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The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History
"Despite the multitude of books about Bundy, The Bundy Murders offers fresh material and ideas about Bundy's predatory movements. Well researched and highly recommended, for Bundy scholars and true crime fans alike."--Katherine Ramsland, author of The Human Predator and The Devil's Dozen
Theodore Bundy was one of the more infamous, and flamboyant, American serial killers on record, and his story is a complex mix of psychopathology, criminal investigation, and the U.S. legal system. This in-depth examination of Bundy's life and his killing spree that totaled dozens of victims is drawn from legal transcripts, correspondence and interviews with detectives and prosecutors. Using these sources, new information on several murders is unveiled. The biography follows Bundy from his broken family background to his execution in the electric chair.
Theodore Bundy was one of the more infamous, and flamboyant, American serial killers on record, and his story is a complex mix of psychopathology, criminal investigation, and the U.S. legal system. This in-depth examination of Bundy's life and his killing spree that totaled dozens of victims is drawn from legal transcripts, correspondence and interviews with detectives and prosecutors. Using these sources, new information on several murders is unveiled. The biography follows Bundy from his broken family background to his execution in the electric chair.
264 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2009
283 people are currently reading
2135 people want to read
About the author
Kevin M. Sullivan
23 books51 followersA writer of true crime and history, Kevin Sullivan is the bestselling author of THE BUNDY MURDERS and THE TRAIL OF TED BUNDY
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
April 22, 2010
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 Particularly when the author claimed that he had previously unpublished information about some of the crimes.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 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).
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 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).
June 14, 2025
COMPARTMENTALIZATION : the act of separating something into parts and not allowing those parts to mix together
We do it all the time. It allows us to have some control, and stop our lives descending into chaos. And it seems the human mind – some of them anyhow – can take this to a very extreme degree.
THREE EXAMPLES OF EXTREME COMPARTMENTALIZATION
ONE : RUDOLF HESS
After participating in the slaughter of hundreds of prisoners during his working day in Auschwitz, he would return home in the evening to his sweet family (one wife, five children, various dogs) and slip right in to his normal German family life, in his house and garden right there next to the camp itself. And it was no problem at all. And this happened day in day out from 1940 to 1943. You can see this dramatized very compellingly in the film The Zone of Interest (2023).
TWO : DOMINIQUE PELICOT
You remember that this guy drugged his wife and filmed at least 50 different men raping her many times between 2011 and 2020 when he was found out and arrested. The morning after the horrible crime he would, I assume, just be his usual self. They had been married for over 35 years. Pass me another croissant, dear. That kind of thing.
THREE : TED BUNDY
On 14 July 1974 he abducted a woman in broad daylight from a park at Lake Sammamish in Washington state, and murdered her, then tried to abduct a second woman (she wouldn’t get into his car), then successfully abducted a third woman and murdered her, also in broad daylight, and then, in the early evening, he took his girlfriend Liz and her daughter out for hamburgers and ice cream. Liz never noticed anything was amiss. He was his usual charming self.
Oh, one more thing. This Liz was his long time girlfriend but when he moved to Utah he got himself another girlfriend and she really liked him at first but then when he started drinking too much she ditched him. Did he attack her in a homicidal rage? Not at all. He didn’t stalk her, he accepted her decision. Later when she found out who he really was she said their relationship had been quite normal.
What can you say about the human mind?
A QUESTION OF BALANCE
Writing about Bundy requires great balance. The horror of his actions is too many times eclipsed by his barefaced arrogance, roguish cheek, smarminess and resourcefulness, to the extent that writers can topple over into a fascination with almost an undercurrent of admiration. How could he live this life? The young Republican go-getter with a bright future! He worked at a suicide helpline! He was talking female students out of self harm on one evening and murdering them on the next….. And how did he spirit these women away like that, and never leave any clues behind? And the extraordinary drama of the incidents ! How could he escape not once but twice from prison? And then acting as his own defence attorney. And then the judge, right after handing Bundy his death sentence, says
Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you sincerely; take care of yourself. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity, I think, as I've experienced in this courtroom. You're a bright young man. You’d have made a good lawyer. I’d have loved to have you practice in front of me. But you went another way, partner. I don’t have any animosity to you. I want you to know that.
I think Kevin Sullivan gets it right in this short, succinct account. BUT he does himself absolutely no favours to begin with, however. In the introduction he tells how he met with Detective Jerry Thompson who investigated the Utah murders. And Jerry brought the bag.
”What bag?” I asked.
“The bag Bundy carried… I have it with me now in my truck!”….
“You’ve got Ted Bundy’s bag!” I said, my voice rising with excitement.
“Yes, I’m holding it right now.”
Later, Kevin’s friend fishes the stuff out of the bag.
First, the woolen ski mask, and then a red-handled ice pick. Next, he retrieved a flashlight, then, a long piece of clothesline rope…
Etc etc. Kevin even gets to keep one of the plastic trash bags in the bag. We can only guess what Ted would have used them for.
And whilst I’m being a little critical, Kevin sometimes coughs up some truly orotund sentences :
Like all the women before her, Laura Aime would soon be immortalised in that heartbreaking litany of those who succumbed to the deviant desires of the serial killer known as Theodore Robert Bundy.
Fortunately there’s not too much of that kind of thing here…
There are quite a few books on Bundy and the ones I’ve seen always scramble up the chronology for effect and make it confusing. This short book doesn’t do that.
A FINAL QUOTE
Guilt. It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to our body.
What's one less person on the face of the Earth, anyways?
We do it all the time. It allows us to have some control, and stop our lives descending into chaos. And it seems the human mind – some of them anyhow – can take this to a very extreme degree.
THREE EXAMPLES OF EXTREME COMPARTMENTALIZATION
ONE : RUDOLF HESS
After participating in the slaughter of hundreds of prisoners during his working day in Auschwitz, he would return home in the evening to his sweet family (one wife, five children, various dogs) and slip right in to his normal German family life, in his house and garden right there next to the camp itself. And it was no problem at all. And this happened day in day out from 1940 to 1943. You can see this dramatized very compellingly in the film The Zone of Interest (2023).
TWO : DOMINIQUE PELICOT
You remember that this guy drugged his wife and filmed at least 50 different men raping her many times between 2011 and 2020 when he was found out and arrested. The morning after the horrible crime he would, I assume, just be his usual self. They had been married for over 35 years. Pass me another croissant, dear. That kind of thing.
THREE : TED BUNDY
On 14 July 1974 he abducted a woman in broad daylight from a park at Lake Sammamish in Washington state, and murdered her, then tried to abduct a second woman (she wouldn’t get into his car), then successfully abducted a third woman and murdered her, also in broad daylight, and then, in the early evening, he took his girlfriend Liz and her daughter out for hamburgers and ice cream. Liz never noticed anything was amiss. He was his usual charming self.
Oh, one more thing. This Liz was his long time girlfriend but when he moved to Utah he got himself another girlfriend and she really liked him at first but then when he started drinking too much she ditched him. Did he attack her in a homicidal rage? Not at all. He didn’t stalk her, he accepted her decision. Later when she found out who he really was she said their relationship had been quite normal.
What can you say about the human mind?
A QUESTION OF BALANCE
Writing about Bundy requires great balance. The horror of his actions is too many times eclipsed by his barefaced arrogance, roguish cheek, smarminess and resourcefulness, to the extent that writers can topple over into a fascination with almost an undercurrent of admiration. How could he live this life? The young Republican go-getter with a bright future! He worked at a suicide helpline! He was talking female students out of self harm on one evening and murdering them on the next….. And how did he spirit these women away like that, and never leave any clues behind? And the extraordinary drama of the incidents ! How could he escape not once but twice from prison? And then acting as his own defence attorney. And then the judge, right after handing Bundy his death sentence, says
Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you sincerely; take care of yourself. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity, I think, as I've experienced in this courtroom. You're a bright young man. You’d have made a good lawyer. I’d have loved to have you practice in front of me. But you went another way, partner. I don’t have any animosity to you. I want you to know that.
I think Kevin Sullivan gets it right in this short, succinct account. BUT he does himself absolutely no favours to begin with, however. In the introduction he tells how he met with Detective Jerry Thompson who investigated the Utah murders. And Jerry brought the bag.
”What bag?” I asked.
“The bag Bundy carried… I have it with me now in my truck!”….
“You’ve got Ted Bundy’s bag!” I said, my voice rising with excitement.
“Yes, I’m holding it right now.”
Later, Kevin’s friend fishes the stuff out of the bag.
First, the woolen ski mask, and then a red-handled ice pick. Next, he retrieved a flashlight, then, a long piece of clothesline rope…
Etc etc. Kevin even gets to keep one of the plastic trash bags in the bag. We can only guess what Ted would have used them for.
And whilst I’m being a little critical, Kevin sometimes coughs up some truly orotund sentences :
Like all the women before her, Laura Aime would soon be immortalised in that heartbreaking litany of those who succumbed to the deviant desires of the serial killer known as Theodore Robert Bundy.
Fortunately there’s not too much of that kind of thing here…
There are quite a few books on Bundy and the ones I’ve seen always scramble up the chronology for effect and make it confusing. This short book doesn’t do that.
A FINAL QUOTE
Guilt. It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to our body.
What's one less person on the face of the Earth, anyways?
December 15, 2015
I've read every book on Ted Bundy I could find before stumbling on A Comprehensive History and I was surprised by how much I didn't know about his murders. Sullivan's book has its flaws and it seems to rely heavily on Liz Kendall's The Phantom Prince (from what I've heard), but is still a compelling and well-structured narrative of events.
December 14, 2018
Audiobook #243
May 20, 2017
TW for rape
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.
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Maybe the most shocking thing about this book is that Sullivan consistently refers to Bundy's rape of his victims as "having sex" with them. Sex is consensual by default. Since Bundy raped a myriad of women, often raping their corpses as well, the incorrect and offensive term showed up often and was distracting.
.
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.
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Maybe the most shocking thing about this book is that Sullivan consistently refers to Bundy's rape of his victims as "having sex" with them. Sex is consensual by default. Since Bundy raped a myriad of women, often raping their corpses as well, the incorrect and offensive term showed up often and was distracting.
October 21, 2014
Oh Lord! Another author who has no idea what a psychopath is. He keeps going on and on about Bundy's feelings. LOL. Is it really that hard to actually look up the term before using it?
My favorite part: 'it would've been best if Bundy got help but he was a psychopath and psychopaths don't get help.' You wanna know why? Because they ain't broken. You can't help a psychopath. There's no pill that'll set them right and give them a conscious.
Bleh.
My favorite part: 'it would've been best if Bundy got help but he was a psychopath and psychopaths don't get help.' You wanna know why? Because they ain't broken. You can't help a psychopath. There's no pill that'll set them right and give them a conscious.
Bleh.
August 26, 2020
(tw; descriptions of rape, assault, & necrophilia)
It’s extremely frustrating to learn that this author, Kevin M. Sullivan, has written a number of books on Ted Bundy, because, frankly, what I’ve read in here was disturbing, and not simply because of the subject’s crimes.
Chapter 1 opens up with an italicized paragraph that is as follows, “The hunter had long ago embraced the night. He felt comfortable in the darkness, for it provided him with a cover for his nocturnal activities. [...] Like the vampire of fiction, where the individual is forever transformed from the normal human into a diabolical creature which ultimately must be destroyed, so too his transformation would also be permanent.” There is much more to this opening paragraph, but rest assured, it does end with, “Theodore Robert Bundy had transformed himself into the perfect killing machine.” Because of course, why not introduce a raping, violent necrophiliac with flowery language?
Not only is this odd language used to describe Bundy throughout the work, but Sullivan also exacerbates the claims Bundy himself made of an “entity”, a “monster within”. He continually uses words like “hunter”, “prey”, “darkness” when speaking about Bundy’s actions. He even refers to Bundy as such “Like a lion in the jungle peering out from behind various forms of cover, waiting for the weakest and most susceptible to pass before him...” (pg. 120)
The worst offense in Sullivan’s writing, making me question why exactly he wrote this, is the speculation and creative liberties taken when it comes to the victims and the inhumane acts they were subjected to, including some description of the desecrating that happened to their bodies.
Sullivan seems to only care about what Bundy’s mindset could have been when taking these victims’ lives. He frequently, if not every time, speculates how “excited” (be it sexually or otherwise) Ted Bundy must have been when killing. Sullivan describes these acts with no respect, leaving out no detail. When describing the murder of an Idaho hitchhiker, this is how the passage was written:
“Highly aroused, he would have sex with her (perhaps anal), and would complete the act of murder through strangulation during the act of sodomy. Not wanting to leave so beautiful a sight, he may have stayed with her for a brief time, as he wanted to savor what he created.” (pg. 86)
Nearly every victim’s murder is described in such a manner. Only sparingly does Sullivan turn his speculations on the fear these women and girls (quite a number of Bundy’s victims were under the age of 18; two were 12, one was 15) must have felt during their abductions. Speaking of young victims, this alarming line was written about Lynette Culver, one of the 12 year old girls:
“After saying just the right things to the child (who must have been flattered that a grown man would show such interest in her),” (pg. 138).
Who is this for? Why is such language here, such speculating language that directly makes assumptions about what a child would think about an adult attempting to seduce them?
Finally, because I don’t suggest reading this entry into the many volumes about Ted Bundy’s crimes, this passage sums up the disgust I felt while reading Sullivan’s attempts at a creative look at Bundy. This does describe necrophilia.
“Not even the severing of heads for the purposes of oral sex was taboo. Which brings us to this. As Bundy laid these heads in his lap, and prepared himself for the sexual act, did he enjoy looking into their eyes? Was a victim more beautiful to him now than when he first spoke to her? Was she prettier now that she was dead?” (pg. 67)
I truly have no words for all these descriptors, and the consistent way Sullivan kept describing Bundy. Say it like it is: Theodore Bundy raped women, killed women, defiled their bodies, because he hated women. Was something “sick” about him? Yes, but should you romanticize and write purple prose about what the serial killer himself called the “Entity” that “told him what to do to these women”? Absolutely not, under any circumstances. I will also say, the use of “sex” for acts not consensual, needs to stop. It is rape. Sex implies pleasure with both parties.
It’s disappointing that Kevin M. Sullivan has also, apparently, been published into criminal justice textbooks. His words come off as admirant of Ted Bundy, and apathetic at best towards the victims.
It’s extremely frustrating to learn that this author, Kevin M. Sullivan, has written a number of books on Ted Bundy, because, frankly, what I’ve read in here was disturbing, and not simply because of the subject’s crimes.
Chapter 1 opens up with an italicized paragraph that is as follows, “The hunter had long ago embraced the night. He felt comfortable in the darkness, for it provided him with a cover for his nocturnal activities. [...] Like the vampire of fiction, where the individual is forever transformed from the normal human into a diabolical creature which ultimately must be destroyed, so too his transformation would also be permanent.” There is much more to this opening paragraph, but rest assured, it does end with, “Theodore Robert Bundy had transformed himself into the perfect killing machine.” Because of course, why not introduce a raping, violent necrophiliac with flowery language?
Not only is this odd language used to describe Bundy throughout the work, but Sullivan also exacerbates the claims Bundy himself made of an “entity”, a “monster within”. He continually uses words like “hunter”, “prey”, “darkness” when speaking about Bundy’s actions. He even refers to Bundy as such “Like a lion in the jungle peering out from behind various forms of cover, waiting for the weakest and most susceptible to pass before him...” (pg. 120)
The worst offense in Sullivan’s writing, making me question why exactly he wrote this, is the speculation and creative liberties taken when it comes to the victims and the inhumane acts they were subjected to, including some description of the desecrating that happened to their bodies.
Sullivan seems to only care about what Bundy’s mindset could have been when taking these victims’ lives. He frequently, if not every time, speculates how “excited” (be it sexually or otherwise) Ted Bundy must have been when killing. Sullivan describes these acts with no respect, leaving out no detail. When describing the murder of an Idaho hitchhiker, this is how the passage was written:
“Highly aroused, he would have sex with her (perhaps anal), and would complete the act of murder through strangulation during the act of sodomy. Not wanting to leave so beautiful a sight, he may have stayed with her for a brief time, as he wanted to savor what he created.” (pg. 86)
Nearly every victim’s murder is described in such a manner. Only sparingly does Sullivan turn his speculations on the fear these women and girls (quite a number of Bundy’s victims were under the age of 18; two were 12, one was 15) must have felt during their abductions. Speaking of young victims, this alarming line was written about Lynette Culver, one of the 12 year old girls:
“After saying just the right things to the child (who must have been flattered that a grown man would show such interest in her),” (pg. 138).
Who is this for? Why is such language here, such speculating language that directly makes assumptions about what a child would think about an adult attempting to seduce them?
Finally, because I don’t suggest reading this entry into the many volumes about Ted Bundy’s crimes, this passage sums up the disgust I felt while reading Sullivan’s attempts at a creative look at Bundy. This does describe necrophilia.
“Not even the severing of heads for the purposes of oral sex was taboo. Which brings us to this. As Bundy laid these heads in his lap, and prepared himself for the sexual act, did he enjoy looking into their eyes? Was a victim more beautiful to him now than when he first spoke to her? Was she prettier now that she was dead?” (pg. 67)
I truly have no words for all these descriptors, and the consistent way Sullivan kept describing Bundy. Say it like it is: Theodore Bundy raped women, killed women, defiled their bodies, because he hated women. Was something “sick” about him? Yes, but should you romanticize and write purple prose about what the serial killer himself called the “Entity” that “told him what to do to these women”? Absolutely not, under any circumstances. I will also say, the use of “sex” for acts not consensual, needs to stop. It is rape. Sex implies pleasure with both parties.
It’s disappointing that Kevin M. Sullivan has also, apparently, been published into criminal justice textbooks. His words come off as admirant of Ted Bundy, and apathetic at best towards the victims.
November 1, 2017
I am on a serial killer kick for some reason.
Want to read
February 15, 2019It's true, I don't always finish the things I start in life. BUT, books, however bad, I've ALWAYS finished. I honestly thought there would never be a book that I could not force myself to finish. Well... then this book happened. I love true crime. I love reading and watching anything related to the Ted Bundy case, and if this was just a poorly written or uninteresting book, I would've finished it. However after coming across many inaccuracies, I just can't. After watching additional interview tapes of Bundy himself and the lawyers/reporters/officers/family members personally involved, I can say without a doubt that Kevin M. Sullivan took privileges where imagination is concerned. And, in my opinion, there is NO room for faux truth in the form of imagination in true crime books. Simply put, I don't like the way he "got inside" the mind of Bundy, as if he himself were Bundy, and I think he has many small inaccuracies throughout his book relating to the time of day things happened and so on. To some it might seem minute - not to me. If you're an avid true crime reader and a bit of a serial-killer obsessive like I am, I don't think this book is for you. And if you're not, I can't stand the idea that people are being given false information, however small.
If you're really wanting to get glued to the Bundy case, I suggest Ann Rules "The Stranger Beside Me." She may be biased due to her personal relationship, but at least (from what I can tell) she's never misleading and never assumes.
If you're really wanting to get glued to the Bundy case, I suggest Ann Rules "The Stranger Beside Me." She may be biased due to her personal relationship, but at least (from what I can tell) she's never misleading and never assumes.
February 12, 2013
"A Comprehensive History" is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, it lists the victims and basic circumstances, but most of the information isn't much more in-depth than what you would expect to find on the internet. I've read incredibly detailed (not necessarily gory, just thorough) true crime, and this seemed a little half-hearted. The book claims to have new evidence and advertises use of transcripts, but both are few and far between. There is far too much speculation and too many attempts to pluck at the reader's heartstrings through speculated feelings and emotions of the victims and their families. If you want a detailed history of Bundy's crimes, trial, and confessions, this isn't what you are looking for. While this is the first Bundy book I have read, I have to believe there is a better one out there. I think I will try to stick to true crime written by people who knew the criminal or were involved with the case.
December 3, 2015
First things first: this book is riddled with typos. Towards the end it gets really sloppy as Sullivan alternately calls Kim Leach Kimberly Ann Leach and Kimberly Diann Leach. He then calls Margaret Bowman Marguerite Bowman several times. If nothing else these victims' names have been out long enough that you should get them right. They suffered enough. Anyway, beyond this the book fills in the gaps from Ann Rule's amazing "The Stranger Beside Me." The end gets a bit hurried with the arrest, escape, rearrest and second escape of Bundy, but the beginning about his childhood and crimes in Washington is full of information you might not have known. Sullivan does get repetitive at times, but this is still a worthwhile read.
April 1, 2023
Clawing back a point by including detail of some apparently previously unknown crimes of Bundy’s, I didn’t find this as comprehensive as other, better books on the same topic (I suggest you check out The Only Living Witness by Stephen G Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth if you’re so inclined).
I’m not keen on true crime books that imagine what the perpetrator was ‘probably’ thinking, feeling or doing where we have nothing to back that up, and I take real exception to the author insisting on describing Bundy’s rapes as either ‘having sex with’ or ‘making love to’ his victims.
I’m not keen on true crime books that imagine what the perpetrator was ‘probably’ thinking, feeling or doing where we have nothing to back that up, and I take real exception to the author insisting on describing Bundy’s rapes as either ‘having sex with’ or ‘making love to’ his victims.
May 21, 2013
So I read serial killer biographies, blame my High School Honors Pyschology Class in which I chose to do a report about serial killers. Probably not the best nighttime reading, but it is also kind of interesting to peruse the thought process of a sociopath. I also learned a few new things about Mr. Bundy, not sure I want to know them, but know I do. My Pysch teacher would be so proud.
January 29, 2015
I felt this book was well written. Being 14 years old, with long brown hair parted in the middle and living in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1974 this book brought back many memories - scary memories of young women disappearing.
July 20, 2019
I have read nearly every book available on Ted Bundy. This book is supposedly full of new information and a “comprehensive history”. As another reviewer wrote, I found the writing to be mostly information that is readily available on any google search. I also had a real problem with how Mr. Sullivan would go into such detail about the murders and sexual assaults as if he were re-enacting Bundy’s actions. It was gross and unnecessary. He spoke with great detail about what Ted did to his victims but none of us can ever really know what he did and to take such creative liberties is a perverse style of writing in true crime that leaves the reader feeling as if the writer is somehow enjoying these descriptions. And as another reviewer mentioned, he dismissed the victims as “unfortunate pretty coeds” who crossed the path of this “diabolical madman." This book bordered on glorifying Ted Bundy. I will pass on any of Kevin Sullivan’s other books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2019
You really *can* judge a book by its cover.
See the massive ice pick-wielding hand on the front and those big blood splatters? Well, 'The Bundy Murders' really is every bit as tacky as that suggests. The tone varies wildly between rational and almost fetishistic, something which made this an uncomfortable read.
Even if you like your true crime on the seedy side, be warned that the language here is repetitive, the text strewn with typos, and, if I didn't know better, I'd say the author doesn't understand the difference between 'to' and 'too'. This 'comprehensive history' could have been half as long, but Sullivan pads the narrative with endless recycling of the same ideas and pet theories regarding Bundy's psychology.
My verdict: Blech!
See the massive ice pick-wielding hand on the front and those big blood splatters? Well, 'The Bundy Murders' really is every bit as tacky as that suggests. The tone varies wildly between rational and almost fetishistic, something which made this an uncomfortable read.
Even if you like your true crime on the seedy side, be warned that the language here is repetitive, the text strewn with typos, and, if I didn't know better, I'd say the author doesn't understand the difference between 'to' and 'too'. This 'comprehensive history' could have been half as long, but Sullivan pads the narrative with endless recycling of the same ideas and pet theories regarding Bundy's psychology.
My verdict: Blech!
October 13, 2018
It was ok....
The writing was... well.. ok. I mainly wanted to learn about this serial killer, and it was exactly that. Sometimes the author would talk about Bundy's feelings and how he was thinking about things and whatnot, that would trigger me, cuz well.. Bundy had no feelings, clearly he was a psychopath. He wouldn't think shit. He just wanted to kill and rape and all the shit he did.
Oh well... besides that, and a couple of other things I cringed at... it was what it sets out to be as a book about a serial killer.
The writing was... well.. ok. I mainly wanted to learn about this serial killer, and it was exactly that. Sometimes the author would talk about Bundy's feelings and how he was thinking about things and whatnot, that would trigger me, cuz well.. Bundy had no feelings, clearly he was a psychopath. He wouldn't think shit. He just wanted to kill and rape and all the shit he did.
Oh well... besides that, and a couple of other things I cringed at... it was what it sets out to be as a book about a serial killer.
January 13, 2016
This was a pretty good read with -- as promised -- new details of the Bundy investigation left out of other books. I can only say this was "pretty good" because the author is so wordy. He never says a store is "bigger than it used to be" when he can say it's "experienced a slight enlargement." For all that it remains a pretty good book.
April 11, 2014
Mesmerizing to the point where I couldn't put it down. I read it on the bus, read it when I was running on the treadmill, in bed...you get the idea. It's a haunting read and I recommend it to those who want more details than are generally available in newspapers and online articles.
September 16, 2012
A fascinating story, thoroughly researched but written without any sense of style or (psychological) analysis.
May 2, 2019
This is a straightforward, narrative account of Ted Bundy's crimes and the long-drawn-out hunting and capturing of Bundy himself. After his final, forever incarceration in 1978 to his death in the electric chair in Florida in 1989, Bundy waded endlessly through the appeals system. This is the part of the book that is hardest to read, particularly as you already know how it ends.
Ted Bundy became a kind of macabre celebrity due to his superficially pleasant demeanour and good looks contrasting so alarmingly with his ghastly crimes. Seemingly driven by an insatiable urge to kill, Bundy learned to entice unsuspecting young women into his car, often by posing as a partly disabled man who just needed a little help getting some equipment into the vehicle. He then, usually, bludgeoned his victims, either killing them outright or rendering them unconscious, while he performed gross sexual assaults on them. Later he would dispose of the bodies in bushland. Sometimes he decapitated them – early discoveries of his victims' remains noted the skulls detached from the bodies.
Bundy liked to hunt in university and college environments, where he could blend in with the student crowd unnoticed while he sought suitable "marks". He himself was often pursuing studies. In fact, that's one of the weird things about Bundy – he managed to achieve a degree in psychology and even pursued legal studies while still in the grip of his compulsion to murder. The judge who finally handed him the death penalty actually said that, under different circumstances, he would have made a good lawyer! Does this say more about lawyers than about Bundy?
The reason for only giving this 3 stars is that I felt – especially after reading The Stranger Beside Me – that there was too little real insight offered into how Bundy came to be the way he was. More detail on his background and how his disputed paternity affected him would have helped. Also, the crimes are often described in a desultory way, like crossing off items on a list. And I don't know how the author could possibly know how Ted was feeling at the time he committed them, unless Ted decided to talk about them, which he was notoriously loath to do.
The real problem is that no-one’s come up with a solution to the serial killer menace or the penchant for violence, almost overwhelmingly against women, that American and other western societies have almost become used to. As long as no-one does, victims will lose their lives too soon, in awful ways, and their families and loved ones will be condemned to suffer.
Ted Bundy became a kind of macabre celebrity due to his superficially pleasant demeanour and good looks contrasting so alarmingly with his ghastly crimes. Seemingly driven by an insatiable urge to kill, Bundy learned to entice unsuspecting young women into his car, often by posing as a partly disabled man who just needed a little help getting some equipment into the vehicle. He then, usually, bludgeoned his victims, either killing them outright or rendering them unconscious, while he performed gross sexual assaults on them. Later he would dispose of the bodies in bushland. Sometimes he decapitated them – early discoveries of his victims' remains noted the skulls detached from the bodies.
Bundy liked to hunt in university and college environments, where he could blend in with the student crowd unnoticed while he sought suitable "marks". He himself was often pursuing studies. In fact, that's one of the weird things about Bundy – he managed to achieve a degree in psychology and even pursued legal studies while still in the grip of his compulsion to murder. The judge who finally handed him the death penalty actually said that, under different circumstances, he would have made a good lawyer! Does this say more about lawyers than about Bundy?
The reason for only giving this 3 stars is that I felt – especially after reading The Stranger Beside Me – that there was too little real insight offered into how Bundy came to be the way he was. More detail on his background and how his disputed paternity affected him would have helped. Also, the crimes are often described in a desultory way, like crossing off items on a list. And I don't know how the author could possibly know how Ted was feeling at the time he committed them, unless Ted decided to talk about them, which he was notoriously loath to do.
The real problem is that no-one’s come up with a solution to the serial killer menace or the penchant for violence, almost overwhelmingly against women, that American and other western societies have almost become used to. As long as no-one does, victims will lose their lives too soon, in awful ways, and their families and loved ones will be condemned to suffer.
April 6, 2018
I knew next to nothing about Ted Bundy and his crimes before starting this book. Now I know a whoooole lot.
I am a “fan” of true crime books and documentaries in all forms. I can consume large amounts of content without really being affected, as I can separate and compartmentalize pretty well. There was a point during the listening of this book (I listened on audio during my commute) that literally made me feel a little queasy. That has never happened to me before.
A note about the audiobook. This narrator was great. His pace and cadence weren’t distracting and he didn’t over dramatize. I can’t say anything to pronunciations of names etc, as I was not familiar with the people involved prior to this book.
This book is definitely and interesting look at one of the most disturbed monsters in American history.
I am a “fan” of true crime books and documentaries in all forms. I can consume large amounts of content without really being affected, as I can separate and compartmentalize pretty well. There was a point during the listening of this book (I listened on audio during my commute) that literally made me feel a little queasy. That has never happened to me before.
A note about the audiobook. This narrator was great. His pace and cadence weren’t distracting and he didn’t over dramatize. I can’t say anything to pronunciations of names etc, as I was not familiar with the people involved prior to this book.
This book is definitely and interesting look at one of the most disturbed monsters in American history.
June 20, 2020
I got first interested in exploring bundy's murders by binge watching small bits on youtube, which lead me to notice that Bundy expert Kevin M. Sullivan was featured in almost every single documentary made on Ted. The thing that pushed me to read this book.
As entiteled, the book is a chronological narrative on Ted's infamous murdering spree across the US in the 1970's. I liked mostly the page-turning narration style while juggling the events through many lenses: Ted's, the media's and the Law Inforcement's and most importantly through his girlfriend's. (Citing her book 'The Phantom Prince' ,on many occasion.)
I think that it was very crucial to stress this point because of the nature of our antagonist here : on how he lived that double life of his, therefore everyone looked at him differently.
At the end I kinda felt the author's rush to seal his book (probably he got a sequel on his mind). But, I was hoping for a couple of chapters at the end covering the deathrow years, (or maybe I just didn't want it to end) hence the missing fifth star. :(
As entiteled, the book is a chronological narrative on Ted's infamous murdering spree across the US in the 1970's. I liked mostly the page-turning narration style while juggling the events through many lenses: Ted's, the media's and the Law Inforcement's and most importantly through his girlfriend's. (Citing her book 'The Phantom Prince' ,on many occasion.)
I think that it was very crucial to stress this point because of the nature of our antagonist here : on how he lived that double life of his, therefore everyone looked at him differently.
At the end I kinda felt the author's rush to seal his book (probably he got a sequel on his mind). But, I was hoping for a couple of chapters at the end covering the deathrow years, (or maybe I just didn't want it to end) hence the missing fifth star. :(
November 13, 2018
Well written, informative and an intriguing read.
February 3, 2015
Very interesting, brought up a few things I did not know about Bundy, it was nothing special though. In comparing it to Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story
I would give the edge to Rule, without a doubt, but O'Sullivan did his research and even got to actually see the actual Bundy burglar kit, touch it, and take photos..as a souvenir, he got one of the green garbage bags that belonged to Bundy, how awesome would that be, to own something like that?
In comparison to Rebecca Morris's book Ted and Ann: The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy I would give the edge to O'Sullivan, as he stayed closer to the facts and while he got to touch actual evidence, he never stepped into the story himself and gave his opinion like Morris did.
I would give the edge to Rule, without a doubt, but O'Sullivan did his research and even got to actually see the actual Bundy burglar kit, touch it, and take photos..as a souvenir, he got one of the green garbage bags that belonged to Bundy, how awesome would that be, to own something like that?
In comparison to Rebecca Morris's book Ted and Ann: The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy I would give the edge to O'Sullivan, as he stayed closer to the facts and while he got to touch actual evidence, he never stepped into the story himself and gave his opinion like Morris did.
October 17, 2016
True crime is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine and this book kept me pretty rapt the whole time, though I can't say I'm a particular fan of the author. His use of "females" and "co-eds" to describe the victims and his tendency to reduce the victims down to little more than what they looked like (usually describing them as "pretty" with "long hair parted down the middle") while describing locations in which they are killed in exhaustive detail, made me feel like the author has little empathy for the girls and women that Bundy killed. The author also spends a fair bit of time tooting his own horn, painting himself as the protagonist of the story instead of a reporter of incidents from decades ago.
While I was entertained, I'll probably avoid any other books by this author.
While I was entertained, I'll probably avoid any other books by this author.
March 25, 2010
This book was a pleasant surprise. It includes a good, readable recap of the content of the many other Bundy books, minus a lot of the BS, and there is a bit of content that's either not in the others or is difficult to get without reading them all. The book is rather expensive and hard to get, but the Kindle version is much cheaper, if a bit poorly edited. The author does have his Bundy pet theories, but he doesn't put them forth as fact, and avoids the self-serving sappiness of authors like Anne Rule.
February 26, 2017
I thought I knew everything there was to know about Theodore Bundy, but boy was I wrong. Kevin Sullivan has meticulously researched Bundy and shares facts I never knew. He shares facts that have never been made public before. Bundy was definitely a one-of-a-kind serial killer. There was never one before him, nor after him, that could match his charming, handsome, intelligent, sick, twisted mind. Thank God.
June 3, 2018
Listened to in audio format.
This book was well researched but there were obvious gaps in the story. Personally I would of been interested in Ted Bundy's early years and some excerpts from his first and second trials.
This book was well researched but there were obvious gaps in the story. Personally I would of been interested in Ted Bundy's early years and some excerpts from his first and second trials.
March 11, 2019
Actually one of the better books I've read on this Serial Killer. Such a waste he could have made something of himself if he could have controlled the demons inside of him and just listened to others.
Guess for some that's easier said then done.
Guess for some that's easier said then done.
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