Customer Reviews

The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is something about the purely evil entity known as the serial killer that fascinates us endlessly, even as it repels us. Do these individuals inhabit the same world the rest of us live in? What is it that drives one to relentlessly stalk and murder other human beings like a tiger hunting prey? And even tigers kill only to satisfy a physical hunger; what kind of hunger drives the likes of Ted Bundy? Power? Sadism? Something so hideous that a "normal" mind can't begin to fathom it? We wonder what it would be like to live inside the head of such a person, but at the same time we pull back: it probably wouldn't be very nice in there.

Hugh Aynesworth, an investigative reporter, and Stephen G. Michaud, a writer for Newsweek, have written an exhaustive, well documented account of Ted Bundy's rampage through four states that left at least thirty young women dead. They explore Bundy's life in detail from his problematic childhood to his college years, during which he developed his consummate skill as a con artist and pathological liar. He wasn't every teenage girl's dream, but he had his share of girlfriends; he came from a broken home but his mother clearly cared about him and tried to be a good parent. He didn't know his father, but neither did a million other boys who never went on to become serial murderers. So who or what made Bundy Bundy? Aynesworth and Michaud suggest that it doesn't matter, Bundy was Bundy, period, and as such, the blame and responsibility for his crimes rest with him alone.

We follow Bundy in this book from his first murder in Washington State, through subsequent homicides in Utah and Colorado, his sensational escape from custody by jumping out of a second floor window, and his flight to Florida, where in a single explosion of homicidal rage he bludgeoned two girls to death and severely battered three more after invading their sorority house, before his final murder of a 12 year old who disappeared from a junior high school. The last killing represented a chilling turn: was Bundy going after younger and younger prey? One wonders if he might not have abducted children from elementary schools before he was finally caught.

Like all psychopaths before him and those who will come after him, Bundy never had a shred of compassion or guilt in regard to any of his victims. When he related his crimes to Michaud and Aynesworth, he insisted on talking about himself in the third person, as if Bundy the killer was a separate entity unrelated to himself. Perhaps that's how he could live with himself during the four years his crime spree lasted: someone else was committing these murders, not him. However Bundy tried to rationalize, deny or explain away his actions, one gets through this excellent book emotionally drained, and feeling very grateful that he is no longer on this planet to remind us of the insanity he caused while he walked among us.

For those that are willing to explore the murderous rampage of one of America's worst killers, this book is a very good road map. It covers most of the ground, including Bundy's youth and his years as a student and volunteer before murder became his primary occupation. Journalists Michaud and Aynesworth also managed to convince Bundy to grant them a lengthy series of prison interviews. Bundy was still being prosecuted actively in the state of Florida at the time and he at first refused to discuss anything about the crimes themselves. The authors proposed that Bundy instead "speculate" about the person(s) who were responsible for the crimes.

Bundy took the bait, and the results litter the pages of the book. Bundy obviously enjoyed talking about murder and rape and his supposed objectivity doesn't hide his excitement. However, the mind of a sociopath is one that is governed by self-preservation, and Bundy would never give too much detail for fear of incriminating himself. Certain murders he refused to discuss at all. When Aynesworth tried to prompt Bundy to talk by pointing out inconsistencies or inaccuracies in his stories, Bundy grew angry and threatened to stop giving interviews. In the end, that's basically what he did; he stopped giving meaningful information even as he protested that he'd answered everything that the authors had asked of him.

This book provides a great deal of information about the life, crimes, and victims of an astonishingly successful serial killer. Even so, because the book was researched and written in the early 1980s, many details of Bundy's methods were still unknown and therefore are not included. Also, while Bundy's own words are initially very fascinating to read, they quickly become repetitive and finally evasive. These flaws are fairly small and it is hard to blame the authors for circumstances that were beyond their control, but nevertheless this book doesn't quite deliver what the reader is hoping for. Still, this book is well-written and thorough -- a better-than-average true crime book.

This classic gives insight into the mind of the Serial Sex Killer, Ted Bundy. Described variously as "handsome, smooth talking, erratic and charming" except one thing he killed women descriminately. This gives a detailed account (as Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth researched it and did interviews with family, friends, girlfriends, the sympathic wife who believed Bundy was innocent to the end and wouldn't hear otherwise.... and Bundy himself straight from Death Row in 1980.

Bundy, himself, wouldn't discuss the murders as if he did it, he never said he was guilty of the crimes, he always claimed he was innocent (even as he went to the the executioner in 1989). So Michaud and Aynesworth made a deal with him that he didn't have to discuss them as if he did it, he could discuss them as if discuss a psychological case, and Bundy agreed to that. So Bundy discusses his crimes and his "entity" (as he called it) in third person throughout the book.

Bundy was a textbook sexual psychopath who terrorized the College communities of Washington, Utah and Florida over a span of years. He left none if little evidence so he was very hard to catch. As all serial killers do, they get cocky and so self-assured they won't get caught that they make a mistake and Ted Bundy made his mistake in Florida around the University in Tallahassee where he was caught.

The Only Living Witness answers all the questions about one of America's worst monsters. It is a timeless classic. It covers most of Bundy's life, including his youth and his years as a student and volunteer before murder became his primary occupation and after ... when the first 4 or 5 girls went missing and he volunteered to "help" the DES with the searches for the women as a credit for his law school course, or so he would have his girlfriend (at the time) believe.

I finished the book with a sense of fright for those women never found, and sadness for the families that won't get to bury the missing women, and the family and friends of Ted Bundy who was so manipulated and conned by their son and friend so much they believed in his innocence until he at last confessed the murders. A brilliant brilliant read and research source into the mind of a mass serial killer and sexual defiant psychopath. His crimes are as vivid and studied today as they were when he was being hunted and caught!

Many books have been written about Ted Bundy and none are better known that Ann Rule's "Stranger Beside Me". While the author of this book refuses to mention Rule by name, the story in this book is much the same. Michaud's book does however go a step further than Rule in "The Only Living Witness."

Thirty females died at the hands of Ted Bundy. The stories of the murders are told largely the same in any credible book about the subject. The interviews with Bundy set this book apart. The interesting part of the interviews is that Bundy refuses to admit guilt. However, Bundy does tell how he believes the killings happened through a third person account. In almost a bi-polar reality, Bundy does confess through these interviews. The author varies the chronological order of events early in the book, but stays on a straight course after the initial chapters. If you acquire a newer printing of the book, you will also be able to read about Bundy's final days and admission to his crimes in his own words, without disguise of a third person account.

There were aspects of this book that I like better than other books about Ted Bundy. Yet there was no part of this book that sets it out as the definitive Ted Bundy book. Still, it is a very well written and well researched book.

This is an excellent book, by a pair of thoughtful and talented authors with genuine first-hand knowledge of one of the most terrifying human beings ever to walk the planet. Their account of the life, crimes and psychopathology of Ted Bundy is certainly among the best of the many written. The only reason I gave this edition (the paperback) 4 stars instead of 5 is that it's full of annoying typos! There are mis-spellings, mis-prints and lapses in tense consistency which are really pretty ridiculous in this day and age. These are the type of thing that the most basic word-processing software picks up and they kind of jolt you out of the narrative and spoil your enjoyment from time to time. The publishers could simply have done a better job.

I have read three of the six books on Bundy and this is by far the most outstanding. Second to it is The Riverman, followed by Stranger Beside Me. I enjoyed this book since we get a look in Bundys head-a journey more frightening than a King novel. It is disturbing, disgusting, and fascinating-it is a book that makes you feel dirty but you have to finish it all...

Studying criminals and crime is one thing... Being exposed to the mind and life story of a serial sex murderer is entirely different. You may watch a horror movie and see the special effects of a person being chopped to pieces. You may also see an episode of a crime show depicting the horror of an innocent woman being kidnapped and raped. But the mental images a reader receives when reading about the horror Ted Bundy reaped across the United States in the 70s is astonishing and chilling. It is very easy to see why a nation was scared to leave their house, walk down a dark alley or wonder if their daughter made if home okay from the library at your local college. This book tells all of Ted Bundy's life from his childhood all the way to old sparky. The author writes this book after much in depth research, not to mention countless first hand interviews with the most notorious serial killer of all time himself. A must read for anyone curious about the deranged killer.

"The Only Living Witness" is an excellent showcase into the mind of Ted Bundy but this book is the worst edition to have come out..I have the 1983 edition and not only does it have pictures,it's also more detailed when compared to this edition..The latest edition of 1999 omits so much of information that it ends up making the book incomplete..Plus the spelling mistakes are irritating..No pictures!!So many things were left out that I regret even buying this edition..

Ted Bundy was a very complex man to understand and if you want to really get a more detailed picture of the man,I would suggest the 1983 edition..I have ordered but not yet received the 1991 edition and I heard it's even better than the 1983 version..

My copy of "Living Witness" is just beaten to death from me dragging it around all these years - it is always a great read, with new revelations every time. I've known Hugh Anyesworth for years - when I ran into him and Steve Michaud at a gathering, I asked them to sign my book and they roared at it's condition. Being a real "Bundyphile", I wanted to correct something mentioned in one of the customer reviews. The TV Movie about Bundy, "Deliberate Stranger", was not taken from this book. It was adapted from Richard Larsen's "Deliberate Stranger", a much earlier book now out of print. With the popularity of Hannibal Lectar, et. al., I think it's time we had a real motion picture and this would be a great source - and wouldn't Michael Keaton be perfect as Ted Bundy (see his work in "Pacific Heights"). The most amazing thing about this book, how could Michaud and Aynesworth sit across from this monster and not completely lose it. Amazing!

This is the best account about any serial killer I have yet to read. The only other book that comes close is Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, but this hews closer to the bone. It's an amazing look into a sick and brilliant mind, and has disturbing parallels to Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Much of it comes from Bundy's own thoughts as he approached the date of his execution, when he knew he had to tell his story or take it to the grave, and therefore has a chilling ring of truth. You'll never look at a "normal" stranger the same way again.