The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

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The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy by Ann Rule didn't really shock me, perhaps because I knew the story of Ted Bundy well. If you didn't, I'm sure you would find it shocking. What I found most shocking was the fact Ann Rule kept sending Ted Bundy money time after time, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here.

Ted Bundy, one of the most famous serial killers in America, has always been a topic of intrigue. Unlike many others, Ted was handsome, charismatic, outwardly kind and considerate, successful with dating, and highly intelligent. I think it's the double life that makes people curious. (Or the fact he escaped from prison twice, with the second time possibly successful had he not committed more HEINOUS crimes, or the fact he represented himself in court.) Why would someone this successful and charming go kill women by the dozens? 

Ann Rule was Ted's coworker at the suicide hotline center for years. Oftentimes, they worked alongside each other, saving lives. They grew close and Ann thought she knew Ted. Of course, she didn't. He told her about his first girlfriend Stephanie, who dumped him after realizing he was a loser, which he was at the time. After being dumped, he changed his life around and became the man Stephanie wanted - attending college with excellent grades, climbing in the political circle, applying to law school. When Stephanie took him back, and he proposed to her, Stephanie said yes. 

Stephanie was over the moon. She told all her friends about it. But as quickly as this relationship restarted, it was over. Ted simply stopped talking to her. Stephanie believes Ted won her back just to dump her, to show her how it feels. Like I said earlier, none of this was new information to me. I would say the only thing I found interesting was the procedure of how the suicide hotline worked - when they have someone on the phone with the likelihood of committing suicide, they would signal the other to call 911 and try to trace the call. Then the first person would try to have the caller stay on the phone as long as possible because this was the 1970's and it took about an hour to trace a call, while the other one tries to tell 911 operator what's going on and get someone sent to the address to save them. 

This was a big book - it went ON AND ON AND ON. Despite the fact Ann Rule repeatedly tried to convince us that she didn't have any obsession or feelings for Ted, it's clear she does. Also evidenced by the addition of more and more chapters with each book release. I'm not even going to give you a synopsis of the book here - you can just read the wikipedia page and get more out of it than this book. For a book that's about 600 pages, I really feel like I wasted a lot of my time. If you feel absolutely compelled to read this book, I suggest the abridged version. 

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