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“Yet, in reality, Ted loved things more than he loved people. He could find life in an abandoned bicycle or an old car, and feel a kind of compassion for these inanimate objects, more compassion than he could ever feel for another human being.”
Spooky season! Which means it’s the perfect time to read all the thrillers/horror books you own. And to open this season, what’s better than talking about a true-crime book? Back in August, I did a buddy read with Hind, and we discovered the story of one of the most terrifying, cruel, sadistic serial killers in America, Ted Bundy. I’ve never been scared while reading a thriller/ crime/ mystery, well this one gave me chills.
“The stranger beside me” was written by Ann Rule, who was Ted Bundy’s Friend, so we followed her perspective, how he used to be before starting his killings, how he managed to manipulate her to make her think that he’s innocent, that he’s not that monster he actually was, and how she managed, even if she knew all of this, to stay in contact with him, trying to make him confess. And the best part, she was writing a book about all the crimes surrounding those women, trying to figure out who the killer was, while he was just in front of her.
This is my first time reading a true-crime book, and I think it is way better than watching a documentary. You’ll find in this book some missing details in documentaries, and it’s written by one of Ted’s closest friends, if not the only friend he had, and who stayed in touch with him, even when he was incarcerated. She had this personal bond and connection with him that made this book so fascinating. And we get to see Ann’s thoughts, what she truly thinks of Ted, and the psychological explanations of the monster he became.
Ted Bundy has to be one of the most intelligent, charming and charismatic men America has ever known before. He showed the perfect façade for all his victims, who were all women, usually with long brown hair, parted in the middle. His crimes were atrocious, and when Ann Rule described the man he was, the only question everyone thought about was: How was that even possible? He committed brutal and heinous crimes, he was a sexual predator, trying to satisfy his fantasies by raping women, and killing them after. How did he manage to do that? Well, he just presented himself as someone who needed help, showing that he had a broken arm for example, while of course being charming and someone who knows how to talk. Until the day he did one little mistake, making him the most wanted man. When he got caught, he managed to escape prison, TWICE. He represented himself in court, and there were “Ted’s groupies”, or the girls who believed that he was innocent. To this day, we don’t know the exact number of his victims, but it’s around 130. The trigger of all these crimes? According to Ann, Stephanie, Ted’s first love, and who humiliated him, was apparently the reason why he killed women. Every time he was murdering someone, he was killing Stephanie, and it could explain the choice of long brown hair women, parted in the middle.
This was an interesting read, and thank you Hind for making me discover this masterpiece. Although I’m not advising all the sensitive souls to read it, there are a lot of trigger warnings, and the crimes are, sometimes, described meticulously.
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