No comments about Hunting Humans (Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers).

No comments about Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer. (book reviews): An article from: Trial.

No comments about Ted Saucier's Bottoms up.

No comments about Tina: The stranger within me.

No comments about Ted Bundy: The Killer Next Door.

No comments about Ted Bundy: The killer next door.

3 comments about Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer (The Death Row Interviews).

1. But perhaps this is what would happen when you are reading a sociopath's thoughts. I actually thought it would be more interesting, more first hand, but you find through reading this account, that he still can't admit to himself what he has done. While it allows you to understand the "beast" of being a serial killer, it isn't as gripping to read and descriptive as I hoped it would. I do recommend this book if your interested in Ted bundy, or just interested in the killer mind. It won't be what you think.



2. This book was slightly a let down, due to no fault of the author. If I had no expectations, it probably would've been very good, but who doesn't have expectations? Especially when they are getting ready to read Ted Bundy's own words, a window into his psyche? But, it's not just the reader who is frustrated with Bundy's hesitant and evasive dialogue. The author, too, voices those same sentiments through the book. Unfortunately, it is not, as I had hoped, some interesting view into the mind of a mad man. But, I suppose I was hoping for the answer to the ever present question of 'why?'. There are no whys here. There are hows, whos, whats and whens, but Bundy will not speak in the first person. He couches everything in the protective cocoon of hypothetical situations, so you aren't exactly sure if he is really telling the truth, or just leading you on. You get a very solid sense of his narcicism, and a disturbing view of his normalcy. While we all hope to see a monster reflected in the page, something recognizable as wrong or dangerous, his words don't ooze evil, and it is easy to see how he was able to fool so many unfortunates. It is an interesting book, and I would still recommend it, but read it with a grain of salt already on your tongue. If you go into it with the wrong idea, it feels anticlimactic.



3. Okay, you are invited to interview and converse with one of the most deadly serial killers in American History, Theodore Robert Bundy. While I was interested in his background especially his family life and his paternity which might have solved some questions about his genetic composition. Except for when he discusses about possession of items like the television or the stereo that he admits to stealing like a game, do we get to understand his problems. He doesn't know how to relate to people even his devoted wife, Carole, girlfriend like Liz, even his family members like his mother or stepfather. He never really identifies or understands human behavior. Just like the television and stereo, he needs to possess somebody particularly a woman but dead. The book doesn't discuss the necrophilia that drew Ted into placing his victims' heads and other body parts in certain areas because like the Green River Killer, Ted visited them and I won't go any further than that. Even in the prison system, he was embarrassed by his necrophilia which probably would place him lowest scale on the prison system hierarchy even below child molesters since he did murder a 12 year old girl. Not enough mentions of the victims that Ted took away and there were probably a lot more that we don't know about because Ted was slick, mobile, and perfected his set-up in luring his victim like a predator catching his prey and rendering them unconscious and murdering them but maintaining their body parts for his own pleasure at the risk of torturing family members, relatives, friends, and neighbors from continuing their search for their loved ones.

No comments about The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy.

5 comments about The Stranger Returns.

1. I just finished reading this book today---The Stranger Returns--and I was just so mesmerized by it all! Then when I was telling a relative about it, he stated that his friends mother dated Ted Bundy in High school!! (The actual Ted Bundy who is in this book) I was shocked but he said that it was way before he had any problems and was put in jail. Such a small world!! The book kept me going and I didn't want to put it down! It was a rainy/snowy day here in Alaska and so it made for perfect reading while eating popcorn weather! I'm now going to order and start reading the book, "Skelter" also by Michael R. Perry....about Charles Manson.....I hope everyone else gets their blood pumping as I did!!!!!



2. Once you accept the premise of Ted Bundy surviving his execution then the book is a terrific read. I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. It is a much better book than his follow-up, "Skelter". I think Perry got into Ted Bundy's personality much better than many of the non-fiction books on Bundy. The friend of a friend of mine actually narrowly missed being a Bundy victim---she was in Tacoma and was followed home by a guy. She got into her house, turned on the porch light and saw the guy's face through the window, but he left. She didn't see his face again until she saw Bundy on TV the night before he was executed.



3. It was so boring. The author is intellectually way below Bundy and it shows when he tries to portray him, he just can't get close to what Bundy was about. He writes about some all nice, positive people who are all-good (with good income and education, sure) who become poor victims of evil Ted (we sure must be sorry for such well-to-do folk, not some street people): extremely cheesy. After a few pages all I wanted is Bundy to come and take care of all main characters. I was wondering: is he going to start writing about Bundy at all? He didn't have much to say, may be that's why the book was mainly about the "professor" and his daughter. Sure, "professor" catches Bundy at the end. Come on--in real life he'd wet his pants from the thought of Ted. Lousy writing. The book contained juicy moments like about the father of the victim, "professor" apparently wanting to have sex with the mother of another victim (and vice versa, the daugher tells him "She wants you, Daddy") Isn't it truly perverted? The book allowed us to pick into most intimate details of "professor's" surviving daughter's life. Like discussing her period with "Daddy". Wow. I was wondering was it Bundy who was sick after that.



4. In this thriller, Ted Bundy switches identities with a deranged fellow inmate who is then executed in his place. Ted manages to start a new life on the outside, but is unable to rid himself of his compulsions. Improbable as this may seem, the real life Ted Bundy was great at escaping, but could not stop partying, stealing, or killing girls. The newly freed Ted Bundy now uses his charms to find an accomodating girlfriend to live with and gets a job running the computer at the local sheriff's department, allowing him to tweak information going to the FBI's database. I agree with the reviewer who was repelled by Bundy's pursuer, a university professor whose daughter was a Bundy victim. The professor's relationships with his spoiled rotten surviving daughter and his new love interest, the mother of a current Bundy victim, are kind of creepy. Nonetheless, this is an exciting and action filled book for true crime lovers who also like to speculate "what if..."



5. Despite the press hype, Ted Bundy was a lout. A chronic failed student and loser with girls whenever he seriously tried. As one surprisingly honest reporter put it, "He was not very intelligent, nor was he either well travelled or well read. He picked his nose during the interviews." So much for Ted Bundy in real time. Writing a 420 pg novel with a cockaroach running amok as the main character was certainly a challenge, but Michael Perry fufilled it very well. In doing so, he helps bring us all back to the reality of how squalid such serial killers as Bundy & Co. are.

3 comments about Ted Bundy, a Deliberate Stranger.

1. I read this book after Bob Keppel's excellent 1995 work THE RIVERMAN (a never-dull glimpse into Ted's twisted psyche). I must confess this was better than I expected, but I was disappointed to some extent. While Larsen tells about the Ted he met and the experiences he covered as a reporter during the investigation, it has the feel of a TV Tie-In, as this is. It just seems like a summary of everything else written about Ted. I was impressed by the amount of detail in this book about the Chi Omega murders and Ken Katsaris' publicity stunts with Bundy exploding in Katsaris' face. Good for people just becoming aquainted with Ted.



2. This book is a vivid description of what happened in the murders and crimes of Ted Bundy. He was too much of a sociopath to actually know what made him do it. Only the crimes could be adequately explained and the psyche of this fouled-up human examined. The characters and the settings make for a Dean Koontz novel, but are made much more interesting because they are real people.

   After reading that he killed 5 girls in one house with a block of wood, it rang true that its not the weapon but the person's intent that will kill. Its especially frightening when the homocidal maniac happens to be clever enough to cover it up as long as he did. Its a quick and easy read - email me if you know of any similar books.




3. This was the second Bundy book. The first was the paperback "Ted Bundy: All American Stranger" rushed into print right after the verdict in the Chi Omega murders. Larsen waited until after the Leach verdict to publish, and Ann Rule's "Stranger Beside Me," followed shortly on the heels of "Deliberate Stranger." Each of these books sought to capitalize on the glamor associated with the handsome, well spoken, intelligent psychopath. There's really nothing strange at all about Bundy. He was a recreational killer no different than many other "serial killers" except that he was handsome and well-spoken. He richly deserved to die in "Old Sparky." The book itself is about as accurate as any of the other Bundy tomes, and it does have the virtue of spending more time on the Leach case, the murder for which Bundy was eventually executed, than the other books, which tend to focus on the more "glamorous" aspects of Bundy's career--the Western killings and the Chi Omega Murders.