Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on … on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy’s death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer — the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew — Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.
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Her best book by far!
Ann Rule was a wonderful true crime writer. I miss her,
Non-Fiction.
Ted Bundt.
Chilling in seemingly normal person in one’s life who is an ultimate twisted prson.
I have read a few books on the life of Ted Bundy and I have found Ann Rule’s book to be my favorite. She writes with keen insight. It shows how you can know somebody, and not know them at all, not realize they are capable of murder because they act so normal.
Ann Rule can’t write a bad book.
well written, informative, couldn’t put it down.
Ann Rule, who has made a very successful career writing true crime books, once found herself working a suicide hotline, in the same room with … Ted Bundy, perhaps the most notorious serial killer in American history. There have been numerous books written about Bundy, but this one shares with only one other (that I know of; the other is one written by a police detective who met with and interviewed Bundy as Bundy’s date with the executioner loomed closer and closer — also highly recommended, though with the irritating caveat that the author chooses to censor himself from revealing some of the more gruesome details revealed to him by Bundy about his crimes) the distinction that the author was personally acquainted with Bundy. Rule is an always reliable, if not particularly sophisticated, writer and needless to say her direct experience with Bundy adds a cache to this book that is invaluable. Definitely high on my list of true crime books.
One of my top 5 books of all-time (so far)……the first book I read by Ann Rule and certainly not the last! Love her style. This book is true but you will find it unbelievable! If you have any interest at all in either true crime or Ted Bundy, you need to read this now!
Just goes to show ,just because their nice looking dies they mean there a good person….
This book started my Addiction to all Ann Rule books. Anyone who wants to see what Ted Bundy was truly like as a person, a coworker, and a killer who could hide that part of himself from those who thought they knew him should absolutely read this. Ann goes deep into the investigating process of the murders that took place in WA state, and later in Colorado, Utah and Florida. And the shock she felt to realize that Ted was the man she worked with makes it even more numbing. One never knows the truth about the person working alongside you.
All about Ted Bundy.
I have always enjoyed Ann Rule’s books but this one was about her volunteering next to Ted Bundy on a crisis hotline. He would walk her to her car after they were done working.
Chills. This world is insane
ANN RULE is one of the best
One of Ann rules best true crime books.
Fascinating and slightly creepy. I love Ann Rule’s books and this one is great.
My favorite summer reading author.
I could not put this down!
Read this in the 1970s when it first came out, and the book has stayed with me. A well written and well researched true crime novel made all the more interesting by the fact that the author realized that she had crossed paths with Ted Bunfy at one point in her life
Scary how normal sociopaths appear to others. Good read.