A book that I recently acquired for the purposes of giving it away.

Ted Bundy was the boogeyman of my childhood in Utah, because he had definitely scarred the local psyche. A friend of mine lost one of her babysitters to him, it is believed, although she is not on the list of potential victims most people know. (She fit his type, she disappeared from her job during his killing spree, and she had told her friends she was going to buy a Volkswagen from a law student named Ted.) I knew that it was a Utah cop who caught him and got him locked away the first time. I knew about the Lake Sammamish events, I knew he escaped in Colorado, and I knew he killed girls in a sorority in Florida. But I learned a lot more in this book. He escaped twice in Colorado and nearly escaped twice more in Florida. And his killing spree in Florida was accomplished in virtual silence in under 15 minutes. I knew about his "ex-fiance" who was the "model" of his victims and the woman he lived with for years. I didn't know that he had manipulated that "engagement" or that he connived a weird marriage ceremony in the middle of his second Florida trial.

The story is worth reading, as much for an insight into the human psyche dealing with an unpalatable truth about someone we care about -- and the ways we avoid processing that truth -- as to understand why and how Ted Bundy became the epitome of a serial killer. But I have to say that the 20 year anniversary edition, which includes information about what happened after the conviction is more informative. Plus, if you are anything like me, after reading of his crimes, you will sleep more soundly knowing that he is dead.

This book is one of many being passed along to potential readers at the Gaithersburg Book Festival by members of BookCrossing in Washington DC (BCinDC).

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.