Anne Rule is one my few must-read authors. I will buy her work in hardcover, as soon as it comes out, regardless of what the book is about. I have been disappointed a time or two (Heart Full of Lies), but she is one of the “old reliables” when it comes to a well-crafted, well-written story. Even though her work is nonfiction and meticulously researched, the reader gets drawn into the story as if it were a tale of frightful fancy.
Ann Rule’s newest book is about the Green River Killer, America’s most prolific serial murderer. As the book jacket says, “The quest to discover the most prolific serial killer in American history has been an intimate part of Ann Rule’s life, with some of the corpses found only a mile or so from where she lived and raised her own daughters. She did not know the killer, but he apparently knew her and attended many of her book signings.” The book is written with a definite slant towards the victims, which is fascinating because so much about them has been misrepresented by the press over the years. Ann Rule also did the same in her book about Ted Bundy, The Stranger Beside Me (still my favorite of her true crime tales). She gives a face, a voice, and a heart to these women. The book also goes into how other people were suspected of the crimes, and how the real culprit, Gary Ridgeway, managed to stay free for so long.
A truly fascinating, can’t-put-it-down read!
Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
