Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer

Rating:
Summary: VICTIMS ARE NOT JUST NUMBERS IN GRRR
Review: A book I could not put down, Ann Rule's incredibly researched GREEN RIVER RUNNING RED held my interest from beginning to end. I especially appreciated the compassionate way in which she honored the victims, giving the reader an opportunity to reflect on each individual and the potential cut short by a heartless, monstrous killer.

As you read it, remember that with so many victims and suspects over such a long span of time, this case is one-of-a-kind and the telling of it cannot fairly be compared with other true crime stories of shorter focus.

In my opinion, masterful story-teller Rule approached this challenge correctly, and the result is a credit to her ability to lay out thousands of details as only she can, guiding the reader through the stupifying and sickening saga of one of the worst serial killers of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Insight
Review: Ann does it again, I wait forever for this one. I love the way she brought the victims to light and they weren't just objects. Great Job.


Sonya
WA

Rating:
Summary: Re: Well-researched, sensitive victim portrayal in GRK case
Review: Having a counseling degree, and having counseled some teenage girls who were very mixed-up about their lives, I was very interested to read the portrayal of the victims in this case. In nearly all cases, they had dropped out of school, were abused either physically or emotionally at home, and had run away from home many times before they finally left for good. Their parents were at their wits' end trying to reason with them and get them to change their habits and lifestyles, but it did no good. The schools evidently had no effect on these girls; no counselors were available to reach out to them, which is another story altogether.

To me, the saddest ones are those who were never found, such as Keli Kay McGinness, who had a daughter who ended up a street prostitute just as her mother had. She was put up for adoption when her mother never came for her. Sue Peters, the detective, found Keli's daughter and tried to persuade her to contact her mother's family and get off the streets, so history did not repeat itself. Keli has never been found. Ridgway thinks he decapitated her, as he did some of his later victims, and said he "had a head he lost." What a sick bastard. I hope and pray for Keli's family that someday, she is found, and they have closure.

The book is well worth reading, especially for those in the helping fields, who want to know more about reaching out to those kids in trouble; it has some good insights.



Rating:
Summary: How to cover so many sad stories?
Review: I am always checking the book stores for Ann Rule's latest adventure. The Green River Killer story has been in the works for decades. I felt that Rule did an excellent job of weaving many sad stories together. It would have been impossible to delve into the lives of each victim. Sadly, we couldn't get to know them, except that their young lives and futures were taken. I liked the intermingling of the life of the killer with the discoveries of the victims. My favorite character study was the detectives and police who searched for the killer for years. I admire Rule's work and will be waiting for her next true crime story.

Rating:
Summary: Ann Finishes First With This
Review: I cannot imagine the years and years of work that went into this one, all the information is unbelieveable. She tells something of each of the victims, their families and friends. And exposes this meek looking man into the horrible killer he is. She must have had one heck of a filing system all these years to have all this information and complile it into this most informative work.
A great job by the very best crime writer of our time.

Rating:
Summary: Not a page-turner
Review: I kept waiting for the book to get better. I understand why Ann spent so much time with the details of each murder, she was trying to paint a picture of the victims and honor them. However, her descriptions were much too technical and did not do justice to the many who suffered. I would not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Too much info on the wrong topic
Review: I'm a big Ann Rule fan and this was not one of her best books. For her there was alot of research involved to be able to give such details about the victums. However, as a reader its too much to try to remember and put together. The lives of 48 different woman, it becomes a blurr and is boaring to read. The last part about them catching the killer after 20 years is ok, but still not that great for Ann. More focus s/be on Gary.

Rating:
Summary: Great research....but
Review: In the beginning, perhaps Ann spent too much time telling about Gary Ridgeway's victims, although it's easy to see how a writer could easily feel compelled to do so. Yet, as a reader, I found myself hoping the next page I turned would really start the story. And then, she would do that in bits and pieces, but she would revert back and forth to the victim description again. It wasn't until I'd gotten about half way through the book that I'd quit jumping ahead. But by then, I didn't want to put it down. Grant it, I can see where she might have felt she owed them that much, as well as the families of the victims. But a writer must remember that the reader wants a page turner filled with action.
Ann is a favorite of mine. And because of the research, effort and time she put into this story, I wanted to give this book a better rating. TOO MUCH victim description and police procedure wouldn't excite an avid reader of true crime. Regardless, I still think Ann is a very talented and wonderful writer of non-fiction, true crime. This just wasn't one of her better efforts. Sorry Ann.


Rating:
Summary: Good, but enough of Ann in the case!
Review: This book was good: the development of the victims' histories, the eventual arrest of Gary Ridgway. What I could have done less with was the embarrassing need of Ann Rule to interject herself into every aspect of the story. Yes, the entire free world is aware of her involvement with the Ted Bundy case, and yes, "The Stranger Beside Me" was a good book. But the numerous references to Ted Bundy and his case (just about on every page) and the author's need to plop herself into the story every 20 pages is annoying as hell. Do we really need not one, but two pictures of Ann Rule standing "near the site where {fill in the victim's name}'s body was found"? I'm very sorry that Ms. Rule lived near where the murders were happening, if it caused her undue angst, but isn't the story really about the victims, their families, and the sick bastard that committed these crimes? Reading this book made me really pissed off at Ms. Rule for following the thinnest thread about herself in the spirit of good marketing, and sad for the victims' families for having their tragedies being reduced to a side note in the author's self-promotion.

Rating:
Summary: A sensitive treatment of Ridgeway's victims
Review: With an updated version of the excellent book on the Green River killer by Smith and Guillen having been published, some would wonder if another book was necessary. In this case it was, because Rule does here what she does best: gives us three-dimensional portraits of the VICTIMS (as much as she was allowed by family members). Whereas serial killers are immortalized, the victims are often ciphers, especially in cases such as Green River where most of them made their living through prostitution. Ms. Rule reminds us that, as fascinating as we might find those who can kill without conscience, we should never forget that those they killed were real, complex people who should not be forgotten.