Rating: 
Summary: Loved this book!
Review: As a long-time reader of Ann Rule, I am pleased to say that this is her best book yet. While reading this unbelievable story, you will feel like you personally know the characters. Of all of Rule's protagonists, Allen Blackthorne is the most intriguing. He had everything anyone could want, and really nothing to gain by killing his ex-wife, but just couldn't allow her to slip away from his grasp. Well researched and written!
Rating:
Summary: Rule delivers with another fascinating account of a creep
Review: Read EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE: A TRUE STORY OF
OBSESSION, REVENGE AND MURDER by Ann Rule . . . what
made this book different is that it was actually written at the
victim's request . . . Sheila Blackthorne Bellush told her sister
after she divorced multimillionaire Allen Blackthorne, "If
anything ever happens to me, promise me that you will see
that there is an investigation. . . . And find Ann Rule and
ask her to write my story."Allen Blackthorne was quite some character. As Rule notes:
Somewhat surprisingly, Allen's test results did not indicate
that he was an antisocial personality (a sociopath). He was far
more complicated than that. His responses to standard tests
showed that he could control or channel his feelings of
aggression when he felt it necessary, and that he probably
was often depressed. He did not, however, have more than a
token ability to empathize with other people's feelings
on any deep level, and he showed narcissistic traits. The
word revolved around Allen. It always had. He was definitely NOT the kind of guy you'd like to have
as your neighbor . . . or run into on the golf course, though
he was known to lose big almost every time he played . . . I
personally have come to like true-crime stories much more
than mysteries in that they are so much more real . . . Rule
has never disappointed me with a past effort and this one
ranks right up there with one of her best . . . if you can get
past the creepiness of the main character, you'll find
this both fascinating and chilling . . . in addition, the
tenacity of the investigating detectives will certainly impress you. One other part of the book caught my attention: Blackthorne
once had a high school Distributive Education student
working for him on a part-time basis . . . I also taught DE
on a high school basis--let's just say a few years ago--and so
got a kick out of the subject being mentioned . . . it was the first time that I had ever seen it in a book . . . and probably the last since DE is now more commonly referred to as Marketing Education.
Rating:
Summary: True Crime isn't researched to be "interesting"..!!!
Review: I'm appalled at the reviews I've read of this book so far. People think Ann Rule wrote this book in order to cater to their sense of entertainment, when instead, she wrote this book because the poor, butchered woman requested it. If Allen Blackthorne/Van Houte is the carbon copy maniacal, abusive husband, and Sheila is the poor, innocent, hapless victim - so be it. These are not characters she's created for our benefit. They are real people. This is a real woman who did everything she could to get herself and her impressionable daughters away from this crazy man, and instead, was shot and butchered in front of her infant quadruplets - who, by the way, clung to her and were covered in her blood some 6 hours later when her 13 year old daughter discovered her body. I found this book to be informative and well-written, as I do all of Ann Rule's works. When I was done with it, I was completely horrified and discusted at what this man has gotten away with...and to find that Janet Reno excused him from the death penalty. Allen Blackthorne is a monster, completely without conscious or morality. He deserved so much more than he got in the end. I feel devastated that those poor babies waded around in their mothers blood for hours, and that that poor girl came home to the scene of her mother with her throat slashed all the way around. I feel depressed at the terror this woman must have felt to tell her sister that she knew she would die at 35, and never see her babies grow up - and to tell her relatives that if she should die, please make sure that there was an investigation. And please try to contact Ann Rule so she could write her story. Look this story up on the internet. It's not a pretty one. this is no fairy tale. Its horrific, and terrible, and the worst part is that it's true. Kudos to you Ann. Keep keeping us informed.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read..highly recommended
Review: Every Breath You Take, a true story written by Ann Rule is my first time read for anything written by this author. I'll have to say I was highly impressed. If I have trouble getting a book to grab my interest after the first or second chapter, then I don't go on with it. The simple fact is I don't have the time to read books I don't enjoy. I purchased the book and loaned it to a friend to read first because I was reading a novel and didn't intend to stop until it was finished. My friend brought this book back to me a few days later and said she loved the story. At first, I'll admit the family history did sort of distract me and made me wonder, but that soon passed and I think I did appreciate being able to connect who each character was or had been to Sheila and Allen. After I'd finished reading the book, I had nothing but the highest praise for Ann Rule's research in writing this story. True, there were a lot of questions I had to ask myself about Sheila. It didn't take a mental giant to figure out that Allen was a demented sociopath. It makes a person wonder what Sheila was thinking to stay with Allen after watching him deliberately kill the man and woman on the motorcycle. That would have finished me off, if I hadn't already been gone after he'd bankrupted my parents. She appeared so weak in the beginning and gradually gained insight and strength, only to turn around and do some really stupid things. But the learning lesson she had taken before she finally left should have forewarned her that Allen was not a man to be reckoned with. And still she persisted on dragging him back into court. What kind of mother would have allowed him around her two daughters knowing he had sexually abused one of them? I had a real problem with Sheila from the beginning, but at the end I realized no matter what her reasonings, she didn't deserve to die at the hand of some young punk that was killing her for the money. The characters involved with Allen were of low-life and low intelligence caliber. Sometimes it doesn't take a really smart person to be a superb athlete (look at Mike Tyson). Danny Rocha thought he was smart because he was good at golfing and winning thousands of dollars in betting with Allen. But he truly was a really stupid man. Allen was baiting him to be used and he didn't have a clue. I've worked for a short time in an abused women's center. During that time, I've seen a great deal and can truly understand why women run for their lives from abusive husbands. This is a very serious problem in our society today. It isn't until after a person will finish reading a book like this one that they sit back and think "Oh, my heavens!" Keep writing Ann Rule and I'll keep reading along with the rest of your fans.
Rating:
Summary: Allen Blackthorne Was a Horror Story!
Review: This story tells about the life of Sheila Belush, the lady who was murdered when she moved to Sarasota FL., away from her devil of a husband. And that's the kind of man Allen Houte-Blackthorne
was; a great monster to fear. A liar, conman, and most of all sadist of the worst type, he hired someone to kill Sheila, his ex-wife. Ann Rule tells the story of how this happened. It took a long time before lawmen were able to track down all of the details to what REALLY happened to Sheila that November day in 1997. She had re-married by then, and had quadruplets with her new husband as well as her two other daughters. But in spite of her new and happier life in Sarasota, Sheila felt she always had her ex-husband to fear; and she was always watching her back.
She knew she wouldn't live to raise her family, and sadly this crime happened when the quads were only 2 years old. A very intense biography, and as you read, you'll hope that Allen gets what he deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I enjoyed every moment of listening to this book. I won't give a synopsis of the story as so many reviewers feel compelled to do, but will say that, besides being a fascinating story, Blair Brown does an excellent job of narration. Its hard to believe this is an abridged version of the book as it contains all necessary details to make this a great, informative read.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing!
Review: I originally just got this book for a crime and law paper I had to write. But it turned out to be so involving and so capturing, you really begin to feel like you know this family and you begin to feel what they went through. It is an amazingly detailed depiction of a serious sociopath and his demonic and manipulative ways at getting anything he wants and eliminating anything "unnecessary" to his lifestyle.
I highly recommend this to the reader who really wants to be -involved- with a story.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Brilliant
Review: This book was so awesome! I really enjoyed it and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. When I was reading it I got so into it that when I went to sleep I had the light oN! It was truly an awesome book!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money on "Every Breath You Take"
Review: This is the first book I've read by Ann Rule - and definitely the last! The second half of the book is a moderately interesting account of the police work and trials, but by then I'd already suffered through the first half of the book, a series of detailed family sagas about far too many miserable people pumping out far too many babies. I'm sorry I wasted 7.99 on this "bargain" book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of her best
Review: This was not one of Ann Rule's best books. "Bitter Harvest" and "Stranger Beside Me" are much better reads.
In a nutshell: "Every Breath You Take" is too long and it's difficult to sympathize with the individual(s) as they were portrayed in the book.
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