

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Boyyyy this one was emotionally draining...the man with no conscious who kills women with zero remorse. I don’t know how people can work in the homicide dept day in and day out. Ann Rule has made many updates to this book - and I read the most recent version, last updated in 2000 and weighing in at hefty 550 pages. Ann details out all the known facts about Ted Bundy's life, rape and murder spree and imprisonment. He had many mental illnesses tagged to him: sociopath, psychopath, bipolar, split personality, antisocial personality. He certainly wasn't right in the head, and admits to killing 36+ women, could be hundreds - we don't really know. I found this book extremely interesting at times, especially following the series of actions leading up to Ted getting arrested in Florida and absolutely ridiculous circus show he puts on in court representing himself as defendant, defense attorney and witness all in one - Ted had some serious serious demons. At the same time, this book dragged on for me, especially with the 10+ years of appeals and delayed execution stays which is a good 30% of the book. Unbelievable that Ted could work the system for so long, amassing more than $6M in Florida state incarceration and legal fees. I don’t get how he could straight faces lie and keep up the charade for decades