To all potential readers of this book, learn from my experiences. If your bedroom is in the basement, and it is midnight and you're reading The Stranger Beside Me, and you start to hear noises, just put the book down and pretend that you've never heard of Ted Bundy, because otherwise, you will not be able to sleep. And if you're in the aforementioned basement bedroom, tell the people that live with you to announce themselves when they come downstairs, because otherwise, they will scare the crap out of you. Trust me.
I had no idea the magnitude of Ted Bundy. Sure, I knew that he was a prolific serial killer. I knew that he was charismatic and that he used good looks and guile to help him attack women. And I have been somewhat desensitized by overexposure to gruesome scenes in horror movies, but this book truly disturbed me. I never realized just how many lives were destroyed by Ted Bundy, because it wasn't just the victims that he killed or savagely beat; it was the families of the victims and the women that he manipulated to do his bidding.
This book is chilling and very good. The section about the Chi Omega murders shocked me; that was what I was reading when my step sister came down into the basement and just popped up out of nowhere. I found it a very fast paced read, except for the last 100 or so pages. Once the trial is over, I felt that it kind of dragged a little. It was almost like Ann Rule was dragging her feet and repeating the same thing over again. I get it. You were conflicted and people were hurt and nobody could understand how Ted could have been two such different people. But after such a fast passed novel of constant destuction and mayhem, it was rather slow to hear about his constant trials and attempts to save his life.