548 pages
English language
Published Jan. 11, 2001 by Signet.
There are actually two stories here: one describes the gradual disintegration of a seemingly normal, affable, brilliant man into a sexual psychopath so evil, so methodical in his vicious killings, that one wonders if he was at all human. The other story is that of Ann Rule herself, a decent, hard-working, middle-aged mother of four who meets and befriends a nice young man working beside her in a crisis clinic. A man she regards as a younger brother; a man she views as a close and trusted friend. The slow but inexorable realization on Rule's part that this man is in fact an unspeakably violent serial killer is as painful to read as it was for her to experience.
Each victim is described in terms of such respect and such anguish that even a family member, I think, can feel that his or her daughter has been given a chance …
There are actually two stories here: one describes the gradual disintegration of a seemingly normal, affable, brilliant man into a sexual psychopath so evil, so methodical in his vicious killings, that one wonders if he was at all human. The other story is that of Ann Rule herself, a decent, hard-working, middle-aged mother of four who meets and befriends a nice young man working beside her in a crisis clinic. A man she regards as a younger brother; a man she views as a close and trusted friend. The slow but inexorable realization on Rule's part that this man is in fact an unspeakably violent serial killer is as painful to read as it was for her to experience.
Each victim is described in terms of such respect and such anguish that even a family member, I think, can feel that his or her daughter has been given a chance to shine, a chance to be more than a victim, more than a nameless number (8th girl killed, and so forth). The poignancy of these girls' very human preoccupations and lives serves to outline the contrasting horror in even more detail. That is why Rule does not have to defile the victims with intricate detail. The contrast between their young lives and their terrible deaths is enough in itself.
Not a genre I read often but this is my second reading of this book and I still find it compelling. Such a chilling story.
After reading Debbie Harry's book where she mentions that she thought she was picked up in car by Ted Bundy, though even the logistics are impossible, I decided to read up about him to see what she meant.
Ann Rule was a close associate who knew him well and received calls from him from prison right up to the end.
Apart from being one of the worst most sadistic serial killers it seems like she had affection for him until the end. He seems like he was an accomplished person and given what he did it is difficult to differentiate whether he was bad or mad. Definitely a person who should be locked up for life and not someone you would like to turn your back on .
Ann Rule is not great at voicing audiobooks but this was nevertheless absolutely fascinating
