Yeahhhh I didn’t like this book. While I appreciate the general idea of bringing focus away from the killer in this story, and focusing on the women and their stories, I feel like this missed the mark. Though the author doesn’t say the name Ted Bundy (or a fictionalized version of it), this book was intended to portray the victims and survivors of his crimes. While it was supposed to offer a commentary on the exploitative nature of true crime, and the people who idolize serial killers, it felt exploitative in itself. The very very graphic accounts of what was done to the victims and survivors felt unnecessary at many points for the way the story was being told, and at many points it was confusing what was fact and what was fiction. By using some facts, real names, and real details, alongside fictional details, the story was blurred, and it felt as though the author was concerned with telling the stories of real victims, but did this in a way that was not very tasteful, was potentially insensitive to the victims and their families, and that took away from their actual stories (that many have told themselves as well). 

I also felt that some of the subplots were very surface level, and added confusion or unnecessary details at best. In general, the book was very slow and there wasn’t a ton that happened, and there was nothing outstanding about the writing or the way this was told. It definitely dragged on. 

While I appreciate the intention, I feel like this book could have been told as a new story (not based on a true one) and gotten the same points across in a better way, rather than continuing to be somewhat exploitative about these crimes. The author could have focused on this theme through fiction, and could have drawn attention to accounts written by victims/survivors/families of the crimes she is portraying.