Ann Rule

Advantages: Entertaining, fascinating, and thoroughly readable
Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted

...Ted Bundy has fascinated me for years. In fact, I am fascinated by nearly all serial killers. It is as though I would like to probe their minds just to find out what makes them tick. What on earth went wrong? Why would someone have the desire to commit such horrible crimes? Ted Bundy was, and remains, a riveting figure. I well remember his highly publicized execution. I also remember the famous court trial and interviews prior to his day of reckoning. Ann Rule probes the psyche of Ted Bundy better than anyone else possibly could. She first knew Ted as a co-worker and friend at a crisis center. His apparent charm and affability hid well the secretive double life that he was leading. Later, Ted became known to Ann Rule through her close workings with the Washington Police Bureau and her job as a freelance writer for true... Read review

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Advantages: well told and factual
Disadvantages: so much information to take in....

...This is the first Ann Rule book I ever read and I have been a fan ever since. The story of Ted Bundy and his heinous crimes will be sure to have you turning those pages...... Shocking as it is for the content of the book, it seems even more so with the strange and slightly disturbing coincidence that Ann Rule was working on this book whilst (unaware of his true identity) maintaining a friendship with the 'main character'. Yet on discovering this, it does not appear to have deterred her from presenting this case in a factual and unbiased manner. This book is almost in 3 parts. One is as chronological as possible in the telling of the disappearances of the victims and alleged victims and the subsequent investigations. Another is the story of Ted - who he is and how he became that man. The third part has a different tone again... Read review

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Advantages: Story was told well and compassionately, The surviving children were adopted by the prosecutor.
Disadvantages: Three children were shot by their mother, one dying.

...Have you ever wondered what kind of a woman would shoot her own children to be with a man that she claimed to love? I sure couldn’t fathom it. We all know good parents. Those of us raising children do everything in our power to do our best by the children, from providing the basics of food, clothing, and shelter on forward to whatever else we can do for them. Anything less is unimaginable. Well, awhile back, I read the book ‘Small Sacrifices’ by Ann Rule. And I have been a fan ever since. So much so that I have read this book a few times and enjoyed it every time. This book is about Diane Downs, a mother and postal worker, who shot her 3 children. Two were critically injured while the other was dead on arrival at the hospital. Diane was also shot in her left (?) forearm, nothing serious. As the story goes, Diane... Read review

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