truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (writing: glass cat)
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Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial MurdererGreen River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer by Ann Rule

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This is an excellent account of the Green River Killer's reign of terror, from the discovery of Wendy Lee Coffield's body in 1982 to his long, gruesome interviews with detectives as part of his plea bargain in 2003. Rule, as a famous true crime writer living in the south Seattle area, found herself a part of the story even as she was trying to prepare to write about it (to a lesser degree than happened with Ted Bundy, but I'm sure the coincidence was horrific for her), and I think part of what makes this book so engaging (if that's not an inappropriate term) is in fact Rule's own engagement with the story. Not just her empathy, but her deep personal knowledge of the geography that, as it would turn out, was so vital to Gary Ridgway himself. Her own fear informs the book (especially the literally fear-full moment when her daughter identified Ridgway as a man who frequently came to Rule's events); it's not as much a memoir as The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story, but it has some of that same feel.

Rule is also interested in the victims' sad, short stories (most of the girls Ridgway murdered were between 16 and 20) and clearly went to a lot of trouble to find their families and to listen to what they said. Her coverage is uneven, as it would have to be. You call tell that Opal Mills' brother, Tracy Winston's mother, Mary Bello's mother, and Mary Bridget Meehan's family gave extensive interivews, simply by the detail that Rule goes into; other victims are just names and the circumstances pieced together of their deaths. And then the ghastly afterlife of their corpses.

So if something possesses you to want to read about the Green River Killer, I do highly recommend this book.





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