Lust Killer (Signet True Crime S.)

Rating:
Summary: Don't Let The Title Turn You Away
Review: The title is dreadful, like something out of the true-crime magazines where Ann Rule got her start as a writer under the name Andy Stack (the pseudonym under which this book was originally published). But the book itself is compact, powerful, and filled with a kind of terrible sorrow for the destruction of many lives, beginning with Jerry Brudos, whose hateful treatment at the hands of his mother slowly but surely transformed him into a vicious sexual predator, and continuing with his murders of seveal Oregon women and the terrible damage done to their grieving families (the body of his first victim was never even found). Also, the terrible struggle of Brudos' wife Darcy, first with her marriage to a man she loved but began to fear, and finally with the Oregan legal system, which put her on trial as a co-conspirator in her husband's crimes. It is this ability to portray the humanity of the people in this case that transforms what might have simply been a grisly paperback exploitation of human cruelty and misery into a serious and worthwhile book.

Rating:
Summary: A Stranger Among Us.
Review: To his wife and collegues, Jerry Brudos was a man whose mild manner contrasted with his awesome physical strength. But to the police, Jerry Brudo was the most sadistic killer. Ann Rule did a great job with this one. While it is a short read, it is full of grusome details that will keep you wanting to read more.