Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer

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Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 4,309 ratings · 272 reviews

In her most personal and provocative book to date, the #1 bestselling master of true crime presents "her long-awaited definitive narrative of the brutal and senseless crimes that haunted the Seattle area for decades" (Publishers Weekly). This is the extraordinary true story of the most prolific serial killer the nation had ever seen -- a case involving more than forty-nine...more

Paperback, 704 pages

Published September 27th 2005 by Pocket Star (first published 2004)

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Dec 28, 2008 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, crime

And apparently the other thing I needed to be reading while studying for finals was a book about the man who raped and strangled (and often strangled and raped) over fifty women in Washington State.

This is an utterly fascinating story, unfortunately packaged by an annoying true crime author. I wanted to read about Gary Ridgeway not because he’s a killer, but because he’s such an odd specimen. I mean, from a profiling standpoint, he just doesn’t make sense. He was married happily for twenty year...more And apparently the other thing I needed to be reading while studying for finals was a book about the man who raped and strangled (and often strangled and raped) over fifty women in Washington State.

This is an utterly fascinating story, unfortunately packaged by an annoying true crime author. I wanted to read about Gary Ridgeway not because he’s a killer, but because he’s such an odd specimen. I mean, from a profiling standpoint, he just doesn’t make sense. He was married happily for twenty years -- someone with his level of sociopathy simply should not have been able to achieve that. He went from killing at least forty women (and probably many, many more) over the span of two years to only a handful over two decades. That’s bizarre -- guys like him don’t stop, they spiral further and further out of control. And contrary to every expectation, he’s not actually that intelligent.

This book isn’t about that. It’s mostly about the victims, their families, and the cops on the twenty-year search for Ridgeway. Which is fine -- God knows they all deserve to have their stories told. I would have been happier if Rule didn’t so obviously focus on victims whose stories were particularly juicy or tragic, and gloss over the “boring” ones. Her factual recounting is interesting for its own sake, but that’s about all there is here -- her occasional attempts at psychological insight are laughably shallow. There’s just 'what' here, and no real 'why', though Rule does indulge in the utterly predictable pastime of blaming the mother. It’s always the mother’s fault, don’t you know. Jesus, okay, I’m not even going to get started on that.

Still an interesting book though, for what it is. For my money the most fascinating segment is the verbatim transcript of the interview where the police told Ridgeway’s wife just what her husband had been doing. The currents at play there, not obscured by Rule’s dramatics, are worth the price of admission. And I don’t mean that in the ghoulish way of peering in at the collapse of someone’s life, but in the fascinated way of seeing just how much she didn’t know a man she’d spent twenty years with. Except for that flickering sense you get that just maybe she really did.

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Dec 04, 2008 Catten rated it 2 of 5 stars

Stepping away from her typical formula of featuring multiple stories in one book, Ann Rule takes on a hefty project with Green River, Running Red.

Rule began compiling information on this well-known serial killer in 1982, waiting for detectives to figure out whodunit so she could write about the self-described "killing machine," Gary Ridgway, who confessed in 2003 to strangling 48 women, starting with Wendy Lee Coffield in 1982 and ending with Patricia Yellowrobe in 1998.

Because Ridgway operated...more Stepping away from her typical formula of featuring multiple stories in one book, Ann Rule takes on a hefty project with Green River, Running Red.

Rule began compiling information on this well-known serial killer in 1982, waiting for detectives to figure out whodunit so she could write about the self-described "killing machine," Gary Ridgway, who confessed in 2003 to strangling 48 women, starting with Wendy Lee Coffield in 1982 and ending with Patricia Yellowrobe in 1998.

Because Ridgway operated in the same South Seattle area as Rule lived, she not only uses insider information from good relationships with local law enforcement, but she also demonstrates a comfortable familiarity with local attitudes, locations, and personalities. Writing teachers encourage students to "write what you know," and Rule does just that.

The book describes the challenges and frustrations of the many members of the Green River Task Force. For example, in the early '80s, DNA processing took relatively huge samples, was exorbitantly expensive, and didn't always produce usable results. Technology drastically improved, however, and in 2001 a lab looked at evidence from 1987 with exciting results-Ridgway's DNA sample matched those collected from four suspected victims. Up until that point, no real evidence tied any of the victims to a killer or each other. In 2002, paint found on the clothing of two out of the four women identified as having Ridgway's DNA on them, helped to clinch the case.

When Robert Lee Yates was killing prostitutes in Spokane, most people adopted the attitude of, "well, I'm safe because I'm not a prostitute." More crass locals added, "Besides, he's taking crime off the streets."

This mentality is part of why Ridgway was able to get away with his activities for so long. In addition, that victim class-prostitutes and runaways-is complicated. Missing people are often not reported because no one knows they are gone. Ridgway knew this. In court, he said, "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing."*

Rule does a nice job introducing some of the victims, complete with snapshots and short biographies. I mentioned in my last review of an Ann Rule book, however, that one of the things I didn't like was how she digresses in a way that makes me feel like she is showing off how much research she had done. I get that feeling again, and this time, there are dozens of characters. (If nothing else, an index at the back to help the reader find other mentions of a person might help one make his or her way through this dense book.)

I found it a little annoying that so much time was spent on the victims, and not until almost 300 pages into the book did the killer's name finally came up. More balanced focus on the detectives and killer would have helped break up the chapter-after-chapter dead-dead-dead chant. I found it very odd that Rule chose to refer to the girls' pimps as "boyfriends." At one point, she mentions Seattle's Public Market, which is actually the well-known Pike Place Market. Also, the name of the strip where most of the victims were picked up apparently has many names: the SeaTac Highway, the Pacific Highway, the Pac HiWay, the airport strip, and Highway 99. Not being a local, I had trouble figuring out that each of these references were actually to the same road.

Overall, the book was a decent read, but there are much better-written stories out there. (less)

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Feb 21, 2013 Lizabeth S. Tucker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime

Ann Rule first became known for her book on Ted Bundy, a man she had known and worked with on a suicide hotline. Now, 21 books later, she focuses on the Green River Killer, another serial killer who operated in Rule's hometown of Seattle. What I most like about Rule's book is that she goes into all the participants' backgrounds, from the victims to the killers to the police and others that may become involved.

The Green River Killer is considered the worst serial killer known to date. The true to...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Two decades...

More than forty victims...

And the lives of many women ended in the reign of the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history.

For more than nineteen years, the prostitutes of King County, Washington were terrorized by the most sadistic serial killer in the nation's history. Although most of the victims disappeared between 1982 & 1984, it would take close to 100 detectives and more than 10 million fruitless tips for law enforcement to zero in on Gary Leon Ridgway as the Green Rive...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Betsey Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars

If this is a typical Ann Rule book, I won't be reading any more of her books. Her topic was very interesting but her writing was disjointed and self-serving. She jumps around between topics and between time periods. Yes, I know those methods can create interest and maintain some level of suspense to a story that's already played out, but not in this case. The jumps here seemed unintentional, like this book was a combination of several versions of the same story thrown together but not given a fi...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Amber rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime

I waited a few years to read this book. I'm from the area and where I'm from, stories of Ridgway are like six-degrees-of-separation tales. His look, voice and mannerisms are very Washingtonian and he reminds me of a lot of different unextraordinary men I know. I also came from a family that was interested in true crime so I followed the story all my life, basically.

I love Ann Rule, absolutely love her. But closer to my heart is being an advocate for kids that are victims of sexual abuse. And I f...more I waited a few years to read this book. I'm from the area and where I'm from, stories of Ridgway are like six-degrees-of-separation tales. His look, voice and mannerisms are very Washingtonian and he reminds me of a lot of different unextraordinary men I know. I also came from a family that was interested in true crime so I followed the story all my life, basically.

I love Ann Rule, absolutely love her. But closer to my heart is being an advocate for kids that are victims of sexual abuse. And I feel like she held back with this story and glossed over things that have no right to be glossed over. I know that she meant well, but more attention should have been brought to the murder victims in the sense that most women who enter prostitution were more than likely sexually abused as children.

It has to be brought up. It's a huge deal. Sexual abuse is far more common than people think it is and as a result, there is a shortage of empathy towards addicts, self-mutilators, people with eating disorders and of course, prostitution. Anytime you meet a person who puts themselves in such dangerous situations and/or who is hellbent on destroying themselves, you have to always first consider the fact that they may have been a victim of abuse. She was in the perfect avenue to educate and she chose not to. She could have given a way more accurate voice to the victims and helped the average person reading the book understand how prostitutes get to be where they are and why.

And I understand why she didn't go there- She probably didn't want to offend the families that cooperated with her in making the book. But she studied psychology. She had to have known that not acknowledging the aspect (of sexual abuse) compromised her book considerably, right? Even Reichert included it in his account of the Green River saga, so I was shocked when she didn't. It couldn't have possibly been a more relevant time to talk about it!

Otherwise, the book was interesting. Very exasperating (just like every other book about the GRK is since it took so long to prove physical evidence linking somebody) but I learned some new things about the case and I especially found the transcripts in court and the interviews with his wife Judith, fascinating.

Overall though, I would recommend Dave Reichert's book "Chasing the Devil" over this one. Reading from someone who was RIGHT THERE and so personally invested in the case made a huge difference.

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Sep 06, 2011 Shawna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book riveting. I realized that it is actually the third book I've read about the GRK. The other two were actually published before he was caught. I enjoyed learning more details about the victims. This book also demonstrated that Ted Bundy’s advice was right. If law enforcement had kept it secret that bodies had been discovered and staked out the dump sites they would have caught Ridgway revisiting the scene of his crimes. On a few occasions he even brought his girlfriend and had se...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Jason Gusman rated it 4 of 5 stars

He is the most prolific serial killer in the United States. His total homicides are believed by many to exceed into the one hundreds, although he was only convicted of 48. Gary Ridgeway was the complete stereotype of a serial killer. Yet somehow he eluded the police for many years while terrorizing a city. His targets were mainly prostitutes on the streets of Seattle near the airport. His style was to proposition a prostitute and get her back to his home before killing her, although sometimes he...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Danielle Lemon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: guilty-pleasures

I have a thing for reading true crime when I can't sleep. I know - weird, right? Why read something that scares the crap out of you and makes you sleepless, when you're trying to sleep?! I can't explain it. True crime is a thoughtless read for me - sure, I could read romance novels, but I guess I'm just made of darker stuff. Anyway, Ann Rule really has no equal when it comes to true crime. As with all Rules' books, this one was an easy page-turner, although the litany of victims' background stor...more

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Jul 04, 2009 David Bales rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 52-books-in-52-weeks

Another terribly sad but very comprehensively written book by crime writer Ann Rule on the Green River Killer case that haunted the Pacific Northwest back in the '80s. Rule takes a different take this time, concentrating on the victims and their lives instead of solely on the lives of the police investigators and the murderer, Gary Ridgeway, who began murdering young women in 1981 and was not apprehended, (through DNA evidence) for another 20 years. At the time of the murders, the King County Sh...more

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Apr 22, 2009 JBradford rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was visiting a friend in her office the other day when I noticed this book in her IN box and commented on the title, and she said “Do you want to read it?” I have read it; I could not put the damn thing down! Ann Rule has a marvelous facility for capturing your attention and making you want to see what comes next, and I was intrigued by the way she wove the threads of this plot into something that reads like a novel with alternate points of view.

This book is the story of the Green River Killer...more I was visiting a friend in her office the other day when I noticed this book in her IN box and commented on the title, and she said “Do you want to read it?” I have read it; I could not put the damn thing down! Ann Rule has a marvelous facility for capturing your attention and making you want to see what comes next, and I was intrigued by the way she wove the threads of this plot into something that reads like a novel with alternate points of view.

This book is the story of the Green River Killer, who terrorized Seattle WA for three years or more years back in the 1980s. Ann Rule, who had started life as a Seattle police officer well before then, had become a crime-writer, writing for True Detective and other magazines of that ilk, some eight or so stories a month, and then had turned to books after it was discovered that she had worked for a year or more with a young college student, studying psychology, with the two of them being the night staff operators at a crisis center, before he went on a murderous rampage across the country; his name was Ted Bundy. By the mid 1980s, Ann was writing documentaries about crime and found herself living in the middle of a crime wave as street-working prostitutes in south Seattle started disappearing, some of them last seen and/or their bodies later being found within a few miles of Ann’s home. As the rampage went on, it began to include young women who were not working the streets, but simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Ann knew she was going to write a book about this -- but the major problem was that the police could not find the murderer. She kept taking notes, cutting out clippings, talking to the police officers working on the case, interviewing friends and relatives of the victims, but she could not write the book until the killer was caught. As a public speaker, Ann talked about the book she would write and commented about the Green River Killer, and her readers and members of her audiences began to send her suggestions, called her on the phone to report suspicions, etc. The years rolled by, however, with a noticeable drop in the killings … until finally enough evidence came to light to identify who the killer was, and Ann could write her book--20 years later.

Ann’s book starts off as a straight history, reporting on how the first few bodies were found, with the account being enlivened by a mug-shot photograph of each girl in turn as Ann combined the last-known sightings and survivors’ recollections into third-person accounts that bring the girls to life on the pages, giving you insight into what was going on in their minds even though their lives are so incomprehensible. She makes their hopes and childish imaginings so understandable that there is a repeated shock every time one of them disappears into the night, leaving behind boyfriends (often their pimps), toddling children, bewildered parents and siblings, mystified friends. Ann does not romanticize their existence in any way, but she does express an understanding of how they came to be in their terrible position, finding that the vast majority of them came to the streets because of abuse at home or involvement in drugs that left them incapable of finding any other way of making a living.

At the same time, Ann draws on her friendships with the police and her understanding of police work to paint a detailed picture of how the police department goes about the process of establishing a team of investigators to address this continuing case--a team that over the course of time expands to more than 50 officials at a cost of millions of dollars, slowly going through the grinding process of checking out body sites, interviewing possible witnesses and acquaintances, sifting through clues in an attempt to figure out who is causing all these deaths (believed to number more than 50).

Interspersed with these two story lines, however, Ann interweaves into these accounts the concurrent third-person viewpoint of the killer, himself, based on what was eventually learned from his confessions and interviews with those who knew him, and we also get the fascinating account of how he grew, from a nasty incompetent little boy to a generally likable young man who drifted through three marriages under the control of his dominating mother.

The result is a “true” story about the series of happenings that terrorized Seattle back then and horrifies the reader now, to the extent that I keep having the urge to call loved ones and ask if they are all right, for fear that there are other equally evil people in the world, consumed by similar ungodly thoughts and depravities.

I grew up in a family that never had a key for the doors to their home, and I lived that same way until after my wife died, but you cannot read a book such as this without feeling that you should go check the lock on the door.

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Sep 12, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

i couldnt make up my mind if i disliked the way the book was written, or if it was brilliantly written. 3/4ths of the book was mostly facts, the prostitutes that were killed and their stories, in the middle of endless victims would be a fictional probably tale of a boy who grew up to kill and things he was feeling. i get the sense that ann rule was trying to create a background of the killer by going into his thoughts, but she never came out and said that "he said he felt this and thought that w...more

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Dec 04, 2009 Crystal Durnan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book immediately upon its release as I was living in Seattle at the time that the Green River killer was found. I actually was friends with the son of one of the main investigators and heard that there was a big break in the case before it actually made the news.
Gary Ridgeway had one of the longest careers of any American serial killer and with one of the highest victim tallies. Ann Rule was the perfect person to write the authoritative story on Gary Ridgeway as she is a Seattle nat...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history, biography

Most people know about the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway, but know very little about his 48 victims....young women who made their living as prostitutes on the SeaTac "Strip" in Seattle. True crime writer Ann Rule, instead of concentrating solely on Ridgeway, tells us the life stories of many of these unfortunate women and their families. Many who were abused as children, from broken homes, and not wanted by their parents, they did what they could to survive; however, some were from loving an...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Stephanie Reiner rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When a serial killer is as prolific as Gary Ridgway, his victims tend to blur into one another, forming one tragic but anonymous mass. This is particularly true when the victims are prostitutes, women society finds it easy to ignore. In Green River, Running Red, Ann Rule fleshes out the victims' stories, which often include families trying desperately to save them from "the life", as prostitutes call their sad and dangerous work.

Rules also tries to lay bare the life and psyche of Ridgway himself...more

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Jun 27, 2009 Joy rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: true crime buffs

The good thing about Ann Rule is that she is interested in the motivations of everyone involved in the case. I was in a rare true crime mood and this was all I had in the house. Not a bad choice, for someone more interested in minds than blood.

At first she catalogues a long parade of teenaged girls who seem to have the instinctual drives of lemmings. I'm the one generalizing here -- she doesn't. While she takes a sympathetic look at each victim, I was wondering how these girls could blithely pla...more

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Apr 17, 2013 J.w. Schnarr rated it 3 of 5 stars

The last half of the book is very insightful into the investigation and capture of the GRK. Also some interesting insights into the mind of the man. However, the first 200+ pages or so are pretty much filled with little bios of all the women Ridgeway killed, and as heartless as it sounds I found slogging through one brief history after another very fatiguing.

The women all bled together after a while, and it was impossible to tell them apart. I imagine part of this is because their stories were...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Cookie*420 rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read a good bit about serial killers and this was my first book by Ann Rule. Although facts were laid out from the beginning, I felt the book lacked any insight into the killer himself. There was talk of molestation done to him, but, there were no real personal stories by the killer included. Everything the author included was stuff that was basically known to the public. I found there was nothing to learn from the book other than dates and names of victims. No descriptive details given by th...more

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Aug 20, 2010 Chris Latko rated it 2 of 5 stars

Another G-Rated true crime book. I read Dave Reichart's perspective of the story before Rule's. He was the lead detective on the case for the first several years and was the one to recover most of the bodies. Rule downplay's Reicharts role in everything, glosses over important facts dealing with dismemberment or necrophilia or vocation of the victims.

One particularly disturbing part of the GRK story has to do with a prostitute's pimp and her father tracking down the real killer somewhere around...more

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Nov 08, 2010 Curtis Butturff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book is one account of a chapter in American history that in some ways has become a characteristic of the modern age. The Green River Killer went on killing in the Seattle area for several decades and in total killed somewhere in the area of sixty women. Rule makes a living as a true crime author and court reporter and this work and press treatment in general speaks to the celebrity of the serial killer. As it happens the career of the GRK spanned the evolution of the modern FBI profiler an...more

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Nov 11, 2010 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

It seemed like a must read for someone living in the Seattle area. I had always heard about the murders but was not aware of the details. I thought the book gave an overload of superficial information about the victims. The structure of the book made it impossible to refer back to who the victims were, so the result was that I still felt detached from them as people. However, the information on the murderer and several earlier suspects was good and I liked the insight into the police task force...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Don S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, mymap

From a story about one single, isolated murder, to the story of 49 confirmed murders, Ann Rule covers all the bases.

Gary Ridgeway, a.k.a. that Green River Killer spent over twenty years eluding the police and racking up bodies. After his arrest and eventual plea bargain, the number of confirmed victims would be close to fifty.

This book was the story of the country’s most prolific serial killer. From the very first victim (who along with sever subsequent one was found in the Green River in Washin...more

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Mar 06, 2010 Anne Hawn Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime, non-fiction

Ann Rule is one of the best True Crime writers around and this was one of her best. I wish she had been more able to get into the head of Gary Ridgeway, but I came away from the book feeling that no one could. He just seemed too normal. I think what was most fascinating is the reaction of his family. No one seemed to have suspected he was leading a double life and I think that is what is so frightening.

I am fascinated by True Crime books because I want to understand the mind of such predators,...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book does an excellent job focusing on the victims and making the reader see them as real people with lives and families and dreams as opposed to names on a list or "just" prostitutes. To that end, most of the book focuses on the victims which is great. However, a little bit more coverage of the time Gary Ridgeway spent in custody after his arrest and before his confession in court would have been nice. He was in custody for years helping police find more victims. The book covers this period...more

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Dec 06, 2008 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: non-fiction

I read this book for my law and ethics class project. I actually found it to be a very interesting book. This is the first true crime book I've read and I think Ann Rule does an excelent job of pulling the reader in. The book is broken into three parts with the first part giving descriptions and background about the victims, some are more detailed than others, as well as some of the GKR's early history. It also details the height of his killing spree. The second part goes in to the investigation...more

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Apr 12, 2008 Michelle Bouchor rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoy reading Ann Rule books, especially since this one took place over many decades. But the title is lame.

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Jul 22, 2011 Katie Pickett rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book cronicles the murder spree of the Green River Killer. It identifies the victims with a small bio and circumstance for there disappearance. This book delivers you into the investigation of the Green River Killer giving you a view from all perspectives.
I liked this book, though it was somewhat too thought provoking. There were so many victims, that I couldn't keep them all straight when they were referenced later in the book. Ann Rule is a good author, and if you have ever read a book...more

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Dec 20, 2011 Katharine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: listened-to-on-cd

Another great true life murder mystery by Ann Rule. I listened to this one on CD while I drove to Seattle and it took place in Seattle area so, that made it more interesting to hear about the city back in 1982 when the murders began. It is facinating that someone so ordinary can be involved in such a brutal killing spree. With the current technology of DNA evidence something like this would never happen again. The only thing I didn't like is that it was too short and it ended before I made it ba...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Kendra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: true-crime

I enjoyed this book and learning more about the Green River Killer aka Gary Ridgway, but there were also a few things that disappointed me. I know that there had to be a ton of information regarding this case and that it was probably hard to decide what to include and what to leave out. The book is already 434 pages but I feel that the author skimmed over a lot of information that I would have liked to know. Some of the victim's stories she goes into somewhat in depth and others have only a para...more

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Jan 08, 2010 Trin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-lit, truecrime

What is it about Washington State that attracts serial killers? Last year I read Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, which is a fascinating book in large part because Rule, even then a crime writer, was actually friends with its subject: Ted Bundy. That's a bizarre and disturbing piece of kismet right there. And it lead to a true crime story that was psychologically complex because Rule was clearly trying so hard to understand how the man who was her friend could also be such a monster.

Rule, sadl...more What is it about Washington State that attracts serial killers? Last year I read Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, which is a fascinating book in large part because Rule, even then a crime writer, was actually friends with its subject: Ted Bundy. That's a bizarre and disturbing piece of kismet right there. And it lead to a true crime story that was psychologically complex because Rule was clearly trying so hard to understand how the man who was her friend could also be such a monster.

Rule, sadly, does not bring the same level of analysis to the story of fellow Washington State resident Gary Leon Ridgway, a.k.a.The Green River Killer, a.k.a. The Most Prolific Serial Killer in North American History (Possibly). Though she tries to stress her involvement in the case, it was comparatively minimal, so the personal connection present in the Stranger is absent here. Still, it would be interesting to see the psychological motivations of a guy like Ridgway, who--unusually for a serial killer--is not very bright, and--again highly unusual--managed multiple marriages and long-term relationships at the same time had a busy second career soliciting and murdering prostitutes. Instead of going into that, though, Rule just summarily concludes that it was somehow all his controlling mother's fault. Uh-huh.

The text of this very, very long book is therefore mostly taken up by the victims' stories--which are tragic, and do deserve to be told, but I didn't particularly care for Rule's method of cherry-picking the "juicy" ones and leaving other girls--equally deserving--with just a sentence or two. I really wish this book had had more focus--the story of the investigation gets kind of buried under so much other stuff, and the narrative doesn't seem to be organized terribly well. I read this book because I became fascinated with the portrait of the Green River Killings Neko Case paints in her song "Deep Red Bells"; it's less than four minutes long and I think it achieves something more vivid and poignant and terrible than this book does in over 500 pages.(less)

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About Ann Rule

Ann Rule is a popular American true crime writer. She came to prominence with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, about the Ted Bundy murders.
At the time she started researching the book, the murders were still unsolved. In the course of time, it became clear that the killer was Bundy, her friend and her colleague as a trained volunteer on the suicide hotline at the Seattle, Washington Crisis...more

More about Ann Rule...

Books by Ann Rule

The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story

Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder

Every Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder

And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer

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title link	preview: Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer
avg rating	preview: Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murde Goodreads rating: 3.87 (4309 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225384.Green_River_Running_Red?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347356689l/225384.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225384.Green_River_Running_Red?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer by Ann Rule[/url]

Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer

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