Book Review #35: The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

If you’ve been on social media recently (mainly TikTok, I think), you may have noticed a disturbingly large amount of women talking about convicted murderer, Wade Wilson. I’m not here to get into the abhorrent details of his crimes or his trial, but I found it interesting that I was reading The Stranger Beside Me at the same time that women in 2024 were thirsting over another debatably attractive murderer.

It seems that no matter the crime, a high level of attractiveness will convince at least some of those around you (and on the internet) that you’re innocent. Or, it may convince them not to care about the crime you’ve committed at all.

Compared to Wade Wilson, Ted Bundy was a much more conventionally attractive man (meaning he didn’t have tattoos on his face) who murdered several women and a young girl. The book, The Stranger Beside Me, is Ann Rule’s account of Bundy’s murders as well as her role as his friend and companion during this time. Ann Rule was a very popular true crime writer, and this book ended up being her first bestselling novel. A repeating notion in the book is that Bundy was able to get away with the murders for so long because of his appearance, education, and general credibility.

I listened to the audiobook version, which is only 3 hours long and is read by Ann Rule herself. She begins the book with some information about Ted Bundy’s home life. After getting pregnant quite young, Ted’s mother acts as his sister, with his grandparents acting as his parents. This goes on for most of Ted’s young life, although he is seemingly suspicious of these facts until it is eventually revealed that his “sister” is really his mother. While this isn’t the greatest family situation, it was also not necessarily an uncommon situation for young and unwed mothers in 1946. Meaning, a lot of other children went through this and did not become serial killers.

Ann Rule doesn’t seem to dwell on any circumstances of Ted’s life that could be an explanation for his behavior. In fact, the book seems to avoid the question of “why” altogether. There is a large focus on the methodology of his attacks, the victims and their stories, and the different investigations and trials that Bundy eventually became involved in. This is one of the more straightforward true crime books that I’ve read, and I really appreciated that Rule did her best to stick to the facts while incorporating bits of her own thoughts of what was going on at the time.

Though the book doesn’t dwell on “why”, there is a lot of discussion surrounding Ted’s multiple relationships and his attitude towards women and commitment. Rule seems to believe that the rejection from his first girlfriend, referred to as “Stephanie” in this book, was the catalyst for Bundy’s murders. The timeline does seem to corroborate this. She spends a fairly significant amount of time discussing Bundy’s long-term relationships with “Stephanie” and “Meg” to characterize Bundy himself and show how he was leading many different lives.

While this book details Bundy’s crimes, there is a lot of information about his relationships to focus on how he still maintained a solid presentation to those around him, hence the “stranger” aspect. Rule shows how Bundy maintained multiple long-term relationships, while also exposing their manipulative nature, along with many friendships and partnerships. There were few people who genuinely suspected Ted Bundy of being a killer, and Rule goes to great lengths to show this. One of the main take aways from this book is that someone can maintain a good appearance, hold a steady (and high profile) job, maintain long-term relationships, have supportive friends and family, and still be capable of heinous actions.

During his lifetime, Bundy went to college to study psychology, which is where he met Ann Rule herself. They were both fascinated by the intricacies of law and began a friendship. She says they weren’t in constant communication throughout his lifetime, but they often wrote each other letters and met when they were able to. He went on to work as a political campaigner in Washington, and then eventually enrolled in law school as well. He began killing when he was still in law school and was eventually unable to maintain his dual life.

Part of what’s so surprising about Bundy’s situation is that several people did point him out to the police, including a detective that Rule supplied information to, but the police held off on investigating him further due to his general good standing in society. He’d never committed a crime before, he was an attractive and engaged man, and at the time of the start of the murders he was making a name for himself in Washington and was enrolled in law school.

After the first few murders were committed, there were reports of a man named “Ted” asking women for help. This detail was reported for several of the murders that occurred in Washington state, though at that time many police forces didn’t share information. Still, once Ted Bundy’s name was brought up to the police, one would think that the pieces would fall into place. They didn’t for years.

Rule recounts her own struggle with accepting Bundy’s guilt. During the initial investigation of Bundy, there was a report of a beaten up brown Volkswagen that was used to abduct a few of his victims. Rule has a detective friend look into this, believing at the time that Bundy didn’t even own a car, only for it to come back that he does own a vehicle matching this description exactly. However, this still isn’t enough to completely convince her of his guilt.

I think it’s easy to ridicule women like Rule or Bundy’s girlfriends for being manipulated or refusing to see the signs, but I do think there’s a big difference between seeing all the facts on paper and applying them to someone you personally know. Would you truly suspect someone you’ve known for years to be a serial killer? Someone you’ve laughed with, shared memories with, slept with?

Meg, one of Bundy’s long-term girlfriends at the time of the murders, does eventually give his name to the police. She would be the fourth person to report him as a suspect in these crimes. Though, even then, she does take Ted Bundy back after he proclaims his innocence to her.

Today, we know a lot more about the pathology of killers. And, a lot of what we know is specifically from studying Ted Bundy and others like him. At that time, there wasn’t as much general knowledge about psychopathy or serial killers, so to be fooled by one makes a little bit more sense.

Ann Rule’s book is a testament to how well people can hide their true colors, as well as to how hard it is to see the signs when you don’t know what signs to look for. Her book changed how people viewed each other, allowing readers (many of whom are woman like those Bundy prayed upon) to live in a less naive world.

One thing Rule mentioned feels especially poignant today in light of the Wade Wilson controversy. During Bundy’s trials, the front row of the defense side was often full of pretty young women. Even after seeing the news, even after hearing the testimony, these women would still show up to proclaim his innocence or support him otherwise. Unfortunately, nearly fifty years later, it seems that hasn’t changed.

For anyone who is interested in true crime, I think this is a staple of the genre. It is also well worth reading for any woman, I think, because these crimes were so violent yet were committed by a man who was beloved by many. It is extremely important, in my opinion, to be exposed to this duality of human nature. And if you think Wade Wilson (or any killer) is at all interesting, attractive, fascinating, etc., then this would be a good book to explore the impact and damage those crimes have on people. It will likely change your mind very quickly.

Because this book is so straightforward, I think it’s easily accessible for many new-to-true crime readers. There are graphic descriptions, and while they are extremely disturbing, they were included factually and purposefully rather than to add gore or grotesqueness to the story. I think everyone should be aware of the signs of manipulation and calculation that are exposed in this book, as well as how someone so seemingly human can do such inhumane things.

The Lit Wiz


Posted

in

by

Tags: