Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

Ann Rule was working at a crisis hotline when she met and became friends with her coworker, Ted Bundy. They became very close friends and as his murders started coming to light, with no suspect in sight, but a slight description, she was working with police on the case, never knowing that it was Bundy who they were looking for. As a few of the women he tried to kidnap and later kill got away and gave descriptions, she realized that the person sounded more and more like Ted.
This was audio book and read by the author. I had never really read about Bundy because he is pretty notorious and I like reading about crimes that most people hadn't heard of. This book wasn't bad, I didn't like the authors narration. The fact that he escaped from custody 3 times is astounding to me. I work for prosecutors and I can't imagine that ever happening, but things were different back then. The brutal killing spree he went on in Florida, beating, strangling, and raping 5 women in a college dorm in 15 minutes time with no one hearing anything was more than disturbing. The thing that I didn't like about this most of all was how the author goes on and on about the women who had become blind to the things they suspected Ted of doing and the things they knew, when she herself was one of them. I would think if it was me, a time would come when I would say to myself, "OK, it is him" and stop taking his freaking calls! I don't care how close of friends we were, some things you can't ignore.

2 stars

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