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Summary: Ann Rule has a unique perspective on murder
Review: As a long time reader of Ann Rule, I was very pleased with the newest addition to my library. She has an uncanny way of getting you into the minds of both the murderer, and their victims. This book hit home in an unusual way; Cunninghams first wife, "Loni Ann", worked in the same Kinsiotherapy clinic as I did. She was a very lovely woman, but quite shy and quiet,in an unnatural sort of way. She let on very little about her past, and after reading this book, I can understand why. Ann Rule took me into the life of this woman, as well as Bradly's other wives, allowing me to understand how dangerous a conniving, narcisstic and delusional individual can be. I thank her for that.
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Summary: Dead by Sunset
Review: As usual, Ann Rule wrote another splendid and intriguing perspective of this psychopath. Ann Rule "Rules".
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Summary: Superior true crime by one of the best
Review: Brad Cunningham bludgeons his estranged wife to death and then pushes the van onto the Sunset Freeway in Oregon hoping cars will pile into the vehicle and the murder will look like a traffic accident. Cunningham is a classic psychopath in the mode of Jeffrey McDonald, but even more predatory. He had five or six wives, seven or so kids, made and lost millions, a complete control freak, charming, macho, handsome, athletic, a wife beater without a conscience.Exposing characters like this is what Ann Rule does best, and she's on top of her game here. The women don't look so good either, although Rule is always sympathetic. I couldn't help but think about all the karmas they created by having and raising Cunningham's children. Rule kept saying they were "in love" as though that excused their behavior-in love with a psychopath, wanting him and wanting his children, and even raising his children from previous marriages. Our social sense of right and wrong condemns his behavior, but does it applaud theirs? In the long run their actions create and nurture psychopaths past and to come, yet the women couldn't resist him. They all melted for him and for his children. Yet he beat and brutalized them. Their primitive desire for what they saw as the superior man, the alpha male, was so strong that they risked death to be possessed by him. The Sunset Freeway victim, apparently an otherwise excellent person, "upgraded" to him and paid the awful price. Rule gives no details about the drugs they did and she considerably downplays the sex graphics as though this were evidence in a trial and she wasn't allowed to sully the principals. Ann Rule fans know this is her style, and perhaps it is best to concentrate on the essentials. Dead By Sunset is a good read and a disturbing and profoundly sad story.
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Summary: WHAT HAPPENS TO A DREAM DEFERRED?
Review: Brad Cunningham was truly a killer Casanova. Married several times and the father of several children, he finally got caught when he married Cheryl Keeton. Brilliant and a successful lawyer, Cheryl was beguiled by the intelligent man of natual charm and quick wit. Three sons were born of their union, each one described as being highly intelligent like their mother. Cheryl adored the boys and would do anything and everything for them. She also accepted Brad's older children wholeheartedly. Unfortuately for all, Cheryl's sons never really got to know this because she was killed when they were quite small. Cheryl's dream of a happy life as Brad's wife ended with her death. Brad's dream of continuing to maintain a certain lifestyle at the expense of others would soon become a dream deferred. Cocky and confident that he had pulled off the untraceable murder, Brad set to work finding yet another willing wife. That cockiness was to prove his undoing when he served as his own counsel during his 1994 trial. Brad got what he deserved which is life behind bars. As for his hapless children and former wives, one can only hope and pray that their lives have worked out despite their many hardships caused by this killer Casanova.
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Summary: Pure Evil
Review: Bradley Cunningham was pure evil! He should have gotten the death penalty!
Rating:
Summary: Pure Evil
Review: Bradley Cunningham was pure evil! He should have gotten the death penalty!
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Summary: One of the best I've read
Review: Excellent! Well written and wonderful to read!
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Summary: Oh, to be able to STRANGLE Bradley Cunningham
Review: First of all, what did women SEE in him? His last two wives, Cheryl (who he cold-bloodedly murdered) and Sara were successful career women: an attorney and a physician, respectively. My daughter refers to him as "Pumpkin Head." There is nothing even remotely handsome about him. Ecccch! That said, I would like to say he is a sexist jackass who deserves everything he gets. I really, truly hope he gets "Dahmered" in prison before his (undeserved) new trial. This is an evil, evil person.
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Summary: Oh, to be able to STRANGLE Bradley Cunningham
Review: First of all, what did women SEE in him? His last two wives, Cheryl (who he cold-bloodedly murdered) and Sara were successful career women: an attorney and a physician, respectively. My daughter refers to him as "Pumpkin Head." There is nothing even remotely handsome about him. Ecccch! That said, I would like to say he is a sexist jackass who deserves everything he gets. I really, truly hope he gets "Dahmered" in prison before his (undeserved) new trial. This is an evil, evil person.
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Summary: Disappointing Summer Read
Review: Frankly, I am disappointed. Ann Rule was recommended to me as a good summer read, but this book is less than good. Rule has taken a compelling story of aberrant behavior and turned it into a run-of-the-mill real life soap opera. She fails to draw the most obvious conclusions with regard to the effects of child abuse, spousal abuse, and violence in American life. The last third of the book betrays a churn-it-out, beat-the -deadline style which simply does not make for good reading. A rich vein which Rule fails to mine is malignant narcissism and the connection to wife murderers like Jeffrey MacDonald, which she mentions only in passing. At the end of the book, the reader is still wondering about Brad Cunningham's financial wheeling and dealing. Rule could have developed the theme of marriage as disposable commodity as well. Given the evidence, Rule could hazard a guess as to what makes Cunningham such a wonderful lover but such a horrible person. Unfortunately, we never read about it. This book could have been so much better. I suppose that is the main reason for my disappointment.
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