Without Pity: Ann Rule's Most Dangerous Killers [Mass Market Paperback]

Ann Rule (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2003

THEY KILL WITHOUT CONSCIENCE.

ANN RULE PORTRAYS THEIR SHATTERING CRIMES WITHOUT PITY.

In eight stunning Case Files volumes, from A Rose for Her Grave to the #1 blockbuster Last Dance, Last Chance, Ann Rule reigns as "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews). Now, she updates the most astonishing cases from that acclaimed series -- and presents shocking, all-new true-crime accounts -- in one riveting anthology. In every explosive chapter of Without Pity, Ann Rule deepens her unrelenting exploration of the evil that lies behind the perfect facades of heartless killers...and the deadly compulsions of greed and power that shatter their outward trappings of material success.

They are the admired, trusted neighbor; the affable family man; the sexy, charismatic lover; the high-achieving professional. Perhaps most frightening of all is that they are heroes in their own minds. But when someone gets in the way of their deluded dreams, they are capable of deadly acts of violence with no remorse. Analyzing the true nature of the sociopathic mind in chilling detail, Ann Rule traces the murderous crimes of seemingly ordinary men -- killers who drew their unsuspecting victims into their twisted worlds with devastating consequences.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"America's best true-crime writer."
-- Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Review ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ann Rule is the author of more than two dozen New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. A former Seattle police officer, she knows the crime scene firsthand. She is a certified instructor for police training seminars and lectures frequently to law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and forensic science organizations, including the FBI. For more than two decades, she has been a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She has testified before U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittees on serial murder and victims' rights, and was a civilian adviser to the VI-CAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). A graduate of the University of Washington, she holds a Ph.D. in Humane Letters from Willamette University. She lives near Seattle and can be contacted through her Web page at www.annrules.com.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (November 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743448677
• ISBN-13: 978-0743448673
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an author of true-crime books, and I'm now working on my 25th and 26th: NO REGRETS and TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE. I have lived in the Seattle Area for many years. Before that, I grew up in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and lived in Texas, Oregon, and near Niagara Falls, N.Y. I always wanted to be a police officer--because my grandfather was a sheriff in Michigan. I joined the Seattle Police Department when I was 21, worked a year and a half, but then I couldn't pass the eye test. After five years of rejection slips, I finally sold my first article for $35! Soon, I found my niche when I began writing for the fact-detective magazines like TRUE DETECTIVE in 1970, and I wrote more than a thousand homicide cases, and went to hundreds of trials. My first book, THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, was about Ted Bundy, but, amazingly, I had the book contract to write about an unknown killer six months before Bundy was identified as the "Ted Killer." And I had known him all along, and didn't realize it; he was my partner in the all-night shift at Seattle's Crisis Clinic! Oddly, I started out writing humor, but unless you are Erma Bombeck, Garrison Keillor, or Fanny Flagg or Dave Barry, it's hard to make a living. Now I write humor for fun and for my friends.

I graduated in Creative Writing from the U of Washington, with minors in criminology and psychology. I also have an AA degree in law enforcement, taking classes in crime scene investigation, arrest, search and seizure, crime scene photography and forensic science. I've lectured in seminars all across America to detectives, prosecutors, and even at the FBI Academy. My subjects have been serial murder, high profile offenders, and women who kill. I write two books every year--one hardcover single-case book, and one Ann Rule's True Crime Files original paperback. Although people tend to think I write only about the Northwest, I go wherever the cases are most interesting. I've written about murder cases in Florida, Georgia, New York, Kansas, Texas, Hawaii, and California, too.

I raised five children on my own--starting out with articles for baby care magazines, Sunday features, true confessions, and then "slicks" like Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. Now, my children are grown.

I like to keep in very close touch with my readers, and I'm able to do that with a weblog and a guestbook on my website pages at www.annrules.com This also gives readers a chance to talk with each other, and its' a pretty lively spot--as I'm sure this page will be.

To choose a book subject, I weed through about 3,000 suggestions from readers. I'm looking for an "anti-hero" whose eventual arrest shocks those who knew him (or her): attractive, brilliant, charming, popular, wealthy, talented, and much admired in their communities--but really hiding behind masks.

I'm a reader myself, and I always have several books going at once--one upstairs, downstairs, near the bathtub, in my car, and beside my hammock (in the summer, of course!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Collection Of Danger, January 14, 2005

By 

Irishgirl (Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Without Pity: Ann Rule's Most Dangerous Killers (Mass Market Paperback)

I can understand why some reviewers are disappointed in this book; especially since they are avid Ann Rule readers and perhaps felt the book was merely a collection of stories they already read. So for the big Ann Rule readers, this book may not be the one to get.

That said, I have to give "Without Pity" 4 stars simply because although I am a huge true crime buff, I have never read any of Ann Rule's books and I found this collection of her works to be a very enjoyable and interesting read. The book contains updates plus three new stories. I can see why Ann Rule is one of the best true crime authors around, and these stories really chilled my bones. They hit very close to home, as all of them took place in Washington State and Oregon; and especially around the Seattle area where I have friends and family. Rule writes and crafts these stories exceptionally well, and they definitely stick in your mind for a long time after reading them.

Rule starts off this book with the three new cases. The first is called "The Tumbledown Shack" which takes place in Chelan County. A man found two deceased girls in a shack; their throats slit. They had traveled from Oregon to do some extra work by apple picking, and had been hitch hiking. But who killed them? Was it a boyfriend? Was it Jack Stolle who confessed to meeting up with two girls and killing them? Or was it Rudy Snell, who supposedly suggested getting rid of the girls after they found out that they supposedly took their money?

The second story is called "Dead And On Tape" which takes place in Seattle. It is basically about a guy with a past record named Nick Kyreacos and a police officer named Stan Tappan. Tappan claims he feared Kyreacos when he saw him in an ally because of a past confrontation with him. But Kyreacos felt he had to prove to the world who Tappan really was. And a tape recorder could help a man speak from beyond the grave.

The final new case is called "Fatal Obsession." This is the sad story of a happy marriage that went down the tube under the worst of circumstances. It takes place on an island called Bainbridge which is close to Seattle. Lori Rennsler had been killed by a near decapitation of her head and her son Stevie had been stabbed in the neck. Their dachshund puppy had been stabbed too. All roads lead to the husband, Kip Rennsler, who worked at a bank and hadn't been himself lately and seemingly went off the deep end. You'll read about some of the most far-fetched and bizarre behavior there is in this story.

The next story; the first of the chronicles, is the one that sticks in my mind the most and still leaves me with a disturbed and eerie feeling. It is called "Campbell's Revenge" (from "A Rose For Her Grave") Imagine being a single mother alone at home and being raped by a huge red-haired man. Now imagine having years of nightmares about this incident after the guy is captured, only to have authorities fail to inform you that he has been released. In the end, you have nothing left to imagine because he has come back to finish the job and you and your daughter are dead. Something as horrific as this is just plain unimaginable. This is the tragic story of Renae Wicklund and her daughter Shannah, and the big red-haired monster named Charles Campbell who killed them. I must say, I was completely angry, disturbed and sad after reading this story.

The other chronicles from Ann Rule's previous stories are intense as well. You'll read "One Trick Pony" where a horse seemingly kicked Donna Bennett and killed her. At least that what her husband Russ claims. You'll read the tale of "The Last Letter" where an overly possessive and obsessive husband with irrational thoughts named Bill Brand makes his lovely wife Jackie disappear forever. Then comes the story of Ruth Logg in "I'll Love You Forever," who thought she found perfect love with a successful businessman named Anthony Fernandez. But after a crashed Winnebago is found with Ruth's body nearby, it seems that she had found the perfect killer. Next is "Murder And The Proper Housewife," which is about Nancy Brooks and the son of her best friend, the strange Bennett LeClerk. With Bennett, Nancy may have gone too far to help her friend seemingly in need in a bad marriage. After that you will read "The Most Dangerous Game" about two rebellious teens who think camping up in the mountains and hitch hiking is great. Along the way they meet a man named Al who takes them under his wing. But their new found friend is into big game hunting and he does not hunt animals or fish. Then comes the tale of "The Killer Who Never Forgot Or Forgave" which is about Arne Kaarsten and his wife that he "found" strangled in the living room and his baby strangled in her crib. He claims that there was a mysterious man lurking around their house. But he himself could be the mystery man taking care of an unhappy marriage. Next you'll read into the world of astrology and psychics with "The Lonely Lady," about a psychic and yoga guru named Marcia Moore who lived to find answers to a past life and another world; even going so far as to try drug use. Marcia's bizarre disappearance is completely baffling. Finally, the last story is "The Stockholm Syndrome" where a young couple come upon a hitman named Tom while on a camping trip. It is about murder, and the art of brainwashing.

I found all these stories to be very interesting. If you have not read Ann Rule before, or if you want to try your first true crime novel, "Without Pity" is definitely the book for you. It keeps you reading, you are put into each story, and you can feel what the victims are going through. Chilling, compelling, well-written and disturbing, Ann Rule gives us a collection of crime to remember.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ann Rule's most dangerous killers, February 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Without Pity: Ann Rule's Most Dangerous Killers (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Ann Rule and was so excited when this book was released. I grabbed it off the store self without really looking. A new release? My mistake! No it was a repeat of previous stories. I believe there were three new stories. I still love Ann Rule and she's my favorite author, but I felt a bit ripped off. If there is going to be a new release, I believe that's what it should be: New and filled with new tales. Great writing and not Ann's fault! I feel the promo was unfair to those of us that purchased the book believing it was new.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I agree!, December 24, 2004

By 

Kelly Parsons "kelly p" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Without Pity: Ann Rule's Most Dangerous Killers (Mass Market Paperback)

I wish I had read these reviews before I bought this book! I am an avid Ann Rule fan - it's hard for me to find a book of hers that I don't already own. When I saw this one (at Target, no less) I was suprised and bought it right away. What a disappointment! I already owned 90% of it in other publications, and really felt that I had been scammed into buying something. I rated this with 2 stars, because as always, Ann's writing is superb, and if you aren't an avid follower, this book would be great for you. But if you've already read most of her work, don't get suckered into buying this.