Customer Reviews

Green River Serial Killer--Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the story of the former mrs. judith ridgway is simultaneously fascinating and tragic. this book provides a lot of information about her life prior to marrying gary ridgway, as well as the story of how she found out about his crimes and how she tried to cope with them. there are lots of interesting facts, along with photos, copies of letters, etc.

unfortunately, this is the author's first book, and it shows. the volume could have done with a thorough proofreading and editing. also, the book's title -- which reads only as "Green River Serial Killer" on the spine -- is pretty misleading. this isn't gary's story, it's judith's. yet gary is there alone on the cover (against a backdrop of one of his letters to judith), with a caption explaining the scars on his arm. the design looks cheap & exploitative, and is not really representative of the book inside.

the book ends with a lengthy chapter in which the author gets to show off her professional handwriting analysis skills with samples of gary's letters. the chapter is overlong and, to this reader, fairly tedious and unnecessary.

five stars for the story, knocked down to 3 stars because of the quality of the presentation.

Having been aware of this book from it's beginning and knowing all the people involved, I thought I pretty well knew all about it. I was very wrong. There are things in this book that I did not know about, once I started reading I could not put it down.
It is quite apparent that after you see What Judith went through in her childhood and then the almost unbelievable first marriage, you can see why she thought Gary Ridgway was her Knight in Shining Armor, she was pre-programmed for him. Very good reading.

A significant part of many of the popular TV drama shows dwells on the psychological background of the "unidentified subject" who has committed heinous crimes. One of my favorite shows was Profile and the primary activity of the main character was to analyze who, why, and what is making this individual act as he/she does. I wonder how that main character would have discussed Gary Ridgway, the Green River Serial Killer . . .

Pennie Morehead presents readers with an interesting alternative look at the life of America's most deadly serial killer--that is, "through the loving eyes of his wife." (Back cover) Morehead, in her first book, gives a very personal perspective of an individual affected by true crime. I found it fascinating reading!

The book includes exclusive photographs from the life of Judith Ridgway, as well as letters handwritten by Gary from prison. Additionally, the author uses her professional analysis of his handwriting to give yet another "look" at a killer(s). For some reason, though I normally start reading front to back, I opened the book to these pictures and letters. Judith had been married once before and I studied the pictures of her early life, her first marriage, and then later, her fourteen "happy" years with a serial killer.

Consider if you will--two husbands. One is an admitted bisexual (after they were married) who forced Judith and their two children to dress in clothes he selected, later in victorian style, and attend medieval festivals. Judith's first husband, Lee, instructed Judith on how to perform wifely duties in the bedroom as well. Having been abused in early life, Judith was not shocked about what took place--she put no emotional investment in the sexual act. Not knowing any better, she assumed other wives must be doing the same thing.

On and on, strange things happened in her first marriage, including sex orgies and her children seeing their father naked with another man. She tried to figure out how she could escape! Finally, she was able to learn how to drive, and she was able to find work and begin to make her own money. Finally, she convinced her husband to allow a divorce.

Judith's second husband was her prince. "It was February of 1985, Judith was forty years old, and finally free from the stranglehold of her dysfunctional, nineteen-year first marriage." (p. 59) Judith met Gary Ridgway, an attractive, slightly younger man to whom she was immediately attracted and with whom she could have fun, giggle, and live a normal life. Gary was a painter for a truck company and made a good living. They bought a camper and traveled and purchased a nice home. Judith was happier than she had ever thought possible.

Two husbands--Judith's second husband was the serial killer.

"Judith was not aware of...a chilling fact: Only two days after she met her prince--Gary Ridgway was sitting in the presence of Green River Killer Task Force detectives!" (P.63) Ridgway later admitted he had no idea how many women he had murdered; 48 were documented.

I found myself moving around within this book...I'd study the pictures of Judith and her first husband and then go back to look at the ones where they wore victorian clothing. Then I marveled at the family pictures of the various families. I would reread portions of the letters from Gary to Judith once he was in prison.

Who was the Gary Ridgway who killed at least 48 women. Why could he have a totally different, loving life with a woman who came to love him deeply within a happy marriage? There is an illusion that if he didn't "have to pass" a certain area to and from work, where prostitutes could easily be found, then maybe . . . But that doesn't explain why he murdered those from whom he acquired sex.

This book doesn't provide "that profile," that would identify a serial killer, but, Morehead's review of his handwriting, noting, for instance, certain letters that referred to "socio-sexual shame," is an interesting highlight of the book. True Crime books do not normally attract me because they provide no conclusion, other than that the guilty are being punished and the book documents what happened. However, I found the story of Judith Ridgway unbelievably unique and memorable. I can only pray that Judith finds a faith and strength that will help her survive what she has endured.

Needless to say, this is a must-read for anyone interested in true crime or crime-related biographies. Morehead has provided a well-documented, comprehensive book that moves through Judith's early life through to the time she is receiving intimate letters from the prison cell of the Green River Serial Killer. True life is "really" sometimes unbelievable!

Author Pennie Morehead does a wonderful job telling Judith Ridgway's story - I was surprised that this was her very first book.

This book moves quickly, keeping the reader interested while staying focused for the most part on Judith's early life, her struggle as a young adult into her first marriage, then her courtship and eventual marriage to Gary Leon Ridgway. Near the end of Judith's story, it gets into Gary's first arrest, and finally the day her world as she knew it ended - Gary's final arrest, and his confession to being the Green River Killer.

Ms. Morehead includes an informative analysis of Gary's handwriting, a rare interview with Gary, an interview with a couple who were close to the Ridgways, as well as many letters written by Gary and pictures from Judith's collection. If you've followed the story, this book fills in a lot of missing pieces from Judith's perspective.

Judith opened herself up in an extraordinary way. Sharing her personal life in an unabashed manor that gave greater insight into Gary Ridgway. I appreciate all that she went through as his final victim so to speak in an extreme way. take care Judith!

This is a fascinating account of an innocent, sweet, caring woman who only wanted to be loved. How she ended up with two deceitful husbands in a row is still unclear, but it tugs at the imagination.

I agree with the other reviews that the book lacks literary shine; however, the story is so compelling that I give it five stars anyway.

If you can overlook amateurish writing for the sake of an inside look into the mind of an unknowing wife of a serial killer, you'll enjoy this book.

My evaluation is similar to what has already been written. One gains a good understanding from this book of the marriage of Judith and Gary Ridgway and the devastation to Judith's life of Gary's arrest and subsequent admission to killing many women as the Green River Killer. She was treated with little respect by a system focused solely on gathering information to convict Gary and she lost so much--her possessions, the order of her belongings, her yard, her sense of herself, her security. The ripple effects of Gary's choices keep on going for others who cared about his victims or about him. One gets a real sense of all this from the book. However, the book was poorly organized, is choppy and includes a lot extraneous information, not woven together. I don't know what would have helped this, but maybe a more skilled editor, proofreader, advisor and publishing house. Maybe a more experienced true crime author could have done more with the material, but one wonders if Judith would have trusted someone more established with her story. It's a shame because the book deserves more attention than it will probably get. As for Judith, I hope she has found some way to put her life back together. One thing that might help is that, without her and the stability she brought to Gary's life, there undoubtedly would have been even more women killed.

Amazing book! I wish we could have more true crime written like this... from the killers family members perspective. I had a hard time putting this down. I read A LOT of true crime, usually keeping only my signed or absolute fave reads, and this one is a keeper! Thank you Judith for having great strength for telling you story, and thank you Pennie for bringing it to me! I would love to see more books like this from you! Great job on your 1st book, I couldn't put it down!!!

This book is fascinating. It is the story of the killer's wife. i could not put it down. It made me think of things I never had before...and when you think about it, isn't that why we read?? to expand our minds. to become more compassionate, more wise. This takes a rarely-used approach. read it. You won't regret it.

This book is about Judith Ridgway, the third wife of the Green River Killer Gary Ridgway. If you are interested in the GRK case you'll probably find the book mildly interesting. Although most of the book is about Judith there is some information on Gary Ridgway that you may not find elsewhere.

Judith did not have an easy early life and often felt overlooked or left out. She was initially thrilled when she married her first husband Lee. But his behavior was odd. She had to wear Victorian-era dresses and they lived in houses with a Gothic look. Eventually she found out he was bisexual, and he even moved some of his boyfriends into their home when they had two young children.

After Judith left her first husband she met Gary Ridgway at a singles group. They were very compatible and he was very kind to her. They lived together for a while and then got married, which lasted for 14 years. My impression is that she is a nice lady but a bit naive. Gary was questioned by police several times about the GRK case, but always released. Judith seemed to have little interest in checking out his background more thoroughly. She ended up being hurt badly when Ridgway was eventually arrested and later confessed to killing at least 48 young women.

The book has a lot of information but is not real professionally presented. There are some typos and misplaced sentences. There are quite a few photographs, but they are not presented in any sensible order. The information on Gary doesn't really explain his behavior, but it does help to show how a relatively normal acting person can be terrifyingly evil. Overall I'll give the book 3 stars and recommend it only to those who have a deep interest in the Green River Killer case.