Green River, Running Red: The True Story of America's Deadliest Serial Killer

by Ann Rule

Green River, Running Red America's master of true crime, Ann Rule, presents her biggest book yet: the story of the terrifying Green River killings. Full description

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery, History, Biography

665 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ann Rule was a popular American true crime writer. Raised in a law enforcement and criminal justice system environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She was a former Seattle Policewoman and was well educated in psychology and criminology.

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 Clinic, giving her a unique distinction among true crime writers.

Rule won two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery fans' organization. She was nominated three times for the Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. She is highly regarded for creating the true crime genre as it exists today.

Ann Rule also wrote under the name Andy Stack . Her daughter is Goodreads author Leslie Rule.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough and very interesting telling of the events surrounding the investigation of the Green River Killer. I did not know much about the Green River Killer - other than he committed a series of murders in Washington back in the 80s. Since I knew so little, this was a suspenseful whodunit? for me.

The book is not easy to read if the horrific details of crimes make you queasy. It was shocking to read about what one human can do to another human because they think they are "doing the right thing to clean up the streets". Also shocking (but maybe not surprising) that a lot of people didn't really care about whole lot at first because the victims were mainly prostitutes. Seeing how community, police, and media attitudes shaped the course of this investigation was very interesting. I was surprised at how , despite the fact that the book is decently long at 434 pages, it never dragged. Each section was like another episode of a crime show and I couldn't wait to get to the next episode the next day.

If you like true crime, mysteries, and/or just seeing how truly messed up the human mind can be, check this book out.

[jv poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chilling.
And I want to be Ann Rule when I grow up.

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Prostitution is a profession born of desperation, poverty, alienation and loneliness."

Ann Rule covers one of the most profilic serial killers in American history - a case involving more than forty-nine female victims and spanning over two decades of intense investigative work.

Well, this one was a mixed bag. It's very clear from the beginning that Rule tries to use this novel as a way of humanising all of the Green River Killer's victims. With the introduction of each victim, there is a small picture included as well as some back story on their life prior to it being cut short by Gary Ridgway. Some victims are covered in great detail, others are covered in a couple of lines, it really depends on what Rule was able to find out through interviews with family members and husbands/boyfriends etc. And I appreciated this, I really did. It's very easy to think of these girls as just a name on Ridgway's victim list, when they were actual human beings with hopes and dreams and families, struggling through a tough phase in their lives. However, on the flip-side, given the sheer magnitude of Ridgway's victim pool, this can become quite monotonous and repetitive after a while. Especially when Rule, for some reason, deems it important to tell us how attractive each victim was, or her weight. HONESTLY. It's very clear from the get-go that Ridgway does not have a type, unlike Bundy who targeted attractive brunettes with a centre parting in their hair. Therefore, the inclusion of such details felt very unnecessary and just removed me from what I was reading. We had a picture of each girl to refer to, we didn't need any further expansion on physical characteristics - anyway, rant over!

The story itself was very disjointed at times - Rule would cover some of the victims, then jump over to Ridgway's childhood, then jump over to the investigative team (again, giving us unnecessary details about each individual that I could not care any less about) and then jump back again. This was particularly jarring when I was really interested in learning more about Ridgway and his history, and she'd just cut me off and start talking about some guy retiring from the investigative team and some other guy taking over. I DON'T CARE.

I feel like I've been harsh so far, so it's time to cover some aspects I did like… I just really enjoy Rule's writing. It's nice and easy reading, which is required when you're reading true crime, I feel. We're here for the facts, we're here for good detailed coverage of different serial killers or crimes, we don't need flowery language or beautiful prose (although Ann does try her hand at this at times when describing different landscapes etc - which is fine, it doesn't bother me). She gives us little snapshots of Ridgway's childhood and growing up, and his previous marriages, and these are REALLY interesting. Then towards the end of the book, when she covers his eventual capture and interrogation, this is when it gets SO GOOD I CAN'T STOP. I just wish more of the book was as addictive as this section.

Overall, this book really could have, and should have, been shorter. It's still a mostly enjoyable read if you're interested in learning more about Ridgway and his heinous crimes. 3 stars out of 5 for me!

[alittlelifeofmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: I am updating my review for this book because this Orlando massacre has made me realize something. I gave this book a 3.75/5 stars because I found it repetitive. I found hearing about the girls' life repetitive and I wanted to hear more about Gary Ridgway. But I was wrong in thinking that. I stand by everything else in my review, and it was repetitive, but in the way it was done, not what was said. Ridgway was charged with 48 murders, almost identical to this massacre. And as with other massacre's, the victims are lost. The perpetrator becomes the shining star of this crime when it should be the victims who are the shining star. This book was so much more than I gave it because it was important. It covered the parts of a crime that are important. Not just where it happened and why and by whom, but who was the victim. More than a name and a face and stats, but who they were at people. It's sad that it took me a massacre of this magnitude to teach me this, but I'm glad I got this lesson all the same.


I hate this rating, but 3.75 stars. Too good for 3.5 but not worthy of the full 4 stars.

This is a non-fiction book about Gary Ridgeway who was known as the Green River Killer. Between the years 1982 and 1985 he killed around 50 prostitutes in the Seattle area and wasn't captured until 2001.
This serial killer has never been one I've really paid attention to, but I was really curious how they caught him when he was so dormant for so long.

This book has a lot of flaws. I don't like the organization of it. Nearly 250 pages of biographies about the women that he kidnapped. It basically was like: introduce the girl. Talk about where she was taken and how and when. Outline her childhood. Talk about how she became a prostitute. Then repeat. Occasionally she threw in a bit about detectives and the hunt for the killer. So while interesting, very formulaic and repetitive.
Another thing, speaking of the killer, she does not use Ridgeway's name until page 291. Before then whenever she talked about him in any way it was always "him", "the boy" etc. It was weird and I don't really know the purpose of it.
Another thing I didn't like: she somehow makes this about herself, as though she's relevant at all. Ann Rule talks about the book signings she had where he went to them, the tips and calls she received, how she always expected to be writing other books and the books she wrote in the meantime. Like I don't care about her life and I felt like she constantly needed to impose herself in the story like she was in any way involved in this.

And yet.... Despite all of this... I enjoyed it. Despite the 250 repetitive pages, they flowed well. I always felt like reading it. It's very dense so it took me a while but it happened. I liked knowing about this and I learned from this book which doesn't always happen when I read about serial killers.

So not perfect by any means, but interesting and thorough and informative about what happened but also about how they caught him. I enjoyed it.

[Obsidian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good true crime book, the main reason why I didn't give it five stars is that there was too much filler in here for me towards the end. A good 20 percent of this book could have deleted (after we get into the 1990s) since we all should know at this point that Ridgway (the Green River Killer) didn't get arrested until 2001 and was not convicted until 2003. Depending on the book I don't mind when Rule segues into the lives of the police officers who are responsible for apprehending these killers, this time though there was a lot of repetitiveness that ended up boring me to tears.

"Green River, Running Red" is a look at the Green River Killer who murdered 71 women in Washington State in the 1980s and 1990s. Rule gives us an intimate look at these women and in some cases teens. We find out what drove many of them to the streets and how they got involved with prostitution. I find it appalling how little people seemed to care that prostitutes were being murdered. Ridgway purposely chose women in this profession since besides hating them, he thought no one would notice them going missing and if they did, would not care. Rule manages to have you feel nothing but sympathy for these women and their family who would not know for years or decades in some cases about what happened to their daughters/mothers/sisters. I loved that Rule added in pictures before she got into the history of each woman. I also found myself hoping for a different outcome once I got caught up in all of their lives.

Rule smartly does not make Ridgway the focus of this book. Every couple of chapters or so we peek back in at Ridgway to see where he is in his life, but he is depicted as a malevolent ghost for most of the story before Rule goes into how he was finally apprehended.

I do think in this case going into the Green River Task Force could have been cut way down in this final book. They really didn't find anything to go on with Ridgway for a long time, so reading about other suspects wasn't interesting. I also thought Rule carried the water for the police a bit too much in this book. She also weirdly takes potshots at Robert Keppel who enlisted Ted Bundy who provided some insights into the Green River Killer before his death. Keppel even wrote a book about it entitled "The Riverman".

The ending of the book goes into Ridgway going out with law enforcement and finding the locations of other victims and him recounting how he murdered them.

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just beyond terrifying. Thankfully Ridgway has been convicted but to know that it took so long to catch this monster is just horrifying, he was just hiding in plain sight the WHOLE time. It gives me shivers just thinking about it! Ann Rule truly is the queen of true crime writing, she just has the perfect way of balancing the horrifying crime facts with the tidbits about the victims and Ridgway’s own life leading up to his killings. I enjoyed that she introduced us to the victims, but I did find she elaborated way too much on some of them, a single paragraph would have sufficed and given us the background we needed on them. My favourite part of the book by far was the ending where it was leading up to his capture and arrest, my eyes were GLUED to the page and I was on the edge of my seat! This is one hell of a true crime story, definitely a must read for any true crime fan!

[Marcella Wigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say this is a fun read, but Rule has a tendency to use victim-centered narrative, which I find progressive and important in discussions of true crime, and it was overall a well-done account of the cases of the Green River Killer. Ridgway is a pretty solid refutation to the common misconceptions about serial killers, that they must be extraordinarily successful or charming or intelligent, especially to evade capture. He was utterly ordinary and mediocre, even less than mediocre by some measurements, and yet he caused incredible destruction to the lives of the young women and families he chose to hurt, and even evaded capture for twenty years. Perhaps it was the very idea that the Green River culprit had to be someone exceptionally clever that helped many in the police force on the case overlook the suspect they had had on their radar for decades.

Not genius writing, but I do like her focus on the women more than on Ridgway himself, especially given the circumstances of the crimes, in which they were viewed by their murderer as merely trash to be discarded, and her skepticism of Ridgway as having any shred of normal compassion, which I share with her. This annoyed me less than parts of *The Stranger Beside Me* when she inserts herself into the narrative a bit too zealously.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 -3.75 stars

The Green River killer may be the deadliest killer in recent history. There are at least 50 murders but likely more. Most occurred between 1981 and 1983 in King County, Washington. When he started, the term “serial killer” wasn’t even coined yet. He was caught in fall 2001. (Many of us were preoccupied with other news at the time.) Although he was one of many suspects in the 80s, he passed a polygraph. Modern forensics and DNA testing finally advanced to conclusively prove he did it.

The author is of the philosophy that notorious criminals shouldn’t be admired or made famous, so she doesn’t mention his name until his arrest. I also do not want the names of mass shooters and other despicable people taking up space in my brain. My philosophy is to instead call these people “Loser 56,” “Douchebag 17,” or “SOB 33.” (I hope this catches on.) So I decided to call the Green River Killer “Asshole 6.”

The author has a long career as a police detective and crime writer. She lived in the area the murders were taking place. The first half of the book focuses on the victims: most get a biographical sketch with the details of their disappearances. (A few don’t get much description; I think the families of these declined interviews.) Most of the girls were teenagers who had run away and become prostitutes. Many were supporting “boyfriends” who were little more than pimps. They all believed they were too careful or too smart to become victims. Some had troubled childhoods; others simply became rebellious when they hit puberty.

The girls in general didn’t trust the police. One girl who went to the police ended up being molested by the cop; many weren’t believed. Others would get arrested for prostitution while the men buying their services never did. Several girls escaped Asshole 6. These accounts are the most harrowing.

The second half of the book covers more of the investigation, Asshole 6's life, his arrest and interrogation, and what they learned about his motivations. Basically he was addicted to killing and had no self-control. His murders dropped quite a bit once he married his third wife. He never felt remorse or compassion; he was completely self-centered. He was upset when police removed “his” bodies when they were discovered. As part of a plea deal, he led police to body sites in 2003, where many victims were finally found. I saw that a couple more were found after this book was written.

So it is a long book that spends a lot of time on the victims and much less on forensics, but it’s important information to have out there.

Language: Some strong language in one or two quotes
Sexual Content: Discussed clinically, not graphically, including rape and necrophilia
Violence: Mostly after-the-fact mentions of strangulation but also attempted murder accounts
Harm to Animals: Asshole 6 killed animals as a child, particularly cats and birds.
Harm to Children: As a teen, Asshole 6 stabbed a child who survived.
Other (Triggers): Rape, murder, abuse, neglect

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of America’s most prolific serial killer, convicted of 48 murders. Also known as the Green River killer, who strangled prostitutes en masse, along with unlucky hitchhikers. Of course such a prolific killer is horrifying, but the book is so long and meandering that it becomes boring. The author keeps writing herself into the book, which is annoying and distracting even if the killer actually went to a few of her book signings. By the end I was not only feeling jaded, but also physically sick to my stomach.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written shortly after the finalisation of the case, Green River, Running Red is a mostly comprehensive book on a series of killings that went on for far, far too long.

Ann Rule is definitely one of the better-known true crime writers, and for good reason - she's got a very natural writing style that's easy to read, and that's true here. But there were some inconsistencies and choices made that affected my rating.

The book begins, and continues for some time, with an overview of the victims in the case. Definitely the right focus, as sad as the majority of these women's lives were - but with the sheer number of victims to cover, it's a slog by the end. I'm also not sure I needed to know their cup sizes? This is a book from the early 2000s, but some of the choices around describing their physical appearances were dated even for that period. There's also factual errors - the two I caught were the description of a little boy stabbed by Ridgeway in the killer's own childhood. In an earlier section of the book he's described as stabbed in the kidney - later, that's liver. It's not attributed to the memory of either man involved. There's also mention of a conviction for the death of Donna Gentile in California, and though many believe a serial killer there is responsible, her death is still unsolved.

Comprehensive as this book is when it comes to the victims of the case and the man eventually convicted of their murders, there's also a tendency to gloss over missteps made by the task force. A five-year lag in testing DNA (which eventually led to Ridgeway's arrest, the lag allowing for more deaths in that time, so hardy a small deal) merits about half a paragraph. Tips from the early days of the investigation that weren't followed up on are labelled inadvertent mishaps that no-one could be blamed for, when mentioned at all.

It sounds like I'm coming down hard on this, considering I read the whole thing, and that's mostly because I expect better from an author with this kind of reputation. The stories of these victims matter, and deserve to be told correctly. At the end of the day, this is still very much a detailed, victim-focused book that sheds an important light on killings previously swept too easily under the rug.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true crime book about the man in Seattle who took the lives of at least 49 women. It took two decades of research on the author's part to compile the book.
Anne Rule never disappoints. Her ability to ingratiate herself into the story is impressive. This was excellently researched.

[Catten · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Kathryn_w_221185 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The victims deserve to be remembered, Gary Ridgway does not!

[DziwakLiteracki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sprawy Green River Killer pozostały nierozwiązane przez dwadzieścia (!) lat. W tym czasie prawie setka śledczych pracowała w pocie czoła nad pozyskaniem choćby najdrobniejszych tropów mogących doprowadzić do zdemaskowania nieuchwytnego mordercy. To było ciężkie, niesamowicie żmudne, a przede wszystkim wyczerpujące dochodzenie, okupione trudem i przeciwnościami; obarczone przytłaczającym ładunkiem emocjonalnym, niejednokrotnie niemożliwością uniesienia jego ciężaru, próbą zrozumienia nowej, makabrycznej rzeczywistości, którą sprawca – latem 1982 roku - roztoczył nad hrabstwem King.

I Ann Rule zdaje się ów dwoistość doskonale rozumieć.
Piszę ‘dwoistość’ z pełnym rozmysłem, bo jej książka jest czymś bardzo złożonym. Z jednej strony – genialnym reportażem, ‘kompendium wiedzy’ na temat działań Gary’ego Leona Ridgawaya oraz śledztwa prowadzonego wokół jego osoby, z drugiej zaś – opowieścią o ludziach dotkniętych konsekwencjami bezwzględnych czynów człowieka zdecydowanego, by zabijać.

W ,,Mordercy znad Green River” oba te aspekty czynnie się przenikają, są swym naturalnym i oczywistym uzupełnieniem, a Rule nie waha się obok typowo faktograficznej odsłony, postawić jej przeciwności; dla kontrastu wzbogaca część tej historii o niemożliwy do pominięcia osobisty wydźwięk, jednak robi to na tyle udanie – z empatią, delikatnością i zrozumieniem – że całość nabiera wyjątkowego, choć niekiedy niezwykle intymnego charakteru. Przejawia się to szczególnie mocno we wspomnieniach rodzin ofiar, którym autorka daje zarówno prawo głosu, jak i przestrzeń do snucia własnych refleksji i głównie one - fragmenty wypowiadane ustami poszkodowanych - są najbardziej wstrząsające.

Ann Rule skupia się również na nakreśleniu odpowiedniego kontekstu.
Na tle społeczno – obyczajowym osadza wydarzenia rozgrywające się w latach 80. i stara się w możliwe przystępny sposób przybliżyć je swojemu czytelnikowi; wyjaśnia ówcześnie panujące nastroje, znaczenie wybranych zagadnień wobec kwitnącej kultury gwałtu, przemocy i prześladowań młodych kobiet; objaśnia konsekwencje bierności i ignorancji zachowań podwyższonego ryzyka, podkreśla wagę problemów bezpośrednio z nich wynikających; szkicuje pejzaż środowiska przygniecionego traumą seryjnych morderstw.

Dzięki temu zabiegowi - nienachalnemu przedstawieniu wszystkich zależności składających się na całościowy obraz spraw ZGR - książka Rule może z powodzeniem pretendować do miana wielowymiarowej; przedstawia ona bowiem szerokie, choć zdecydowanie niejednoznaczne ujęcie tematu, jego indywidualną perspektywę oraz skomplikowaną złożoność, która tak uwypuklona – będzie kompletną i w pełni zrozumiałą.

I o ile pierwszą wydaną w Polsce książkę Ann Rule (,,Ted Bundy: Morderca obok mnie”) czyta się niczym pełnokrwistą powieść przepełnioną wieloma intensywnymi wrażeniami i trudnym do zniesienia napięciem, o tyle ten tytuł zdecydowanie nie będzie tak przystępny w swym odbiorze.

Z oczywistych względów nie uznaję tego za zarzut – w końcu Rule w ‘Mordercy’ dała popis wspaniałego, rozległego i rzetelnie poprowadzonego dziennikarskiego śledztwa, któremu poświęciła maksimum uwagi – lecz należy jasno zasygnalizować: to lektura nieco bardziej wymagająca.
Owszem, w charakterystyczny dla autorki sposób angażująca, pochłaniająca, niekiedy wręcz – co nie do końca tutaj może pasować – hipnotyzująca, ale przy tym szalenie przytłaczjąca emocjonalnie. Kronika dokonań Ridgaweya przyprawia o dreszcze; niełatwo nabrać dystansu i chłodnego podejścia wobec ilości takiego okrucieństwa i takiej deprawacji; trudno przejść obojętnie obok opisów morderstw zestawionych w kontrze z poruszającymi wspomnieniami rodzin; ciężko nie zmuszać się do przygnębiających refleksji, wysuwania przykrych wniosków.

Jednak warto. Rule bowiem popełniła dzieło kompletne, które jest nie tylko kroniką zbrodniczych dokonań człowieka okrzykniętego mianem ‘najokrutniejszego zabójcy Stanów Zjednoczonych ', ale także hołdem złożonym ofiarom; świadectwem ku pamięci, migawką wspomnień dokumentujących ich boleśnie krótkie życia; próbą udowodnienia, że te młode kobiety – były czymś więcej niż jedynie numerem w krwawej serii Gary’ego Ridgewaya.

[rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't mind the endless descriptions of the victims. In fact, I liked that -- it keeps the memory of the transient, wayward girls Ridgway killed alive, even if the details of their lives were nothing remarkable. What I didn't like was reading about Ann Rule's awesome books and her awesome role as a tip call taker and how everyone in the true crime world looks to her as an expert, etcetera. The crime reporting is good, though the book could have been a welcome 50 pages shorter if Ann had talked less about Ann.

[MadameD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story 3.5/5
Narration 5/5

[JBradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[aska_taka_ja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Co to była za zbornia? Ile emocji i faktów zawiera książka?
Trudno ocenia się książki, które opisują prawdziwe wydarzenia, czasem nie sposób zachować w tych ocenach obiektywizm. Uważam, że o takiej literaturze w złym wydaniu lepiej nie mówić, a o tych dobrych mówić i to często.
"Morderca znad Green River" Ann Rule to właśnie ta książka o której powinno się mówić, a przede wszystkim przeczytać. Jest bardzo szczegółowa, wręcz drobiazgowa. Autorka głównie skupiła się na historii ofiar, później na śledczych, a na samym końcu był on - morderca znad Green River.
Gary Ridgway skazany za 48 zabójstw prostytutek, które mordował tak naprawdę bez jakiegoś powodu.
Zastanawia mnie jak to możliwe, że człowiek o niskiej inteligencji, o słabo rozwiniętych umiejętnościach społecznych jest w stanie "wyprowadzić w pole" śledczych - ludzi po studiach, z różnymi doświadczeniami i szerszą perspektywą odbioru rzeczywistości, tak jak w tej historii.
20 lat sprawa znad Green River czekała na rozwiązanie i tylko czysty przypadek sprawił, że Gary Ridgway został złapany.
Książka to zbiór faktów z życia ofiar, szczegółów śledztwa oraz postępowania po ujęciu Ridgwaya. Nie sposób czytać jej bez emocji na początku jest złość i niedowierzanie, a na końcu żal i smutek.
Ann podobnie jak w przypadku Teda Bundy'ego miała styczność z Ridgwayem.
Przeczytajcie, szczególnie jest to pozycja obowiązkowa dla miłośników true crimu.

[kaśka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 bo książka o Bundym mi się bardziej 'spodobała'

[za_pomniane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐
Książka o Tedzie Bundym tej autorki podobała mi się bardziej.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I vaguely remember the Green River Killer from when he was caught and it made headlines but I don't think I ever really knew much about him aside from snippets on serial killer websites or what have you.
Because I am awful, every time he was mentioned by his less-than-creative moniker, I could only think of the Stuckey River Killer. I mean, that shouldn't be a go-to parody, right?

This is only my second Ann Rule book and I find that, so far, I appreciate the way she speaks of the women who get murdered by killers. There were a lot of young women to memorialize in this book and she touches upon each one. Unfortunately, after the 20th, or so, I couldn't remember which one was whom as their bodies were found. Perhaps it would have made more sense to introduce the reader to the victim right before or after her body had been identified. And since I was listening to the audiobook, I didn't have the luxury of thumbing back to find the person's name to refresh my memory on who she had been. I lost track pretty quickly and felt like an uncaring lout, as a result.

I thought it odd that Rule seemed to want to examine her own unknowing relationship with the killer and inserted herself into this report time and again but never opened the door all the way, choosing to mention here and there that he'd been at a book signing or they'd lived in the same neighborhood and she had to have seen him several times. I'm not sure how relevant that information is to anyone but her and her family, not beyond a momentary chilling thrill, at least.

While this was definitely interesting and, again, for a sensational pop-culture book, I felt it was written with compassion, I can't give this more than three stars. It became repetitive and felt disorganized or like a final final draft before the last edits have been made.

[Cecily Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading about True Crime and especially serial killers. I was really surprised I hadn't heard of this one before considering the extent of his spree.
Definitely an interesting read from someone who actually spoke to the killer before he was caught.
I hope to read more books from Ann Rule!
Decent Read!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading about this when it was happening and when he was finally caught.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Ann Rule. Most true crime kind of falls flat. Ego-stroking police force, or choppy timeline work. I'm really enjoying this. At times it is the true crime I've come to know, at times reads like a thriller or a work of fiction placed in the 1980s. Glad I picked it up.

[Punk · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I was a kid, I remember hearing about the Green River Killer. No details, just the name, but it was spooky enough that it stuck with me. And since my library doesn't have The Stranger Beside Me in ebook—I won't read it in paperback because I worked in a library; I know what those ratty true crime paperbacks look like and I'm not touching them—I chose this book as part of my exploration of the question: Do I really enjoy true crime or do I just love Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark's My Favorite Murder?

All I know for sure is that I love Karen and Georgia, and this book is long-winded, poorly organized, and filled with mind-numbing data. It'd be nerve wracking to read if you knew there was going to be a quiz later. Rule gives you dates, directions with cross streets, the full names of everyone you encounter, as well as their height, weight, age, occupation, birthday, and the names of their parents, siblings, and children. Surprisingly, none of that makes any of these people memorable. But without the threat of a test hanging over me, this was easy to read since I knew I would never need to remember a word of it, and I didn't, not even while I was reading.

The most satisfying part was when she mentioned an unrelated murder that happened near me when I was ten, and now I have context for a vague memory of a murder in a Denny's parking lot. Yes, you even get unrelated murders in this! Because the Pacific Northwest was fucking crawling with serial killers in the seventies and eighties, and Gary Ridgway was running around loose for twenty years while the cops searched for the Green River Killer. Every time someone was murdered, you had to wonder if it was him. They finally arrested him in 2001. I mean jesus. His first victims were found in 1982.

Anyway, this book isn't very good. It has chapters from Ridgway's perspective that are super gross and sourced from where, exactly, Ann? Also it has absolutely no bibliography. Just about three pages of people who assisted Rule in writing the book.

And it needs all the trigger warnings. Literally all of them.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 and stable families who chose the life of prostitution for unknown reasons. Whether naive or "able to take care of myself", they fell victim to America's most prolific serial killer and their stories are heartbreaking.
The author, who lived in the area during Ridgeway's murderous spree, provides an insider's view of the Green River Task Force comprised of detectives who dedicated their careers to bringing the killer to justice.....their mistakes and their victories and the toll that it took on their own lives. It took 20 years for that justice to finally be achieved and the true number of Ridgeway's victims is still unknown. A fascinating book and quite disturbing.

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: death, murder, rape, gore, kidnapping, disappearance of a loved one, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, abusive relationships, murder of sex workers.

3.5 stars.

I so desperately wanted to find this utterly gripping from start to finish, because I'd never even HEARD of the Green River Killer before this book came across my radar and he was so incredibly prolific. And I fully admire Ann Rule's commitment to telling the stories of each and every young woman who disappeared in the area during the period when the Green River Killer was active.

However.

So many of their stories were similar and equally bleak - shitty home life, ran away from home, ended up in an abusive relationship that led to drug/alcohol abuse, becoming sex workers, MURDER. And because Rule is trying to tell each and every one of their stories, I kind of felt like all of the victims blended together after a while.

So ultimately I found myself losing track of the timeline and all the people Rule was talking about, and I don't really feel like it needed to be as long as it was...

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really grab me until about page 470.
I thought about not finishing it, but I wanted to know what happened.
When they finally identified Ridgeway, things picked up.

I appreciate Ann Rule's dedication to the victims and their families, but the writing became repetitive and monotonous. I suppose the monotony comes from the overall bleakness of this case, but it was not only bleak, but a chore to get through.

I did find it rewarding, however, and I'm glad I finished this.

I think I went into the way I read most true crime; the voyeuristic speculation, the gritty details. What I got was a really in depth and documented book about a horrendous case. Made me look at true crime differently and with more respect.

[Miku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ameryka, Seattle, lata '80. Policja próbuje rozwiązać sprawę śmierci wielu kobiet, które były odnajdywane w okolicy Green River. Po kilku latach pracy, okazało się, że sprawcą była jedna osoba - Gary Ridgway. Mężczyzna został skazany za 49 morderstw, ale rzeczywista liczba ofiar mogła być dużo wyższa. Ann Tyle podejmuje się trudnego zadania, ponieważ bierze się za analizę całej serii wydarzeń. Ocenia dwudziestoletnią pracę policji, wytykając im błędy w rozumowaniu, opisuje metody działania seryjnego mordercy, kreśli nam portrety ofiar. Wszystko po to, byśmy otrzymali pełen obraz wydarzeń i mogli chociaż odrobinę zrozumieć dlaczego śledztwo trwało tak przeraźliwie długo oraz jak postępował morderca.

Ciężka książka do oceny. Tematyka intrygująca, a praca włożona w powstanie tej pozycji godna podziwu. Jednak główny problem przy tej pozycji mam z jej układem. Na początku jesteśmy zawaleni potężną dawką informacji o ofiarach czyli kim były, jakie miały dzieciństwo, czym się zajmowały na co dzień oraz w jakich okolicznościach zaginęły. To były bardzo interesujące informacje, ale nie na początek książki. Bardziej spodziewałam się, że wszystko rozpocznie się od strony Ridgway'a, jego życia przed seryjnymi zabójstwami, a dopiero potem przejdziemy do opisów ofiar. Przyznaję się bez bicia, że do tej pory nie czytałam o Ridgway'u, nie miałam świadomości kim on był oraz co zrobił (jednak Ted Bundy znacznie tutaj zdominował moją wiedzę) i na początku lektury raczej oczekiwałam, że zostanie mi przybliżona jego postać, przynajmniej do momentu, kiedy zaczął robić to co robił. Bardzo wiele istotnych informacji o mordercy zostało przesunięte na końcówkę książki, kiedy już jesteśmy przeżuci i wypluci, przez całą zawartość.

Sięgając po tę książkę trzeba się przygotować, że to jest rasowe true crime. Mamy prawdziwe wydarzenia, a wszystko jest bardzo szczegółowo przedstawione, bo polegamy na każdym dostępnym dokumencie, który powstał w związku z daną sprawą, wspomnieniach bliskich, zeznaniach świadków, dokumentacji z rozpraw sądowych. Tutaj nie ma miejsca na ogólniki.

Gdyby nie ten mało przyjazny układ książki to bym dała 4/5. Wystarczyło zmienić kolejność, a odbiór lektury byłby dużo lepszy. Także zostaje mi zostawić tylko 3 gwiazdki.