2010.07.07 - Ann Rule weighs in

[gibby207]

I completely understand the yin/yang thing...but I am a lover of all things true crime...and every book I read I look at the review on amazon.com...and not only just me, but this seems to be a HUGE thing with Anne's readers...her taking one side and completely denigrating the other....
Alot of folks (including me) think if you're writing a book like this you should keep YOUR views out of it, and write BOTH sides...
I don't know that I could do that...but I don't write books either!

lol! I hear ya!! I really do...

 

[scotslass]

Ok, I said I was not a big Ann Rule fan and it is exactly for the reasons other posters mentioned...

I am a little disappointed that she would weigh in with such specific opinions in a case where there is no named suspect as yet, and seemingly agree that all signs point to Terri.

respectively snipped by me

I also agree with the opinion on the tone in her books, It is not as an author that Ann impresses me. It is that she is a certified instructor and teaches seminars to many LE agencies. Ann is one hell of a profiler actually and has grew up in law enforcement (many family connections) She has a love of the law and is educated in many Le disciplines. Ann also helped create Vicap so some pretty impressive credentials. SO when Ann rule says she thinks TH is suspect I'm listening as she is also a certified instructor on women who kill (don't want to say that mind you as i'm praying Kyron is OK). If she has been following since the beginning and that is her line of thinking I do believe it actually carries some weight. So in short i'm not so much of a fan of the Author but do have a lot of respect of the Le knowledge she has.

I'm still teetering on the fence personally until we hear some actual confirmed facts put out there in regards to Kyron. However it is getting harder to stay there..

JMO

 

[gibby207]

Gee thanks...I don't think I have ever been one of anyone's favorite anything before:dance::dance:

Nah... people love you more than you think... :genie:

 

[cluciano63]

I do think AR has the credentials to weigh in, don't get me wrong...was just disappointed that she did so.

 

[gibby207]

You just said what I wanted to but more graciously, something I lack. I agree!! Sometimes books have to "romanticize" things, and maybe I'm more in tune to these things lately because of my personal life and things surrounding it, but I can gather that authors bump the feelings up for their fans. Yes, I appreciate Ann as a person more than just reading a novel, and thank you for stating nicely what I can't. LOL

respectively snipped by me

I also agree with the opinion on the tone in her books, It is not as an author that Ann impresses me. It is that she is a certified instructor and teaches seminars to many LE agencies. Ann is one hell of a profiler actually and has grew up in law enforcement (many family connections) She has a love of the law and is educated in many Le disciplines. Ann also helped create Vicap so some pretty impressive credentials. SO when Ann rule says she thinks TH is suspect I'm listening as she is also a certified instructor on women who kill (don't want to say that mind you as i'm praying Kyron is OK). If she has been following since the beginning and that is her line of thinking I do believe it actually carries some weight. So in short i'm not so much of a fan of the Author but do have a lot of respect of the Le knowledge she has.

I'm still teetering on the fence personally until we hear some actual confirmed facts put out there in regards to Kyron. However it is getting harder to stay there..

JMO

 

[eyes4crime]

I like Ann Rule - her book "Stranger Beside Me" about serial killer Ted Bundy is terrific. She knew him personally from working a midnight shift at a suicide hot line and was a person he called when needing to talk, met him for several dinners. She believed in his innocence right down to the end, like so many others. She knew his wife. Yikes what great insight she had.

As for her other books, I think I was spoiled by Stranger Beside Me - it was up close and personal - details that would blow you away. moo
Glad to see Ann following missing Kyron - if she ends up writing book on this case, it will be great. moo

 

[Blue Ridge]

Glad to see Ann following missing Kyron - if she ends up writing book on this case, it will be great. moo

Absolutely and I hope she will. Although with all the publicity this case is getting, it may end up not fitting her criteria of only writing on cases where the details aren't all out there already. It was probably a lot easier to find cases that fit that criteria before the internet came on the scene, not to mention NG type shows! Ann has long been my favorite author...I can't say for totally sure but I think I've read every one of her books.

 

[evelyn24]

First off, I kind of like Ann making the knee-jerk statement about this case; it shows she's human - unlike the rather formulaic nature of her many books (after the Bundy one and "Small Sacrifices," which were very good).

I actually paid full price for her "Every Breath You Take" hardcover - rare with me and non-fiction. Its setting is San Antonio, and it is bland beyond belief, everything San Antonio isn't. There is absolutely no sense of local color. As the excellent cluciano63 points out, her overwhelming one-sidedness swamps anything of interest in the narrative tension of the book. The dead mother of triplets is, therefore, a saint. And Rule mentions often the apparent fact that the victim said that if she was killed, she "wanted Ann Rule to write a book" about the case.

See, I totally disagree with you. I came away from reading the book "Every Breathe You Take" not liking Sheila Bellush much. Of course there was no excuse for her horrible ex-husband Allen Blackthorne to have put out a hit on her, or for her to die in such a vicious manner, but I don't think AR made her into a saint at all.

 

[wfgodot]

See, I totally disagree with you. I came away from reading the book "Every Breathe You Take" not liking Sheila Bellush much. Of course there was no excuse for her horrible ex-husband Allen Blackthorne to have put out a hit on her, or for her to die in such a vicious manner, but I don't think AR made her into a saint at all.

I understand, and you may be right - I read the book only once and that was years ago now. Sheila Bellush may not have been treated as a saint per se. I remember I was mainly aggravated because Rule seemed to have mailed the book in - it was an underwhelming effort, to say the least. The Blackthornes lived in a town rich in history and culture. As I recall, the only restaurant mentioned was an oyster bar - not exactly San Antonio cuisine. That might seem a little thing, but I found it symptomatic of the overall lack of effort which went into the book. Paying little attention to detail, she seemed in a hurry to finish it.

Any time an author writes - and repeats several times in the course of the book - that one of the reasons the book is being written is because the victim asked before dying that she write it, and seems, in general, bored with the material, she ought not to have written the book at all. She immediately overplays the Sheila Bellush element by mentioning in the first place that the book was written as if on order; it is clear with whom the sympathy lies, and that destroys any possible drama in the rest of the text.

In terms of a professional writer, in fact, that's worse than making a saint of a sinner.

ETA
You're exactly right and I'm exactly wrong about the way Rule treats Sheila; I rifled through the first quite a few pages just now and remember what I thought then: "These people are both rather disgusting, so why am I even reading this book?!" I started hoping maybe both of them would be gone by the end of the thing. Even so, mothers of triplets don't need much sprucing up to make them attractive victims, like victims that we find all too ofen in Ann Rule's writings. Rule writes to the sound of the cash register ringing.

 

[Kimster]

Been a long time since I read the book about Dianne Downs and did not realize it was in Oregon...........that case haunted me and still does to this day. She was something else.:banghead:

I've been on the road where she killed her kids many many times. I always think about it and it always saddens me.

I think Ann Rule has learned a lot about psychotic people while researching her books and what she said about TH spoke volumes to me.

 

[gibby207]

I've been on the road where she killed her kids many many times. I always think about it and it always saddens me.

I think Ann Rule has learned a lot about psychotic people while researching her books and what she said about TH spoke volumes to me.

I agree! But, we've always been purdy peas and carrots, you and I... lol

 

[scandi]

I've been on the road where she killed her kids many many times. I always think about it and it always saddens me.

I think Ann Rule has learned a lot about psychotic people while researching her books and what she said about TH spoke volumes to me.

Hi Kimster, Is that up by Marcola or further out? Old Mohawk Rd.

 

[Wrinkles]

>>Despite everything Rule has seen in her long career -- which includes 31 books and over 1,400 articles on murder and kidnapping -- she thinks this is one of the most bizarre cases she has followed.

"We are fascinated with it and horrified by it at the same time ... <<

If I were Desiree, Kaine or Tony, my heart would absolutely ache at the thought that anyone could look at the circumstance of my 7 year old's disappearance and that which surrounds it and consider it "fascinating."

 

[ClueMeIn]

It has been eerily quiet today. Calm before the storm?

 

[Wrinkles]

I kinda see us in the eye of the storm, I'd like to emerge and see a heavy lightning strike on the perp (whoever that might be). I'd also like to see Kyron miraculously rescued from the flood waters -- yes, I'd like a miracle.

Was Kaine really with investigators when Desiree handled the last press conference (and as a woman of pure grace, I might add)? Or was it just best that she handle that conference? IF Kaine was with investigators...the quite might be broken tomorrow. Wasn't Thursday a day we might hear news?

 

[Black Frost]

I haven't read an Ann Rule book, but I've read about how well-loved she is by many true crime readers. I'm tempted to read a couple of the books recommended in this thread but I can appreciate some of the thoughtful criticisms also offered here which sound valid.

Anne definitely seems interested in this case and she seems particularly fascinated by the storm that has developed around the stepmother. It'll be interesting to see if she decides to write about it, especially if she did it as it unfolds - she could title it Step Mother Theresa and cover all the bases for whatever outcome there is.

 

[mrsjonnob]

>>Despite everything Rule has seen in her long career -- which includes 31 books and over 1,400 articles on murder and kidnapping -- she thinks this is one of the most bizarre cases she has followed.

"We are fascinated with it and horrified by it at the same time ... <<

If I were Desiree, Kaine or Tony, my heart would absolutely ache at the thought that anyone could look at the circumstance of my 7 year old's disappearance and that which surrounds it and consider it "fascinating."

Maybe fascinated with the way a child can virtually vanish from within the confines of a school?

 

[Haeve]

I've been on the road where she killed her kids many many times. I always think about it and it always saddens me.

I think Ann Rule has learned a lot about psychotic people while researching her books and what she said about TH spoke volumes to me.

I lived in Eugene at the time. The minute the news broke about the "shaggy haired-stranger", my mother said, "The mom did it." I was horrified that she would think such a thing. I was young at the time and I bought Downs' story hook line and sinker. Turns out my mother was right. She reads lots of murder mysteries, I think that explains it, and not the fact she's not exactly Mother of the Year...

The minute I heard the news report about Kyron, I thought, "The step-mom did it." I hope that doesn't mean I'm becoming my mother... Of course I have been jumping up and down off the fence since then. I wish Rule could tell us where she thinks Kyron is!

 

[Em18966]

Interestin'. I only just read small sacrifices this week. made me think of kyron and the drama surrounding. Diane Downs was not arrested til 8 months after the shootings. LE dotted all Is, crossed all Ts and in the end, she was convicted.

gave me a lot of patience in this particular case. knowing something is one thing, proving it in a court of law is another but with hard work and patience I believe LE knows what they are doing here. I only keep hoping they find A LIVING CHILD.

I read Small Sacrifices years ago and from day one TH has reminded me of Diane Downs in a multitude of ways. I have a feeling that LE is doing precisely what you said - putting together an air-tight case so that they can go beyond arresting the person responsible for this case and actually ensure a conviction and the harshest sentence possible.

I also believe that TH is similar to Diane Downs when it comes to her mental facilities, and that even if convicted of this crime - even if faced with video taped evidence of her commission of the crime - she is going to deny it until the day she dies.

Diane Downs has been in prison for something like 25 years and to this day she denies shooting all three of her children in cold blood.

 

[TrY]

I've read all of Ann Rule's true crime books starting with her book about Ted Bundy "The Stranger Beside Me". Her books I keep, I have all of them in paperback and I haven't given any of them away.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and was a college student back in early 70s when all those young teenage girls disappeared and were never found. Ann does write about famous (Ted Bundy, Diane Downs, the Green River serial killer) and unknown cases but one thing I think she does extremely well is give a voice to the victims.

I'm not at all surprised that Ann Rule is following this case and I wouldn't be surprised if she does end up writing a book about it.