Zusatztext Praise for Ann Rule Rule has an instinct for suspense! knowing just what information to leak to the reader and when. The Washington Post Book World A raw docudrama of almost unbelievable intensity. Booklist A harrowing pathological portrait! a nearly unthinkable triple-murder plot! a hold-your-breath police procedural and a tale of dedication and compassion all superbly combined to produce the most riveting true-crime account since In Cold Blood . Kirkus Reviews Excellent....One of the most detailed studies of a sociopath to dignify the true-crime circuit. The San Francisco Chronicle A fascinating and grisly story...un-putdownable. New York Daily News A good read....Rule springs surprises and revelations with a novelist's skill. Seattle Times Informationen zum Autor Ann Rule Klappentext From #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me comes the terrifying true crime story of a serial killer hiding in plain sight. To his neighbors, Jerry Brudos was a gentle, quiet man whose mild manner sharply contrasted with his awesome physical strength. To his employers, Jerry was an expert electrician, the kind of skilled worker you just don't find anymore. To his wife, Darcie, Jerry was a good husband, and a loving father to their children, despite his increasingly sexual demands on her, and his violent insistence that she never venture into his garage workroom and the giant food freezer there. To the Oregon police, Jerry Brudos was the most hideously twisted killer they had ever unmasked. And they brought to light what he had done to four young womenand perhaps many morein the nightmare darkness of his sexual hunger and rage. First, Jerry Brudos was brought to trial...and then, in a shattering aftermath, his wife was accused as well... Leseprobe 1 He was a monster. He was not born a monster, but evolved grotesquely over the twenty-eight years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days that passed before Linda K. Slawson had the great misfortune to cross his path. Jerome Henry Brudos was born in Webster, South Dakota, on January 31, 1939. His parents seem to have been a hopelessly mismatched couple. They already had one son a few years older than Jerome, and they apparently did not particularly want another; the older brother, Larry, was intelligent and placid and gave them little trouble. A girl would have been preferable. Instead, Eileen Brudos gave birth to a red-haired, blue-eyed second son whom she would never really like. As all babies do, he must have sensed that. When he was old enough to form his feelings into words, he would call her a "stubborn, selfish egotist." If she did not like him, he grew to despise her. Eileen Brudos was a stolid woman who dressed neatly and plainly, and "never, never wore high heels," according to Jerome. Henry Brudos was a small man-only five feet four inches tall. He moved his family a dozen times during his sons' growing-up years. They usually lived on a farm, farms that gave so grudgingly of their produce and livestock that the elder Brudos had to work a full-time job in town to support them. Like most small men, Jerry Brudos' father was easily offended and hostile if he thought someone was taking advantage of him, and was quick to react with verbal abuse. Whatever his father's faults, Jerome Brudos vastly preferred him to Eileen Brudos. The Brudoses lived in Portland during the Second World War. Employment was easy then, and their financial picture was fairly stable. Five-year-old Jerry Brudos was allowed to roam freely, and on one occasion he was pawing through a junkyard when he found something that fascinated him. Shoes. Women's high-heeled shoes, but nothing at all like anything his mo...

Praise for Ann Rule

“Rule has an instinct for suspense, knowing just what information to leak to the reader and when.”—The Washington Post Book World

“A raw docudrama of almost unbelievable intensity.”—Booklist

“A harrowing pathological portrait, a nearly unthinkable triple-murder plot, a hold-your-breath police procedural and a tale of dedication and compassion all superbly combined to produce the most riveting true-crime account since In Cold Blood.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Excellent....One of the most detailed studies of a sociopath to dignify the true-crime circuit.”—The San Francisco Chronicle

“A fascinating and grisly story...un-putdownable.”—New York Daily News

“A good read....Rule springs surprises and revelations with a novelist’s skill.”—Seattle Times

Autorentext

Ann Rule

Klappentext

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me comes the terrifying true crime story of a serial killer hiding in plain sight.

To his neighbors, Jerry Brudos was a gentle, quiet man whose mild manner sharply contrasted with his awesome physical strength. To his employers, Jerry was an expert electrician, the kind of skilled worker you just don't find anymore. To his wife, Darcie, Jerry was a good husband, and a loving father to their children, despite his increasingly sexual demands on her, and his violent insistence that she never venture into his garage workroom and the giant food freezer there.

To the Oregon police, Jerry Brudos was the most hideously twisted killer they had ever unmasked. And they brought to light what he had done to four young women—and perhaps many more—in the nightmare darkness of his sexual hunger and rage. First, Jerry Brudos was brought to trial...and then, in a shattering aftermath, his wife was accused as well...

Leseprobe

1

 

He was a monster. He was not born a monster, but evolved grotesquely over the twenty-eight years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days that passed before Linda K. Slawson had the great misfortune to cross his path.

 

Jerome Henry Brudos was born in Webster, South Dakota, on January 31, 1939. His parents seem to have been a hopelessly mismatched couple. They already had one son a few years older than Jerome, and they apparently did not particularly want another; the older brother, Larry, was intelligent and placid and gave them little trouble. A girl would have been preferable. Instead, Eileen Brudos gave birth to a red-haired, blue-eyed second son whom she would never really like. As all babies do, he must have sensed that. When he was old enough to form his feelings into words, he would call her a "stubborn, selfish egotist." If she did not like him, he grew to despise her.

 

Eileen Brudos was a stolid woman who dressed neatly and plainly, and "never, never wore high heels," according to Jerome.

 

Henry Brudos was a small man-only five feet four inches tall. He moved his family a dozen times during his sons' growing-up years. They usually lived on a farm, farms that gave so grudgingly of their produce and livestock that the elder Brudos had to work a full-time job in town to support them. Like most small men, Jerry Brudos' father was easily offended and hostile if he thought someone was taking advantage of him, and was quick to react with verbal abuse. Whatever his father's faults, Jerome Brudos vastly preferred him to Eileen Brudos.

 

The Brudoses lived in Portland during the Second World War. Employment was easy then, and their financial picture was fairly stable.

 

Five-year-old Jerry Brudos was allowed to roam freely, and on one occasion he was pawing through a junkyard when he found something that fascinated him. Shoes. Women's high-heeled shoes, but nothing at all like anything his mother had ever worn. These were constructed of shiny patent leather with open toes and open heels and thin straps to encircle the ankles of the woman who wore them. They were a little worn, of course, and one rhinestone-studded decorative clip was missing. Still, they pleased him, and he carried…