This is an excellent true crime book. It has an unusual twist in that the author and the subject of the book, serial killer Ted Bundy, had a platonic relationship that arose from the time they were co-workers for a Seattle, Washington crisis center. Quite frankly, the author initially had no idea that Ted Bundy was anything other than what he appeared to be: a handsome, intelligent, charismatic, and articulate young man, who was, at the time, involved in local politics and later became a law student.
When he became the suspect in the disappearance and murders of a number of very young, pretty women, the author was in total disbelief. As the evidence mounted against her friend, the author, who is a former police officer, could not shut her eyes to the reality that Ted Bundy was actually a very disturbed individual who was guilty of all of which he was accused and probably guilty of other such crimes for which he was not accused for evidentiary reasons. Consequently, the author would suffer some angst for many years, as she struggled to reconcile the Ted Bundy that she thought she knew with the fiend who was compelled to commit so many vicious abductions, assaults, and murders. It is believed that at least thirty-five young women, and probably a good number more, died at the hands of Ted Bundy.
The author details the abductions, assaults, and murders of his victims from coast to coast, which crimes were ultimately to make Ted Bundy a nationwide household name, and an entity to be feared. The investigative efforts of law enforcement officers in the states of Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Florida are revealed, as are Ted Bundy's arrests and his trials. She also details his two escapes from custody in Colorado, the last of which would find him heading to the sunshine state of Florida.
Florida was an interesting choice of state for Ted Bundy, as it is a death penalty state in which convicted felons, who have been given the death penalty, are actually executed. Notwithstanding Florida's stance on capital crime, Ted Bundy went on to commit a slew of shocking assaults and murders in Florida for which he was ultimately arrested, tried, and convicted. Considering the fact that Ted Bundy could have chosen to relocate to a state other than Florida after his last escape from custody in Colorado, it almost appears as if he had a death wish by going to Florida and continuing to give in to his sick compulsion. Unfortunately for him, Florida was quite happy to make his wish come true, and on January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was executed, and his reign of terror was finally over.
Those who like the true crime genre will enjoy this well-written and well-researched book. It is highly detailed and contains a great deal of information, some of it quite personal due to the author's relationship with Ted Bundy. She paints a very intriguing, intimate portrait of him, one that is three dimensional and complex. He was definitely a man whose benign and compelling external visage was at odds with his many internal demons, as he was a prolific serial killer. Externally, Ted Bundy was the sort of man towards whom women gravitated, and there was no dearth of Ted Bundy groupies once he made headlines.
In the updates at the end of the book, the author theorizes as to why Ted Bundy, a young man of so much promise, would end up the way that he did, and she provides some interesting and personal familial information from which the reader may draw his or her own conclusion. All in all, aficionados of the true crime genre will find much of interest in this book.
