Kevin M. Sullivan (1)

Why did I read this? I've read about Chase's crimes before. He was batshit crazy and off his meds. He was also on mind altering drugs.

The author moralizes like mad here. Feeling sorry for the victims and horrified about the crimes that Chase brought to their doors can co-exist with understanding that mental illness stole all of their lives. It doesn't make him any less horrifying or bizarre. It doesn't shift the blame. It just puts his terrible crimes in a different category. Calling him show more evil and diabolical isn't appropriate. His crimes were evil for sure, but using diabolical to describe Chase is way off the mark. He was frenzied, impulsive and not the brightest crayon in the box.

So yeah, describing Chase as some kind of evil genius and diabolical is dumb. He was no Hannibal Lecter. Dude barely made it through High School because the crazy was setting in.

I'm beginning to think I have to stop reading true crime books. I am picking up repeat cases now and books by inferior authors.

Who am I kidding? It's summer. I'll be reading true crime all over the place. show less

I have read nearly every book written on Ted Bundy and when I heard about this one, I knew I had to read it. Particularly when the author claimed that he had previously unpublished information about some of the crimes.

I have heard that every true crime affectionado has a "favorite" (for lack of better word) crime or criminal and I suppose that's correct. There are some crimes, such as Bundy's, that I can read many books about without getting weary and there are other crimes that I have show more absolutely no desire to pick up the first book on.

For any reader who is unfamiliar with Bundy's crimes in general, The Bundy Murders is a great book to start with. It's not daunting in size (a relatively sleek 264 pages), with a variety of pictures (including ones the author took at locations that Bundy lived at or where he abducted a victim) and the text is easy to read, with a very nice overview of Bundy's past and formative years.

For those readers who have read other works about Bundy, I think you will find The Bundy Murders a resourceful tool that not only sheds further light on the killer himself but additional information, as Kevin Sullivan stated, about a few of Bundy's lesser known crimes and about the victims themselves.

One of my greatest pet peeves, and overall sadness, with some true crime books is the general lack of attention to the victims themselves. I understand that in some cases, the sheer volume of people being dealt with prohibits in depth information from being written. But I feel that in some true crime books, the victims are presented as just that - - victims, with nothing special other than the fact they happened to cross paths with a monster.

I feel that Mr. Sullivan has done an admirable job here in bringing to the forefront personalities and characteristics of many of the young women and girls that Bundy spirited away - - particularly those that did not receive as much press as the others at the time of the crimes. I also want to commend Mr. Sullivan for acknowledging that Bundy, and others like him, don't just take away the life of a single victim but often tend to destroy entire families. In The Bundy Murders' case, the families of the girls Bundy abducted and killed were subjected to not only the grief of losing a loved one in such a violent way but also divorces, early deaths, alcoholism and drug dependency. Oftentimes the criminal himself (or herself, as the case may be) becomes the "star" of the show and the living victims (the family and friends left behind) and their pain are quickly forgotten. Not so here.

I do wish that The Bundy Murders had gone more into Bundy's paternity. Mr. Sullivan mentioned that Bundy's biological father was supposedly a sailor who left his mother alone and pregnant but I would have liked for the book to address the rumors that Bundy's maternal grandfather may also have been his biological father, rumors that began circulating shortly after Bundy's execution in 1989.

Mr. Sullivan does keep his text to those victims that were absolutely attributed to Bundy, or that Bundy admitted to taking, and does provide a small amount of information as to Bundy's possible first victim, since Bundy never fully admitted or denied his part in her disappearance.

Overall, I found The Bundy Murders to be insightful, well researched and well written, and this in a market that can be oversaturated with cheap, "dime store" type quickie books. Rest assured that The Bundy Murders must definitely is not. The story stayed with me after I had closed the book for the night and prepared for sleep (and might I add that I had a hard time closing the book because I literally couldn't put it down). I felt sadness for the young women and girls who had lost their lives due to Bundy, I felt sadness for their families and friends, I felt sadness for Bundy's family and even I felt sadness for what Bundy could have been had the monster not been lurking below.

I would highly recommend The Bundy Murders for any true crime reader, or any reader wanting to know more about Bundy or about deviant personalities. The photographs are not graphic and the text is not objectionable. There are parts that may be difficult to read, particularly given that Bundy did play tricks on his victims after he had them in his murderous grasp, but the facts are presented in such a way as to be informative and a fascinating look into a crumbling psyche. In fact, this book should be required reading for any student of psychology or criminal law (ironically what Bundy was during his years at college and law school). show less

This is a difficult review to write. I know the author dedicated a lot of time to the topic of Ted Bundy, and I want to be supportive, but this book was truly terrible for me.

First, be aware that this isn’t really a “book”, per se, but more of a supplement of assorted research to go along with previous books the author has written about Bundy. It’s a consolidated bunch of tidbits haphazardly strung together. The author references his previous books, a lot, in the absence of detail show more here. We have no coherent story, and this just does not read well as a true crime book.

Sullivan hands off the final chapter to a friend of his, Erin Banks, who lives in Germany and runs a crime blog. Banks proceeds to provide her opinion on how “the rest of the world” (outside of the U.S.) views true crime in general and Ted Bundy in particular. I don’t know what makes Erin Banks an expert on the opinion of the rest of the world, but there you have it.

If you are totally obsessed with all things Bundy, as the author appears to be, then you might want this book for your collection. Otherwise, stick with Google and read something else.

*I received a review copy from the publisher.* show less

A short but very thorough account of Richard Chase's life and crimes. The writing is extremely graphic, but that's to be expected given the nature of the murders Chase committed. I thought the author did a good job of showing how, batshit crazy though Chase may have been, he was not insane under the legal standard. (Which, to me, speaks volumes about our need to broaden our application of insanity, but that's neither here nor there.) Anyone who wants to learn about this particularly gruesome show more serial slayer could not go wrong with his book. show less