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erica_o 's review for:
The Stranger Beside Me
by Ann Rule
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Also weird is some of the outdated wording.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