#thestrangerbesideme

[andillwriteyouatragedy]

after finishing #thestrangerbesideme, my reading list has pretty much spiraled out of control. https://www.instagram.com/p/BtKDYXVnMJc/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ghe9vrscbrym

[tenebraerick]

Now reading: #thestrangerbesideme #tedbundy https://www.instagram.com/p/CKRSBZ0JTw8/?igshid=ef2a72bvirm8

[tablo-my-whistle]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: 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. . . . 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. . . . 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. #thestrangerbesideme #annrule #october #tbr #read #audiobook #bookreview #truecrime #bookstagram #booklover #bibliophile #reading #bookworm #bookcommunity #books #ilovebooks #booksarelife #novel #booksofinstagram #instabook https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsoygfA6DG/?igshid=1jf7087abqkf9

[fredhandbag]

Do you have many Stranger books? I have several thrillers - the best true crime book - a crazy nonfiction about an Atlanta paramedic - a classic sci-fi (You grok?) and some contemporary fiction. #strangerbooks #bookstack #thestrangerbesideme #harlancoben #astrangerinastrangeland #athousandnakedstrangers #nineperfectstrangers #theperfectstranger #strangeplanet #bookstagram #bookshelves #bookswithcharacter #bookhoarder #bookworm #sodacityreads #bookreview #hardcover #bookcollector #bookhaul #bookspines #goodreads #homelibrary #fiction #crimefiction #thriller #bookcollection #truecrime https://www.instagram.com/p/CEeiLpYAgVZ/?igshid=1miajyb5ugequ

[littleshrimpcat]

                          The Stranger Beside Me - Anne Rule 

My hands are shaking.

It’s 10:30 at night, I have a book in front of me and I am alone at home. It’s half read, but I think I’m done. Actually, who am I kidding? I will finish this book. It speaks of things that every woman has feared and hoped to avoid. It’s the bogeyman young girls were raised to fear. Except, this bogeyman was real, and he had a name: Ted Bundy.

The book I’m referring to is The Stranger Beside Me – an autobiographical true crime book by Ann Rule. What makes it so different? Well, Ann Rule knew Ted Bundy. They were friends and colleagues who worked side by side at Suicide crisis centre, often handling calls together. Rule was witness to Ted Bundy’s charm, insecurities, drive and empathy. Could this man have really killed and raped more than 30 women (the number could be closer to 100)? It’s the kind of insight that true crime writers would kill for (ugh, obvious pun problem) and one that essentially tore Ann Rule apart.

This conflict is central to the book and makes for an interesting read. As a reader today, we know Ted Bundy did terrible things. The brutal nature of the murders, the sheer audacity of them had me shaken. And yet, Rule is so persuasive in her belief of his goodness (despite growing doubts) that she (and by extension Bundy) almost convince you to hope that it isn’t him. That a smart, handsome and ambitious man, with his eye on a legal / political career, who charmed numerous women wouldn’t be capable of what he was accused of. And yet, it is a startling realisation that the man next to her was more stranger, than friend.

(A few of Ted Bundy’s victims)

The book is a train wreck – bloody and brutal and you can’t look away. Ann chronicles the day each girl was murdered - who they were, what they looked like (Bundy had a very specific type) and what her mental or emotional state was. These small stories add up in your mind, painting a picture of a very specific type of woman that Bundy was raping and killing again and again and again. It also gives insight into a killer who preyed on the kindness of women and exploited his famously good-looking face. Bundy would often be seen on campus or at a park, bronzed and attractive, either wearing a crutch or with a cast on his foot. He would approach his victims, armed with a charming smile and a request – could they help him carry his briefcase? Would they help by stowing away a sailboat? Each time the woman complied she was never to be seen again.

His attacks varied from the carefully thought out like Donna Manson, Susan Rancourt or Roberta Kathleen Parks to the impulsive, like Carol DaRonch (who escaped by jumping out of his car). He posed as a police officer, wore a fake moustache and had an odd chameleon-like quality which helped him elude capture for many years.

Each murder was sickening and terrifying to read. As Bundy delivered his blows with an iron crowbar, broke into homes to abduct and rape women and lured them away from crowded parks where families were sunning, he stole any sort of reassurance from my mind. There are no safe spaces. A locked door, a busy street, a crowded hotel – none of them foiled him. As the manhunt for him grew larger and more intense, his crimes became even more brazen.

Take for instance, the murder of Georgeann Hawkins, a UW student who vanished while walking down an alley. It was a walk of a few minutes – between her boyfriend’s fraternity house and hers. So close together, you’d never imagine that you’d be in danger for those few minutes. Where was Ted? In a dark shadow in the alley? Hiding in the bushes? In a matter of seconds, Georgeann Hawkins went missing and was never seen again.

What about the first murders mentioned in the books? Where young women were killed or seriously injured and raped in their basement rooms. Ted Bundy took away so many spaces that we consider ours - even our cosiest, smallest sanctuaries. I left the light on in my room, blinking myself awake every few hours to see if anyone was there.

I’m only halfway through the book - it’s 1975, and Bundy is in prison. Rationally, he’s locked behind bars (and he was later executed in 1989) and yet I am still scared. Because Ted Bundy is just one of many. He existed before he was born, and he continues to live on after he died. He is bigger than his legend and far more common than people assume. And that scares me no end. I still have about 200 pages to read, but the Stranger Beside Me has shattered any fragile sense of safety I had as a woman living alone in a city. Like I said, I am scared and the lights in my room will stay on for a while.

[lostinlit-becca]

Have you ever read any true crime novels? 📖. . I confess that I have always found them fascinating but I don’t often make time for them in my reading lineup. For one thing, they kind of terrify me and I like to live in a naive state where I pretend there aren’t evil people in the world. Totally unacceptable, I know. Many years ago I read Helter Skelter, which is about Charles Manson and his followers and that scared me so badly! I am very curious about this book The Stranger Beside me by Ann Rule. She was a friend and coworker of serial killer Ted Bundy and this is her story of the time surrounding the murders and after. It sounds like such an interesting read... I just need to sum up the bravery to crack it open! 😬. . Thank you much to @gallerybooks for gifting me with this free copy! _____________________________________________________ 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 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. #thestrangerbesideme #annrule #annrulebooks #gallerybooks #truecrime #truecrimebook #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #onmytbr #sweaterweather #flatlay #bookflatlay https://www.instagram.com/p/BsvV1P_l_7o/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6vxq48skoqhi

[tommygunnsixx]

#AnnRule #TheStrangerBesideMe #StrangerBesideMe #TrueCrime #TrueCrimeBook #IceMan #RichardKuklinski #Hitman #Mafia #MafiaHitman (at Glenelg North)

[readnreviews]

I read this a while ago (2016) 📘📘📘📘 The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule This was one of the first books I read that was based on a true story. When I first began reading this book I had no idea what it was about. (Almost all the books I read I don't read the description first, this way it's like a surprise). I think Ann did a great job describing a side of a murderer the way that she got to know him, a side completely different than what most people would think someone like that would be. It's also very sad reading how horrible of a person he really was. My heart goes out to all the family especially of the ones that were never found. #TheStrangerBesideMe #AnnRule #BookReview #BookDiscussion #Review #Discuss #Read #ReadNReviews #BookGroup #Bookstagram #Bookie #Bookster