Jerome Brudos, kidnapped, strangled, and hung women from a hook in the celling in order to take pictures and satisfy his deviant need for necrophilia. At the same time he was a “loving” husband and father of two children. Bummer, I know.
Ann Rule painstakingly researched the killer’s life and the unfortunate that came in contact with him. She includes court records and interviews that enable the reader to form his/her own opinion. Ann Rule coherently guides us through a horror show of aberrant psychology and crime. Lust Killer is an aptly chosen title of this work in true crime. What’s more, Rule points at certain behaviors in men that may provide an “early warning system ” to help women avoid potentially dangerous relationships or situations.
The death of Ann Rule has been a great loss to all of us. Fortunately, she was a prolific writer and she left us such great works of true crime, Lust Killer is just one great example.
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This was a classic true crime Ann Rule book! Very fast paced and very informative on a killer that murdered women in Oregon in the late 1960's. This book is not for the faint of heart as it describes in explicit detail what the killer did to the women. I could not put it down and it kept me glued to the page of what was going to happen next. The case of capturing the killer was also very interesting of how the law enforcement officers finally put it all together. Giving it 5* for keeping me glued to my seat. ( )

The voice seemed odd. So I had to reduce the playing speed. It spent a lot of time on the aftermath of the crimes. ( )

Not too much to say about this besides it's disturbing to get into the head of convicted serial killer Jerome Brudos. I think that the Mindhunter series included him in season 1. Shudder.

"Lust Killer" follows Brudos who murdered several women and had the state of Oregon in a panic in the late 60s. Rule wrote this as Andy Stack, but it still reads as Rule to me. She starts with the murder of one victim, and then works backwards into Brudos' life and hatred of his mother. And surprisingly we find out that he gets married and even has children while still kidnapping women, raping them, and murdering them.

Rule then goes into the lives of the detectives on the hunt for him, we get into more details of the victims, and then of course how Brudos is captured.

What surprised me and what I didn't know is that a neighbor of Brudos wife lied on her (she did lie) and said she was helping him abduct women. The poor woman had to go on trial and defend herself. I liked how Rule gives this woman (living under a different name at the time of the book's publication in 1981) a voice in this book. She was young and naive and wanted to get away from her dominant father, and then married an equally dominant man who she didn't understand, but did scare her.

There are some photos included of Brudos, the detectives, and victims. ( )

I'm very curious to know why the killer's mother didn't want him when she realized she was having a second son. I mean, the author doesn't really say why in this novel, but it's clear that the mother had a deep and abiding hatred for the killer from the moment of his birth, and that's never been explained. Clearly, that had a lot to do with his development as a child, although it by no means condones what he did. Very intriguing crime story, and one that shows just how important parents are in the lives of their children. ( )