Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: "In case I get killed by Allen, get Anne Rule to write the story about me" - were Sheila's words she said to so many people.
Her premonitions proved right. She got killed, and Anne Rule wrote a book about her. A book that is gripping to the very last page. A book that breaks everyone's heart apart from people like Allen.
"Easier said then done" - but Sheila today may have been alive if she was more conscious while she was alive.I've read that so many people unfortunetaly lost sympathy to Sheila for "she was" a child beater and that sort of stuff but the only time I lost sympathy for Sheila was when she decided to go with Allen to Hawaii despite the fact that Allen was a dog who was accepted in her parents home yet misused their warm, parently hospitality by ripping a lot of their money.
Then, Sheila was aware of Allen's sick kinky fetish fantasies. She knew that he wore womens clothes and lots of different secrets others didn't, yet she remained his wife hoping for something that was impossible. Allen was sick by all means and he was a master to hide his ill-minded sickness to other people.
Anyways, at the end Sheila divorces him finally and meets the man of her dreams Jamie who soon became her devoted husband but
she could never get a divorce from Allen's hatred! He was still a great part of Sheila's daily life. He was an idiot who had everything but a healthy mind.
In this book a lot of people, especially women whose husbands wear women clothes and are abusive, can learn a lot on how to avoid becoming a victim as Sheila. They're surely not normal and I don't how can it be legal for a husband and a father to wear womens clothes in public and behave like that.The thought of it makes me sick - because it is sick. So,if your husband wears womens clothes and threaten you, report them to the police. If they don't respond like they usually don't - as usual then spend a couple of bucks and buy this book for them -so maybe it'll dawn on them that they are capable of stopping crimes just as they are very capable of catching stupid people like the killers of Sheila.
Yes, reading the book you'll understand that four people were involved in the murder. One of them got only $20 and nineteen years in prison. The rest - all sentenced to life in prison. How nice that justice always wins but how sad that victims always lose and that their gaps can never be filled with nothing even if these sick idiots were put in electric chairs for what they've done to HUMANS in general.
And for the end I think the morale story of this sad reality is STICK WITH YOUR FAMILY if they're NICE of course, and don't swap them for anything or anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the effort to read.
Review: 'Every Breath You Take' presents the sad and tragic story of Sheila Bellush, whose murder was arranged by her ex-husband Allen Blackthorne. Ann Rule's recitation of the events leading up to the conviction of Blackthorne is unfortunately without any objectivity, emotion or sense of literary style. It reads as raw research, unedited, waiting to be fashioned into a moving and gripping book. It is laden with unnecessarily trivial detail and burdened by repetition. The 681 pages could easily have been reduced to about 400, and I could barely sustain the energy to finish it. Much of the book consists of information clearly intended to please the author's sources but of no interest to the reader. And it's too bad, because the story is a worthy one. The bad guy, Allen Blackthorne is particularly revolting, and Sheila who certainly did not deserve her fate, was a piece of work as well. It's hard for the reader to sympathize with anybody, rather one feels more like a voyeur on the life of some people who escaped the trailer park, but not the culture. Unless you want to know the details of this particular story I recommend taking a pass on the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Perceptive and riveting - repetetive and boring
Review: If I hadn't already read so many of Ann Rule's books I'd have given this at least 4 stars. On the upside, this author does a great job of integrating the most relevant aspects of each character's history. She has an outstanding comprehension of the human psyche and knows how to string together the elements of a person's past that make them who they are. Her story-telling is generally fast-paced and suspenseful. On the other hand, there is very little variance in the structure of her books. Obviously the stories are all different, but she fits them into this framework that has become a little tiring for me. Once you've read a few of her books, you can smell them a mile away. I also found this particular book a little heavy on the repetition of details. She was in a difficult situation because there are several defendants and two major trials for this crime. While it was important to get information about the statements and testimony of all four men involved in this crime, I still think it was a little overdone.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!
Review: Making the decision to read a fiction story along with a non-fiction book concurently my librarian suggested a Ann Rule Book. Well, I am a fan now. The only problem is the truth sometimes reads more like fiction than fiction itself. This man was truly a monster, to his family and society itself. If Lucifer is on earth he probably is in the body of Allen. I Will now begin my journey to read all of Ann Rules works, I am sure I will enjoy them all.
Rating: 
Summary: N
Review: This is the incredible true story of a woman who only wanted a happy, stable family life, and the monster she met and married. Sheila Walsh/VanHoute/Blackthorne/Bellush met a horrible fate because she fell in love with a true sociopath. Allen VanHoute/Blackthorne seems like Satan, himself, or at least, a disciple. Ann Rule does an exceptional job of describing this hellish tale, it will keep you up nights until you read the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Finished it in two days!
Review: This is only the second book I've read by Ann Rule, but I am impressed with her ability to research and report. This story kept me interested, not only for the tragic crime, but for the people involved. Unlike other reviewers, I did not mind the background information of the cast of characters. After all, if you're into "true crime," then you would probably be interested in the complete story. If you want the abridged version, read all about it in Readers Digest, or watch it on A&E. The only reason I rated this four rather than five stars is that I felt Ann repeated herself too often. I realized I was re-reading information that had been presented earlier, and it was mildly annoying. Overall, though, I felt that she did a good job of presenting the evidence and covering the trial. I enjoyed reading the snippets of questioning that occurred, but I've always been interested in the court process. I did read somewhere else that Jamie has disparaged the book and Ann Rule's coverage of the events. I don't know why this is, although the man seems to be a little high strung and emotionally ravaged by Sheila's murder, understandably. I don't know if it is possible for an author to write a book so all the involved parties approve. If anything, Ann Rule has helped women realize what can happen by staying in a relationship with an abusive person. If your family does not like the person you're marrying, it might be a good idea to sit down and figure out why. Then again, we all know that hindsight is 20/20.
Rating:
Summary: Clear Storytelling
Review: Ann Rule's gift has always been the integration of facts in a format that allows readers to discover the gruesome crimes in a more or less chronological order. She relies a bit too much on foreshadowing - a frustration in many true crime books - but in this book she keeps the pace fast and the revelations breathtaking.
Rating:
Summary: Laborious but worthwhile
Review: This story was laborious not so much because of its length (400+ pages) but the tedious pages dedicated to the trial, which I know could not be helped. I'd never read Ann Rule before but she clearly has a talent for getting the details down and bringing a harrowing story into Technicolor on the page.
Rating:
Summary: Ann Rule returns to her proven formula..
Review: Ann Rule has written some brilliant true crime books in the 1980s and early 1990s where she focuses on a singular criminal event, the criminal(s), victim(s), etc. Then she changed her ways and pumped out several books which were little more than massaged police reports, with each report encompassing no more than 50 pages (..often much less). So I thought Ann Rule resorted to simply cashing in on her success by dumping out inferior work with her name splashed on the cover. But with 'Every Breath You Take' the author returns to pumping out an in-depth true crime story ... smart move Ann! In 'Every Breath You Take' we have the story of a dysfunctional man who has a completely irrational hatred for one of his ex-wives. This obsesseive hatred, of course, leads to no good. Ann Rule shines in her analysis of this man, his ex-wive(s), and the aftermath of the (truly horrific) crime. As with many of her books we see a deranged mind being the output of a lousy childhood. Bottom line: without question this book ranks among Ann Rule's better efforts. Not a classic but certainly her fans will be pleased.
Rating:
Summary: What a book!
Review: This is the story of the murder of Shelia Blackthorne Bellush, former wife of multimillionaire Allen Blackthorne. Unlike most true crime stories, this one was written at the request of the victim. She had asked family and friends to contact the author if anything ever happened to her. For a decade, the victim lived with the premonition that her rich ex-husband would find her and have her killed. This 446-page book is divided into short chapters, which you won't even notice once you start reading. This one will keep you turning pages and wanting to know what comes next. Allen had always been an abusive, sadistic person. At any early age, he attempted to rape one of his dates. He was drawn to cross-dressing, voyeurism, and many sexual deviations of an extreme kind. His first two wives fled and went into hiding. Shelia was the poor girl from a broken family that wanted to rise above her background. When Allen came into the law office where she worked, she thought she had met her soul mate. He appeared to be wealthy and well educated. He was everything she wanted in a man ... for all outward appearances. The author pulls you into the story and never lets up. There are no lulls in the story; no fluff or filler. It is suspense at its finest! She moves in an orderly chronological fashion, with timely flashes, in a way that keeps you totally immersed in the story. It offers everything you could want in a story: action, drama, romance, suspense, and even horror. It is definitely one of the best books I have read in years and I look forward to reading other works by this author.
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