Name: sani's review of The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
Item: The Stranger Beside Me
Rating: 2
Author: sani

Ann Rule

The Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy Ann Rule was a writer working on the biggest story of her life, tracking down a brutal mass-murderer. Little did she know that the young man who was her close friend was the savage slayer she was hunting . . . TED BUNDY was everyone's picture of a natural 'winner' - handsome, charming, brilliant in law school, successful with women, on the verge of a dazzling career. Fast-forward to 24 January 1989, Ted Bundy is executed. He had confessed to taking the lives of at least thirty-five young women, coast to coast. This is his story: the story of his magnetic power, his unholy compulsion, his demonic double life and his string of helpless victims. It was written by a woman who thought she knew Ted Bundy, until she began to put all the evidence together and the whole terrifying picture emerged . . . As recommended by the hosts of the podcast My Favorite Murder. Fascinating further reading for viewers of the Netflix documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.

The Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy

The Stranger Beside Me

The Twentieth Anniversary Edition

Melanie Harvie

Svetlana 

From the perspective of the former policewoman, crime writer, and unknowing personal friend, tells the story of Ted Bundy, a brilliant law student executed for killing three women, who confessed to killing thirty-five others.

the content was definitely interesting but the writing so wasn't worth it. it wouldn't need a genius to find out that even though Rule tried to deny umpteenth times that she wasn't in love with Ted Bundy, anyone with accurate reading comprehension would find out that she very much was one of those women charmed and manipulated by him, albeit not in a romantic relationship. which is awful, to be honest. 

sani

Tells the story of Ted Bundy, a brilliant law student executed for killing three women, who confessed to killing thirty-five others, from the perspective of the former policewoman, crime writer, and unwitting personal friend.

Lara Engle

This book is not particularly well-written. It's repetitive, rambling, and the number of addendums is excessive. However, the content is fascinating and disturbing, and no one can deny that Ann Rule was in a unique position to write it. As an author, she is relatable and seems honest. Overall, this is an intriguing text that should have been half as long.

Lamia Hajani

I can't say much to compare this book to others - I don't know enough about Ted Bundy to say this book intersperses facts with personal antidotes. But I feel like it's a very good book. I get the sense that she does milk knowing him for this book, but I guess who wouldn't?

This book was good enough that I have 3 other books by Rule from the library to read. She is a very good true crime writer, and I'm glad she had the opportunity to write so much after this book. 

The one thing I will say is I do feel like I don't know everything. I know it more from her side than I know all the facts of the case. It does make me have to Wikipedia. But I guess it doesn't claim to be an investigative book. 

4/5 stars. Because it's very good. But not perfect.

Wynter

This was one exhausting book, and infuriating. I almost wish it was written by someone unbiased, because Ann Rule turned her work into some personal affair. Even as a former policewoman, she refused to see obvious, glaring signs that Bundy was responsible for his numerous violent crimes against women, insisting instead that the courteous young man "she knew" could not possibly be guilty. How well did she really know him? Rule worked with him in the Crisis Clinic for some months and then talked to him on the phone a little after they parted ways. Seriously, how can you possibly claim that you know someone like that? It made me so angry that even as she was describing the grisly remains of 12-year-old Kimmy Leach, who was viciously assaulted, violated, murdered, and left in a pigpen, Rule was still maintaining Bundy's innocence and friendship. 

The author was very judgemental of all the Bundy "groupies", while she herself was obviously under his spells. Ironically, she only seemed to realize that he was using her for positive publicity when Bundy demanded a portion of the book advance for his crazed wife. Suddenly Rule was all high and mighty about having to raise more children than the other woman, and refused to share. So much for friendship, eh Ann? I think Rule entertained the idea that she was a special woman in Bundy's life, believing she was the one person to get the truth out of him and to provide comfort to his "poor, tortured soul". Must have been a rude awakening when this monster confessed in the end. Rule's subsequent three updates to the book show progressive disillusionment with Ted Bundy she thought she knew, but she never owned up to her own mistakes and remained sympathetic to one of the most notorious serial killers in history. 

In the end Rule had the right idea, when she said that the number of victims made them all into a featureless list, giving the limelight only to their killer. However, it was the author's failure to give voice to these girls. Instead this prolific case turned into Rule's personal quest for martyrdom.

devin.reads

Being a true crime fan, you should know many details about Ted Bundy. However, this book goes even deeper than just Mr. Bundy. You get to hear the impact of those who felt betrayed by someone they knew and respected. Even though I thought I knew a lot about Ted Bundy, I learned even more just from reading this book. If you’re a true crime fan and interested to know more about this story, I suggest giving this book a try!

Jenny 

Disclosure: I listened to the audiobook

I thought that since this was not just the story of Ted Bundy but really the author’s “inside story” of her interactions with the killer that hearing her words in her own voice would add to the total atmosphere. I was wrong. The only remorse in her voice was when she spoke of poor ted. She was a groupie under his spell and I was disgusted by the fawning over him. She downplayed horrible, horrible crimes so that “her friend” didn’t seem like such a bad guy. She wanted so badly to inject herself in this story it was sickening. She had said in the beginning that as a true crime writer she always wanted to solve a crime and really tried to play up her involvement in this but her involvement was minimal. Her hope that she would be the one he would confess to was laughable. She imagined herself to have a much bigger role in his life than was reality. Her compassion for the victims was minimal. I’m still shaking my head from when she described one victim as being fortunate for not being murdered (only bludgeoned to the point of memory loss and multiple fractures) and not really raped, only symbolically! Pardon me but having a piece of metal bed frame rammed up your vagina resulting in “damage to MULTIPLE organs” is rape! She glossed over so many heinous crimes so that “her friend” would seem to be not so bad. First and last Ann Rule book for me. This woman needs a shrink.

Julie Viravaux

My passion for true crime started with law themed TV series, and then came true crime podcasts (MFM family right there) but this is actually my first true crime book. And I'm glad it is. Ted Bundy is one of the most known serial killers of all time, even internationally, so it seemed logical to start there. Ann Rule made it so that his cruel, gruesome murders and the fear that he imposed upon women during that time wasn't romanticised. He was not a "dark prince" or a "poor soul who just needed to find THE one to cure him", he was a monster and a manipulator. I've read many reviews criticizing Ann Rule for showing sympathy to the Ted that she knew before the world realised what he really was. But in my opinion her "sympathy" (which when Ted is seriously being considered as a suspect decrease majorly) only show what the world thought of Ted Bundy before they knew : a bright young promising man. And yet he wasn't...

Sarah Sanchez

Super interesting at the beginning but it’s such a long book and at a certain point I lost interest in hearing about Ted Bundy…
It might have held my interest a lot longer if I knew less about the case.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Rule, “America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews), her unforgettable classic account of the horrifying murders in the Pacific Northwest and her shock when she discovered her friend—Ted Bundy—was not only a suspect but also one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Meeting in 1971 at a Seattle crisis clinic, Ann Rule and Ted Bundy developed a friendship and correspondence that would span the rest of his life. Rule had no idea that when they went their separate ways, their paths would cross again under shocking circumstances. The Stranger Beside Me is Rule’s compelling firsthand account of not just her relationship with Bundy, but also his life—from his complicated childhood to the media circus of his trials. Astonishing in its intimacy and with Rule’s clear-eyed prose, you can’t help but share in her growing horror at discovering that her friend was one of the most notorious American serial killers. An unforgettable and haunting work of research, journalism, and personal memories, The Stranger Beside Me is “as dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at midnight” (The New York Times).

The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy

Ashley Targonski

It's very interesting to see a very personal account of the Ted Bundy case from someone who knew him. I also like that this book is continually updated over the years as new things happen.

María Belén

Interesting enough, although it doesn't give us much more info than any other docuseries or movie. 

I did like the writing style and the narrator was very good.

Shawna Gavas

This was the first true crime book I've ever read. I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of it: it had a great pace, envoked just the right amount of shock and fear. The last 1/4 of the book I found myself losing interest as the author began rambling, the characters became harder to keep track of (due to the shear volume), and the period of time between his death sentance and his execution could have been expanded upon. All in all, it was a unique book given the fact that the author, Ann Rule, was a close friend of Ted Bundy as well as a former police woman and reporter, and had the ability to see both sides of the coin.

This is a difficult book to read, because Rule is so obviously manipulated by Ted that you really can't put any credence to anything she tells you that he tells her. She doesn't want to believe he did it, and she continually says she wasn't sure if he'd done it. I get not waning to believe it, as it is gruesome, but it's hard to identify with someone who used to be a cop suddenly ignoring the facts in front of her face.

The writing was also needlessly long, meandering, and not well planned. We jumped all over the place, sometimes making it hard to understand where we were in the timeline. I might eventually see if I can find a fact based book on Bundy, rather than her memoir.

She was right in her foreward- Bundy attracted lonely women. At that point in her life, Rule was lonely. She latched on to him and didn't want her rosy experience tainted by reality.

Ted Bundy

Stranger Beside Me

Taylor McNeely

As you’ve seen before in my other post, I’m SUPER into true crime so for me NOT to have read the classic Ann Rule book, The Stranger Beside Me, is a tragedy. My Favorite Murder (the podcast) talks a lot about this book also and it made me want to read it even more.

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This was a quick audiobook that took me about two hours to finish while I cleaned my closet. It was really weird getting the perspective about Ted Bundy and his murders through the eyes of someone who was his friend.

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When she talked about how she still talked to him when he was in jail or had lunch with him after he got out of jail, it blows my mind that she would still interact with a psychopath. Then, she tells her story of how she thought Ted Bundy was innocent and didn’t think he could ever do these crimes. That just goes to show how nice and charismatic Ted was and how he was able to get away with these murders for so long.

Casie Blevins

Sinead Heffernan

This is one of my favourite books about Ted Bundy. I find it interesting because Ann knew Ted Bundy but started researching and writing about the case before it was discovered that it was him so its a different perspective then it being written after the case has already been solved. Other books about killers written by those who knew them are usually written after the fact so I think that makes this book more unique.

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The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

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