The Stranger Beside Me

Rating:
Summary: An absolute must for true crime fans.
Review: "The Stranger Beside Me" is a story that I believe does not merit a lengthy review. It could be because there are nearly 50 (as of 22 Feb '01) to choose from. It could be because the Ted Bundy saga is well known. In fact, the A&E network just covered Bundy the other night. Any recommendation for "SBM" should be very basic. This is as pure true crime reporting as exists anywhere. This reporting gets huge assists from 3 factors. 1)The author is a former cop 2) The former cop is an excellent reporter/writer and 3) The author knew Ted Bundy from their "early days" in Seattle. From that point, Ms. Rule simply follows the(turning)trail to its frightening conclusion. (I borrowed that line from another reviewer above!). Any true crime devotee can't possibly ignore "SBM". One wanting to try such a book will have no better proving ground. This one is 5 stars all around. A final thought: At the end of the tale, the reader will know why cops take routine "routine traffic stops" so seriously. What if those 2 officers handn't gone by the book those 2 nights?

Rating:
Summary: The Stranger beside me
Review: I have almost finsihed The stranger beside me by Ann Rule and I would just like to share a little. This is the first True Crime book I have read and I would like to say it is also the scariest book I have ever read. I am having restless nights reading this book, but I just can't let it go! Ann Rule puts a lot of herself in to this book and although it is all factual and doesn't read like fiction at all, it stills chills you to the bone. Ted Bundy was a truly disturbed man and the way he managed to stay undetected for so long is one of the scariest things about him. The other scary thing is how the young women he attacked or kidnapped and murdered were so totally unaware of him and went willingly or they were asleep and had no choice when they were attacked. Brutal is a good way to describe the book, not only for its contents, but Brutual is also the effect it has had on me.

Rating:
Summary: Watch Who You Date
Review: I read this book cover to cover in three nights -- late nights, scary nights. Ann Rule keeps readers on the edge of their seats even when they know the eventual outcome for Bundy, a given for someone like myself from Washington State. Ann was an acquaintance of Bundys and this makes her treatment of this sadistic fiend even more authentic, more personal, than the characters in some of her other books. The difference between this book, and in fact all of Ann Rule's books, and a mystery novel is the gaps. One is always left wondering, what happened here? Wouldn't knowing this make the story more coherent, weave it a bit more tightly? Sure, but real live mysteries are far different from fiction. More fascinating. Ann can't contrive a character and plot, she can only follow the evidence, as much as is available. This she does in a masterful manner, conducting hundreds perhaps thousands of interviews and wading through voluminous court records, newspaper accounts, and whatever else is available. How she does this year after year, producing riveting volume after riveting volume is the greatest mystery of all. If you have never read Ann Rule this book on Ted Bundy is the place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Ann Rule is the Queen of True Crime
Review: No one can write true crime better than Rule. Any book she writes is a must have. The fact that she new Bundy is shocking. She writes with care, warmth and extreme knowledge of not only the killers but the victims and their families too. This book told the most accurate info on Bundy where some other books on him only concentrate on the gore aspect.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping: crime comes to your doorstep
Review: This book is truly amazing, as it is not a dry report of an author set out to cover the subject of Ted Bundy, but a realer-than-real story of an author, who has set out to write a book, only to discover that the serial killer she writes about is that kind young man she knows from her work at the telephone helpline. Ann Rule really KNEW Ted Bundy, and that's what makes this book so fascinating. The pictures in it only add to that. I have had my share of crime and true crime, but I did ponder some nights about "that shadow in the corner".....this book combined with the movie Sixth Sense REALLY kept me up three nights, only daring to fall asleep with the lights on!

Good book, good story, here and there it tends to become slightly tedious, but all in all she does a great job in covering the story of one of the most feared men of his time. Try it!

Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing Is So Much More Compelling
Review: Ann Rule did it all. She knew Ted Bundy before she knew he was a serial killer and after she'd finally accepted he was one. She was also an experienced crime reporter who understood the legal system and sat through the legal proceedings as they dragged on and on. Meanwhile, Bundy kills throughout, with the worst being after he escapes from his first prison. Rule even links him with yet an earlier murder in his hometown when he was only 15, showing he started killing even earlier than she'd previously supposed. I read the 35th printing of this book, which is no small testimony to how right she's painted the portrait. If you're going to read about a serial killer, there's nothing like the real thing. I read this on a plane ride to Florida and, although I normally detest flying, I barely noticed I was in a plane, I was so engrossed in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not really strange at all
Review: This was the third "Bundy Book" to come out with "Stranger" in the title. The first two were the paperback "Ted Bundy: All American Stranger", which was rushed into print on the heels of the Chi Omega verdict and Richard Larsen's "Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger", which came out shortly after the Leach verdict. Larsen's book served as the basis for the TV miniseries starring Mark Harmon and then fell out of print. "Stranger Beside Me" had better legs and remains in print to this day. This book's success comes from Ann Rule being a better writer who wrote from a better perspective. Although Richard Larsen also knew Bundy personally, he was not as close to Bundy as Rule apparently was. Factually, the book appears about as accurate as any other of the plethora of Bundy books, but all these books suffer from a common failing: wittingly or unwittingly, they tend to glamorize a sadistic, brutal recreational killer who really was no stranger than any of the other "serial killers" who captured the headlines of the last half of the 20th Century. This alone separated Bundy from the pack: he was an articulate pretty boy. If you feel you really must read about such a monster, this book is about as good as any of the other Bundy books and probably better than most of them.

Rating:
Summary: THE Definative "True Crime" Book
Review: For the first several chapters, I struggled through this book. The writing really put me off; even to the point where I almost put it down. It seemed like it was a good book by an untalented writer, if that makes sense. I stuck with it, however, and was soon very glad I did.

The book is surprisingly unbiased; Ann balances emotion and fact very, very well. I've read many true crime books, and most of them are either overly-sensational or insulting to the reader's intelligence. This book is neither.

This book is the complete story of Ted Bundy that no other author could have written. Knowing Ted gave her the insight to write the book with compassion and empathy. It is the most touching true crime book I've ever read. In fact, it really doesn't belong in the tired genre of "true crime". It's right up there with Capote's "In Cold Blood", as far as I'm concerned. Highly, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Stranger Than Fiction
Review: Without a doubt, the coincidence that found Ann Rule already acquainted with the prime suspect in a series of brutal murders is one that would be hard to believe if this were fiction. But it's not -- Rule, contracted to write the story of the elusive "Ted," discovers that her former colleague, Ted Bundy, curiously resembles the profile of the killer. Rule's later career as one of the most spectacularly successful true crime writers was significantly enhanced by the publication of this book. She writes with a surprising candor of the intimacy between herself and the Republican Party aspirant and law student who was eventually put to death after committing an unknown number of killings in an unknown number of states. Bundy's episodic rampages through the states of Utah, Washington and Florida are well known, and he is, in many ways, the most "famous" of modern serial killers. On the constitution of the serial killer as a modern identity, there's probably nothing better than Mark Selzer's book Serial Killers, a fascinating study of this modern pathology which traces the identity assumed by Bundy and other back to Jack the Ripper. The Ripper, as the first elusive, anonymous, random killer to gain notoriety in popular culture, offered an "identikit" profile for the serial killer which Bundy, as "Ted," fits perfectly.

Rule's book reads like a curious amalgam of true crime and romance fiction, and, in many ways, this is a love story of sorts. Rule's fascination with Bundy reminds us of the charismatic powers of the sociopathic personality, and its plaint, adaptable face in this competitive culture we find ourselves in. Some might find her portrait of Bundy disturbing: she remains, through most of the book, reluctant to acknowledge the severity and hideousness of his crimes. But she acknowledges them, finally, in her graphic retelling of courtroom testimony, and in her humble incomprehension of the pain that Bundy brought to the lives of many. If you're looking for a book about this iconic figure, it's hard to go past The Stranger Beside Me. One way or another, it's become a classic true crime narrative. Rule taps into the rule of contingency that dogs serial killings: everything takes place merely because of opportunity, coincidence, random fate. And everything seems to have a moral, though Rule is properly reticent about what the moral here might be. My only hesitation concerns the way in which Rule introduces the victims: in some ways, it's more like a roster call than the poignant series of vignettes she intends. There are facts here that have been better discussed elsewhere, perhaps, but because of the strange coincidence that drew Rule and Bundy together, it's a powerful book.

Rating:
Summary: Bone chilling and thought provoking
Review: This is the book which launched Ann Rule's career as the doyenne of true crime writing, and it is easy to see why. What started out as just another "story" for Ms Rule became a journey of horror, as she came to recognise the seductive, horrifically destructive side of a man she thought she knew well - Ted Bundy. Rule draws us into this tragic saga with incisive, careful writing and probing analysis into the crimes, mind and motivations of a sociopath. What makes this such a compelling book is not only the author's fabulous writing, but her heartfelt compassion for the many victims, both living and dead, and although he is undeserving of it, compassion for Bundy himself. In my opinion, the most haunting question that has arisen from this book is: "How can we stop individuals from becoming the kind of sly, silent killer that Ted Bundy became?"