#bookreview ~ The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

Hi Y'all and welcome to my first post ever! I decided to start my blogging journey with one of my current fascinations: True Crime. This past year, I have been sucked into the world of True Crime. From watching Netflix documentaries, to watching True Crime YouTubers, like Kendall Rae and Danelle Hallan. True Crime has become something I cannot get enough of. I figured why not read a book about the infamous: Ted Bundy. The book I choose was by Ann Rule "The Stranger Besides Me."

At this point, I feel like everyone and their mother knows who Ted Bundy was. Thanks to Zac Efron's role in the Netflix Original, "Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil and Vile," but in case you don't know here is a little backstory.

Ted Bundy was known to be sadistic sociopath who took the lives of about 30 known young women during the seventies. Law enforcement believes the count could be in the hundreds, but that is something we will never know. He was highly publicized due to his charm, smarts, and good-looks. He did not have the typical criminal characteristics.

Ann Rule, was a policewoman in the fifties, and by the seventies she had started to write about crimes that were going around the Northwestern part of the United States. Rule had met Bundy when she worked as a volunteer at Suicide Crisis Hotline Center in Seattle back in 1971. They have developed a friendship that would continue until Bundy's last breath.

Throughout the book, Rule describes her relationship with Bundy. She describes who Bundy was as a person, things that were going on in both of their lives, and of course, the unimaginable crimes that were committed. Overall, I was impressed. She gave an amazing insight into the life of Ted Bundy, but I would hardly call their relationship a friendship. I saw it more as how Rule puts it "Oh, I was just in the right place at the right time..." Which I can agree. It seemed communication between the two only happened when one of them needed something from the other. What kind of friends are those?

The book would have been much better if her personal "relationship" with Bundy did not transpire throughout the book. As well as the details that were going on in her life. I often found myself thinking... "Get to the point... I want to know more about the case itself/the life of Bundy." In my opinion, Rule did not have a strong relationship with Bundy for it to be the center of book. Bundy was just someone who she worked with. Rule managed to get a book deal about these terrifying crimes and it just so happened that Bundy was the infamous serial killer that police were after.

I do give Rule credit the way she wrote about the victims, the trials, and the families; both Bundy's and the victims. She gave us clarity about the cases, murders, and the details about the horrendous crimes. She gave us closure. Rule gave us a glimpse on how the families where doing after the murders and updates many years later. She did an amazing job on showing how Bundy touched the lives of thousands of people. Some hated him with a passion and others were deeply in love with him.

One thing I will say... instead of adding long, extend epilogues, updates, and chapters once the final chapter happened... she could have taken the time and edited the book to make it whole. After I was done reading chapter 49, there was an additional 100 pages of updates. As the reader, I found this part extremely dull and repetitive. A lot of these updates said the same thing, but written differently. It made me think "Did you actually read the other updates before you decided to add this one?" It just seemed a little sloppy.

As much as I wanted to give this book 5/5 stars. I could not. The details of her personal life and the ending were deal breakers to me. If she had not involved her personal relationship/feelings towards Bundy and just kept the facts then this book would have been amazing (and much shorter... it's a 550 page read).

Final Verdict: Love Rule's writing when it comes to the analysis of Bundy, the lives he has touched, and everything involving the Bundy case itself. But, she needs to remove herself from the story as she did not have a "friendship" with Bundy. It was an acquaintance with Bundy if that.

If you have read this book, let me know what you thought about it. I would love to have some discussion whether it be about this book or any other True Crime topic.

Talk to you soon!

Marina