Roadside Prey

by Alva Busch

This is the true story of the truckstop torturer-murderer, Robert Ben Rhoades. The smooth-talking Rhoades would coerce hookers, teenage runaways, and lonely women on the road into his truck/torture dungeon and use them to feed his addiction to violent sex. His crimes went undetected for 15 years, until a young girl was discovered shackled in his cab. Photos.

Genres: True Crime, Crime

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I began reading and my heart began raising because of the scary story I was reading. The abduction of a young girl and it really upset me how cruel she was being abused.

Then afterwards it is more a story how the cops and fbi managed to solve a case. They had found a body of a young girl and I thought it was very interesting and the book was well written. So incredibly sad really. Anyway I was then reading they had discovered photos in an apartment and one was of a girl being frightened in a black dress in front of an old barn. She was called Regina and only then I remembered that I had seen a photo online of a girl just before she was killed in a barn. She was wearing a black dress an the photo is so shocking.
I googled and yes they were on and the same.



This was Regina when not scared.

There is another photo of her in the book but could not find it online. Beautiful young girl.

What I did not like was that the cover of the book says or the description that he had killed others and how the author solved it but there was not much talk about solving those really.

I gave the book to my mum to read so can't check what exactly was written but that was not true.

Anyway if you like reading how a case was solved this is the book for you.

[Melissa P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I really like true crime and have researched this case before, but this book goes into way more details that I didn't know. Lots of true crime cases give me chills, but the one of Robert Ben Rhoades is quite scary. He was a truck driver who picked up young women/teenagers and did unspeakable things to them. This man is terrifying. I am happy he was caught and can never do this again (that's not really a spoiler. It's public record). My heart breaks for the poor girls who unfortunately encountered him, thinking he was a nice guy. Everyone, male, female, young, old, please be careful in this world. I can't imagine the fear all his victims went through. This book is very informative and I recommend it to people who like true crime and can handle the details of the things he did. He is a sick individual.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a long-haul trucker who also happens to be a sexual sadist, written by a participant in the investigation, a fact that I didn't realize until page 87 (the book is written in the third person). At one point an anthropologist was called in to examine a body, and the detailed description of how he went about determining the victim's age, race, etc. is very interesting. The afterword summarizes the criminal careers of two other trucker-killers from the same era.

[Ericka Niemann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be fairly interesting at the beginning, and then repetitive and lost interest about 1/2-3/4 of the way through but pushed to finish it. It’s good for the description of the killer, victims, events surrounding trial, etc. however it lacks true voice from the author and almost read as a really long newspaper article. I prefer journalistic writing in regards to true crime. Also, the book is pretty dated and uses a lot of terms that are no longer correct/appropriate/ PC. That’s to be expected as it is an older book, but I did find it took away from my reading enjoyment due to the implicit bias in the book

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting to say the least. I was grossed out by most of the stuff this guy did to the women. Roadside Prey is the true story about Robert Ben Rhoades and his murders and assaults to women that he picked up on the highway, or at truck stops.
The story begins with Rhoades picking up a girl at a truck stop. Just reading the book gave me chills at how the young girls just went with him. He was able to manipulate them and make them feel very comfortable with him. As you read the book you learn more about his personal life and addiction to violent sex. If you can handle explicit detail about women having their bodies tortured with the devices that are shown in the book then you should give this book a chance.
I don't want to give away too much about what exactly happened to the girls, women and young ladies but just know that this guy was a sadistic man.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

ive read this book right after it came out its very sickning and makes you wounder how many sick people are out there and how close they really are :(

[Lynette]

Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley