6 reviews for A Rage To Kill
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A Rage To Kill
by Ann Rules
Description:
Acclaimed for her “devastatingly accurate insight” (The New York Times Book Review) into the criminal mind, Ann Rule has chronicled the most fascinating cases of our time in her bestselling Crime Files series. For this sixth stunning collection, Rule has culled from her private files the most asked about homicide cases riveting accounts of seemingly normal men and women who are compelled d by a murderous rage to suddenly lash out at innocent victims.
Torn from the headlines, here is the case that shocked a nation: the Seattle city bus ride that turned to mayhem and murder at the hands of a gunman. Ann Rule unmasks the forces that drove quiet, clean cut Silas Cool to shoot the driver, causing the bus to plunge off the Aurora Bridge into an apartment building. The catastrophe left three dead including Cool and dozens injured. While the scene unfolds as in a terrifying movie, Rule finds very real answers to the haunting question “how could this happen?” and expertly constructs the unseen chain of events that resulted in an explosive and shattering tragedy.
Included here are nine other sensational cases that illuminate Rule’s unique and authoritative view of the human psyche gone temporarily berserk. No one can match Rule’s meticulous research, or reveal the motives to murder in such explicit and chilling detail. You may think you know who is safe and who is dangerous; in A Rage to Kill, Ann Rule frighteningly shows that none of us are truly protected from the flashes of irrational violence that can erupt from the killers among us.
About The Author
Ann Rule was a popular American true crime writer. Raised in a law enforcement and criminal justice system environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She was a former Seattle Policewoman and was well educated in psychology and criminology.
She came to prominence with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, about the Ted Bundy murders. At the time she started researching the book, the murders were still unsolved. In the course of time, it became clear that the killer was Bundy, her friend and her colleague as a trained volunteer on the suicide hotline at the Seattle, Washington Crisis Clinic, giving her a unique distinction among true crime writers.
Rule won two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery fans’ organization. She was nominated three times for the Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. She is highly regarded for creating the true crime genre as it exists today.
Ann Rule also wrote under the name Andy Stack . Her daughter is Goodreads author Leslie Rule.
Skryf Review
” Amazing Book”
Sejal
Ann Rule lives in the Seattle area and as such, most of her stories take place here. That’s a huge point in her favor because she knows Seattle and you can tell. For the most part the cases are interesting and short ones like those in this collection have the right amount of information. The problem is that they aren’t very well written and a lot of liberties are taken with how people “must have” felt or thought or saw. Most people she describes as handsome or beautiful, though I frequently disagree, and she has a tendency toward exaggeration and melodrama. I’d prefer books with more factual information and evidence and less fictionalizing. But those types of books are nearly impossible to find. (Know of any? Let me know!) I apparently am a ghoul because I keep reading them anyway.
Naman
Very good book if you like true-crime-and Ann Rule. Graphic pictures,and gruesome details-Rule believes in telling it like it is-probably because of her former career as a cop-AND her close relationship with Serial Killer Ted Bundy. What I like about Ann Rule is she makes you feel like you’re right there at the time of each god-awful crime-which is both terrifying and the mark of a terrific writer. If you’re faint of heart -stay away from Ann Rule-or any other true-crime writer-it is a compelling read-but most of the time a heartbreaking one.
Abbas
This is the first Ann Rule book I have read. She is very good at helping you to understand and look at each case as a whole. Some of the cases are just plain awful and I would shudder to think of the poor victims and how they died. It is intriguing to read about the killers and their backgrounds and possibly the causes that made them into killers. It was a very interesting book to read and I really like that there are pictures to go along with the cases. It helps to further know the people you are reading about.
Tisha
Ann Rule is at the top of her game in telling the true stories of these particular, mostly female, victims who either through no fault of their own or because of blameless naïveté ended up murdered. Unlike most of the victims in Rule’s other books, the murdered had no reason to suspect they would soon end up tortured, raped or killed. They were ordinary nice people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time – most of them tricked by psychopathic psychotics who nonetheless appeared completely normal and rational until their ruses worked to lull their victims into dropping their defenses or suspicions. The dead literally had absolutely no warnings whatsoever that the man who was either asking for their help or who was approaching them as a friend or acquaintance of many months was this time going to torture, rape and kill.The victims in these stories could not ever have seen it coming until too late, with one exception. ‘Ruby, don’t take your love to town’ is a story that is disgusting in that the victim knew her murder was certainly inevitable. A divorced ex-wife knows her ex-husband is going to kill her one day, but as it is today, there is nowhere she can get help.
Pooja
I think it’s odd how much true crime fascinates me. But I am not alone. Just turn on the news or open the paper. The whole world is watching when a young mother murders her daughter or a maniac shoots up a McDonalds. We all watch the horrible images, so of course reading about them is awesome! Maybe it’s a way to feel better about our own imperfect lives. At least we aren’t victims of some deranged lunatic… Ann Rule puts together very intriguing collections and this one is no exception.