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  • Green River, Running Red

  • Written by: Ann Rule
  • Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
  • Length: 19 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (68 ratings)

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Green River, Running Red

Written by: Ann Rule
Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
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Publisher's Summary

In the most extraordinary journey Ann Rule has ever undertaken, America's master of true crime has spent more than two decades researching the story of the Green River Killer, who murdered more than 49 young women.

Green River, Running Red is a harrowing account of a modern monster, a killer who walked among us undetected. It is also the story of his quarry - of who these young women were and who they might have become. A chilling look at the darkest side of human nature, this is the most important and most personal audiobook of Ann Rule's long career.

©2011 Simon & Schuster Audio (P)2004 Ann Rule

What the critics say

"[C]onveys the emotional truth of the Green River case." ( Los Angeles Times)
"Riveting." ( People)
"Perhaps Rule's finest work." ( Statesman Journal)

What listeners say about Green River, Running Red

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Boring, confusing, repetitive

Although it is 19 hours, not much is said in this book. The stories of the victims all blend together and they are not given chronological, with one or two even coming in the last hour of the narrative. Unfortunately, most victims come from such similar backgrounds that hearing the same story for 6+ hours is monotonous.

The investigative personnel is made up to be infallible, as if they did everything perfectly and there was no way Ridgway could have been caught sooner, and yet there is very little detail about the investigation techniques. There is also an endless list of names of people who worked the cases - from lead detective to (probably) the person who picked up coffee for the officers. It’s impossible to keep track of most of the names.

She goes into massive biographical detail, lasting at least an hour, about a suspect that was not the Green River Killer. The detail about Ridgway‘s background, if you take out the constant repetition, is probably about 90 minutes.

I could go on, but then I would be as monotonous as this book. Anne Rule is usually a good writer but she completely missed the mark with this one.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

EDITING

holy sweet baby Jesus. for the amount of money that these audio books cost I wish the editing would exist. This lady large audible gasp breaths close to the mic. it was like being slapped every third sentence. why. why is this not edited out. pop stars haven't taken a recorded breath in twenty years and I pay less for their stuff.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

This is the first Ann Rule book I have listened to but it was excellent. I chose it for the content and the length and I was suprised just how quickly it went by.

I looked forward to continuing where I left off from and to find out what would happen next. When I would leave the book it was one that lingered with me.

If you enjoy true crime I suggest giving this a listen. It was well written, well read and very informative.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Impressive True Crime Exposé

In Part One, Ann Rule leads readers through the case by going in-depth into the backgrounds of victims and GRK himself - describing how they ended up in the circumstances that almost guaranteed tragedy. Part Two documents escaped would-be victims and how law enforcement (The Green River Task Force) started closing in on suspects - including Gary Ridgway. Part Three describes the capture of Ridgway largely through forensic details and DNA matching. His confessions & direction to burial sites in order to take the Death Penalty off the table are explained.
The book is well-written and captivating.

I am 95% certain that reader Barbara Caruso is channeling Ann Rule herself when reading this book, too. She sounds *exactly* like a middle-aged Police Officer/Crime Reporter should sound - serious, objective, and empathetic/appropriately emotive (outraged at times, sympathetic at others, etc). Pronouncing Spokane, Washington "spo-KAYN" sometimes and "SPO-kan" sometimes is a weird inconsistency, but Caruso could be Rule's doppelganger. Simon & Schuster Audio cast this project perfectly.

In toto, this accounting of the GRK case is the best available. I give it a 9 out of 10 star rating. Spend the Credit.

[Incidentally: This obviously guilty guy passed two lie detector tests.. demonstrating how useless those things are when used on true psychopaths]


ATTN PRODUCERS: An attached PDF with photographs, a summary of the victimology, and timelines would improve this product appreciably (the sheer number of names is intimidating)

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Meh

The book was more about the victims. It was boring. Just long and boring

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An extraordinary story and very well narrated.

there is not a True Crime Story that I have ever struggled to finish, that said if it weren't for this narrator I'm not sure I would have been able to stick with this. It seemed as though the story would never end. with respect to those with families of the deceased I think it important that they went through every single detail and mentioned everyone's name. However, it turned out to be a very, very long and drawn-out story tiling of the events. the narrator was absolutely brilliant! I look forward to other stories read by her. I wonder if out there at this time in 2018 there is yet another serial killer lurking such as the Ted Bundy's and Gary ridgway's of the world. Both of those killers were so very very similar in nature, well perhaps not nature, but definitely in their crimes and morbid fascination with the deceased. A very good book I highly recommend it if you don't know anything about the case it will and thrall you. If you do know about the case it's still nice to learn how much work went into finding this monster. I still believe we need to search these people out in their young years and offer mental health support to so many more that slipped through the cracks. I believe we could help a great deal of people that kill, if only we got to them in time as professionals. Highly recommend the book I give it 5 Stars overall! on to the next...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best books I have listen to.

So far AUDIBLE#1 has worked great on my iPhone clear as a bell. Sounds like they are reading from the center of my head while wearing my SONY headphones. I am really enjoying my audio book from #1audible.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I loved this

Ann Rule's writing is amazing as usual. I particularly like the way she makes the reader feel a connection to each and every victim. She really humanizes them and causes the reader to view them as so much more than just another victim. And Barbara Caruso's narrating is PERFECT. I wish she could read every single Ann Rule book there is, I'd buy them all if it were her reading them. She was the perfect choice to narrate this book. I don't think anyone else could do it better. I'm listening to it a second time now because I was so bummed out when it ended, its THAT good.

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