Hunting Eric Rudolph

by Henry Schuster, Charles Austin Stone

A chronicle of the several-year-manhunt for Eric Rudolph, the suspect accused in the lethal Centennial Park bombing during the Atlanta Olympics and other crimes, details Rudolph's life on the run and his ultimate capture. Original.

Genres: History, True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Rudolph, also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is an American domestic terrorist convicted for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured over 100 others, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. For five years, Rudolph was listed as one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives until he was caught in 2003 apparently preparing to dumpster five for food. As the title suggests, this book focuses on the years seeking him as he dodged and camped. Apparently, there has been no conclusive proof he had help staying in hiding. Also, he readily poisoned dogs with antifreeze to assist him in prowling and thievery. This edition has an epilogue to cover the trial, confession, imprisonment, and remarks by Rudolph challenging his Christian Identity adherence (he claims to be Catholic). how important marijuana sales were to him, and a few other matters.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our book club called the author. Very interesting insight into an person's make up.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all three books on Eric Rudolph because the case is very interesting. This was the most in depth of the three and provided more insight into his childhood and family upbringing. The fact he evaded capture for over 5 years is truly insane, while he was right under the feds noses.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book covers the hunt for Eric Rudolph, from the first bombing of the Atlanta Olympics to his arrest behind a dumpster almost 7 years later. But somehow this story, which could have been fascinating, rarely rises above the litany of how the various law enforcement agencies appeared on the scene, jostled for visibility and authority, and then melted away as soon as something more exciting came up. This "alphabet soup" of FBI, ATF seems to have spent more time in turf wars than in a concerted search for Eric Rudolph. This might interest some people... but to me it was just bureaucratic infighting. The book was co-written by one of the principals in the search, someone who is depicted as having a lot of good ole' boy charm, but even that didn't make the book particularly interesting. The book was all about the hunt, and very little about Eric Rudolph himself. From time to time there would be a chapter about his family, his fragmented upbringing and the various ultra-Right groups he'd been associated with, but it never coalesced into a coherent portrait of a loner, a survivalist, a home-grown terrorist.

What the book also failed to do, was to explain how Eric Rudolph could have lived for 5 years in the woods near his home town, without being caught. An entire encampment of FBI agents was located near the town, and they'd make daily forays into the forest. And yet they missed this man's camp, which included wheeled trash cans strung up on nylon rope into the trees? Perhaps this just reflects my ignorance of how dense the brush can get in the mountains of North Carolina, but I just didn't understand this.

So I thought the book was disappointing in its contents, and not particularly well written either.

[Mirna Martinez · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is really sad for me because i don't really understand why normal people want to hurt innocent people. Eric rudoplh kill alot of people with the explotion of the bomb what he puts in The Olympic loving- Atlanta. Many people louse they family menbers by his faul =[.