Green River, running red The real story of the Green River killer, America's deadliest serial murderer

When best-selling true-crime author Rule began tracking a series of murders taking place, by morbid coincidence, in her own southwest Seattle neighborhood, she said she caught herself referring to the female victims as numbers, based on the sequence of their disappearances. I was horrified when that dawned on me, she admitted. I never wanted to do that again. And so in detailing the grim story of Seattle's Green River killings--from the discovery of the body of Wendy Lee Coffield in July 1982 to the sentencing of truck painter Gary Ridgway last November on 48 counts of murder--Rule devotes most of her book neither to Ridgway nor to the noble efforts of law-enforcement officials to catch him, but focuses, instead, on the victims themselves. These women, most of them prostitutes, were victims even before their deaths--of disconnected home lives, of misplaced trust in boyfriends (who often pimped them on Seattle's notorious Pac HiWay), of their own need to rebel against their pain. Interweaving her individual profiles of the murdered women with the story of Ridgway and the officials who caught him (presciently swabbing his mouth years before DNA testing would finally give him away), Rule gives full, heartbreaking emotional weight to what America's most notorious serial killer truly wrought. A must for the author's legions of fans. --Alan Moores Copyright 2004 Booklist

Following the winter 2003 sentencing of the Green River serial killer, Gary Ridgeway, perennial true-crime bestseller Rule (Heart Full of Lies, etc.) has finally completed her long-awaited definitive narrative of the brutal and senseless crimes that haunted the Seattle area for decades. Rule once again validates her standing as one of the pre-eminent chroniclers of modern serial murder, calling upon her experience as a former police officer and a civilian adviser to the VICAP Task Force to present a nuanced and easily comprehensible account of the hunt for the man responsible for at least 48 killings. She succeeds on a number of levels; perhaps her greatest achievement is bringing Ridgeway's victims to life as distinct individuals, most of whom led lives of quiet desperation that brought them to prostitution and, eventually, to death at his hands. Rule also captures the profound sadness pervading this grim chapter in U.S. crime history by humanizing the grieving relatives, as well as the dedicated investigators who, tragically, had interviewed Ridgeway several times and then moved on to other suspects. Her eventual realization that the murderer had attended some of her lectures and book signings will give readers the creeps. This account is a good counterpoint to Sheriff David Reichert's recent insider account, Chasing the Devil, and should expand Rule's already large readership. (Oct. 4) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In July 1982, a woman's body was found in the Green River, near Seattle. No one knew that this would be the start of a killing spree that would go on for years and that it would take more than 20 years to bring murderer Gary Ridgeway to justice. Rule had a special interest because many of the murders happened near her house and places where she and her children visited. Much of this work focuses on at least 49 women who were murdered or attacked by Ridgeway. The author also includes some discussion of the investigation by the Green River Task Force, the dedicated police officers who searched for victims and their murderer and, after Ridgeway was captured, worked to secure evidence that would ensure that he never left prison. The book tends to drag, and though it is important that each woman be honored and remembered, it would have been more interesting to include more about the investigation, the mistakes that the police made, and the toll it took on many of the officers. Recommended for most true-crime sections and libraries where Rule's other works (e.g., Small Sacrifices) are popular.-Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.