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Lust Killer
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...
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...
271 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 1983
852 people are currently reading
6615 people want to read
About the author
Ann Rule
141 books4,510 followersAnn Rule was a popular American true crime writer. Raised in a law enforcement and criminal justice system environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She was a former Seattle Policewoman and was well educated in psychology and criminology.
She came to prominence with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, about the Ted Bundy murders. At the time she started researching the book, the murders were still unsolved. In the course of time, it became clear that the killer was Bundy, her friend and her colleague as a trained volunteer on the suicide hotline at the Seattle, Washington Crisis Clinic, giving her a unique distinction among true crime writers.
Rule won two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery fans' organization. She was nominated three times for the Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. She is highly regarded for creating the true crime genre as it exists today.
Ann Rule also wrote under the name Andy Stack . Her daughter is Goodreads author Leslie Rule.
She came to prominence with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, about the Ted Bundy murders. At the time she started researching the book, the murders were still unsolved. In the course of time, it became clear that the killer was Bundy, her friend and her colleague as a trained volunteer on the suicide hotline at the Seattle, Washington Crisis Clinic, giving her a unique distinction among true crime writers.
Rule won two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery fans' organization. She was nominated three times for the Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. She is highly regarded for creating the true crime genre as it exists today.
Ann Rule also wrote under the name Andy Stack . Her daughter is Goodreads author Leslie Rule.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 320 reviews
July 15, 2022
Well, if you want some real horror, check this one out!
In my opinion, the genre of true crime is a tough one to write well. I think you would not only need to talk about the details of the crimes, but the life of the suspect and THE WHY this murderer does these horrendous acts.
Ann Rule is fantastic at doing true crime. She has a way of writing books with all the information mentioned above, but also giving victims a voice and showing the daily grind detectives go through with trying to catch a killer.
Lust Killer was fantastic and it also scared the hell out of me.
The fact that someone like Jerry Brudos existed is terrifying. Jerry Brudos was a sexually deviant man with a hatred of women. The hatred of women stemmed from his mother.
Of course it did, surprise, surprise!
He ended up killing four young women and attacking two others before being caught by detectives of the Salem Oregon Police Department and other departments in the area.
Jerry Brudos has been portrayed in the Netflix series Mindhunter and was also inspiration for actor Ted Levin’s performance in The Silence of the Lambs.
If you've seen either example, you'll know the type of person that Jerry Brudos was.
Lust Killer is also a great portrayal of what a serial killer really is and how the people in their life are in the dark about their nature and evil tendencies.
I do believe Jerry Brudos’ wife Darcie had no idea that he was a serial killer, but I do think she had to have had some sort of idea that something was off.
As a wife, there’s no way I would not have checked out that garage or attic! Of course, I read Nancy Drew as a kid so I’m not surprised that I would have investigated. 😉
After listening to this audiobook, I need to get to more Ann Rule books. Since Lust Killer happened in Oregon, I guess I’ll just head north to Washington state and tackle the next serial killers in the PNW area. 🤣😂
PNW, I realize we have a lot of trees, fog, water and dreary weather but damn…
In my opinion, the genre of true crime is a tough one to write well. I think you would not only need to talk about the details of the crimes, but the life of the suspect and THE WHY this murderer does these horrendous acts.
Ann Rule is fantastic at doing true crime. She has a way of writing books with all the information mentioned above, but also giving victims a voice and showing the daily grind detectives go through with trying to catch a killer.
Lust Killer was fantastic and it also scared the hell out of me.
The fact that someone like Jerry Brudos existed is terrifying. Jerry Brudos was a sexually deviant man with a hatred of women. The hatred of women stemmed from his mother.
Of course it did, surprise, surprise!
He ended up killing four young women and attacking two others before being caught by detectives of the Salem Oregon Police Department and other departments in the area.
Jerry Brudos has been portrayed in the Netflix series Mindhunter and was also inspiration for actor Ted Levin’s performance in The Silence of the Lambs.
If you've seen either example, you'll know the type of person that Jerry Brudos was.
Lust Killer is also a great portrayal of what a serial killer really is and how the people in their life are in the dark about their nature and evil tendencies.
I do believe Jerry Brudos’ wife Darcie had no idea that he was a serial killer, but I do think she had to have had some sort of idea that something was off.
As a wife, there’s no way I would not have checked out that garage or attic! Of course, I read Nancy Drew as a kid so I’m not surprised that I would have investigated. 😉
After listening to this audiobook, I need to get to more Ann Rule books. Since Lust Killer happened in Oregon, I guess I’ll just head north to Washington state and tackle the next serial killers in the PNW area. 🤣😂
PNW, I realize we have a lot of trees, fog, water and dreary weather but damn…
February 27, 2022
OMG! Do you really know anyone well enough to know what they are capable of??? This man was institutionalized in his teen years and was just told to "grow up" and released back to secretly to prey on society. The author tells each story with detail and insight. The writing is straight forward without being unnecessarily gruesome or disrespectful to the victims in the book. Insights and details give us a journey into the twisted mind and lifestyle of the perpetrator that fooled everyone and piled up the victims. I shudder to think of all the more victims there would have been had he not been caught. Here is the website if anyone would like to read more about this. https://www.biography.com/crime-figur....
February 10, 2017
'Lust Killer' is an excellent true-crime read about a married serial killer, Jerome Brudos, who kidnapped, strangled, and hung women from a hook in the ceiling in order to take pictures and have some necrophilic fun. He was also a fond husband and father of two children.
Once again Ann Rule does a steller job in research, interviews and in including court records which help round out the story. However, it is her fantastic ability to pull it all together and write of it coherently which sets her books above the other true crime writers.
'Lust Killer' brings up some important points about relationships and being too stupid to live:
Rule number one: don't marry someone you've known only three months.
Rule number two: don't make babies with someone you've known only three months.
Rule number three: if someone has changed jobs multiple times in one year and moved just as often, the problem may be about the person, especially if the reason given for the moves is always because the boss had it in for them or the boss or job was stupid - and then refuses to provide any other details.
Rule number four: if your spouse or sex partner has rooms or building structures forbidden to you to enter, leave NOW. Try to think it through: is it about respecting your partner's privacy or is it being too stupid to live.
Rule number five: learn the difference between respecting your partner's sex fetishes, and being so naive, deaf, dumb and blind to odd behaviors that you are too stupid to live. For example: he says he needs naked pictures of you and you don't want to be nude in photos, but he makes you pose against your will; or he steals clothes; or he wears stolen high heels panties and bras way nicer than yours, and you are miserable.
Rule number six: a person who enjoys artwork that looks like female breasts that have been cut off and are placed around rooms of the house on tables should set off some concern if the fellow doesn't have any other art.
Rule number seven: He NEVER let's you see inside of home meat freezers. You must ALWAYs ask him to get the meat, ice cream or TV dinners. Leave NOW.
Rule number eight: a MAJOR HINT of terrible things to come - you are too scared to ask questions or express your disagreement. YOU ARE IN TROUbLE, friend!
I think a custom that women developed in the 1980's was fantastic. We used to go to work wearing running shoes and carry our high-heels in our purses. While at work, we wore the heels, and then when we left the office, we changed back into our Nikes or whatever. Just saying. I cannot think of a more vulnerable adult person than a young, small, petite woman who is wearing 6-inch heels walking about distractedly in lonely public places.
Brudos only picked short, petite women who were wearing high heels to kidnap. Weirdly, the women Brudos selected also all went meekly with him without a sound or struggle, even when he was not displaying a gun. Later, police found their cars, but NO evidence of struggle, damage or blood. In police interviews, Brudos mentioned it was as if they wanted to be with him because they all calmly left with him. Police had a difficult time ascertaining a crime even had been committed - until their bodies showed up floating in nearby rivers. Most of the bodies, anyway. Rule recommends screaming and fighting because if you get in the car or out of the public eye, the odds are you will never be seen alive again, so you literally have nothing to lose by fighting back. People are usually kidnapped for the purposes of, mostly, rape, torture or cutting parts of you off until you die.
Once again Ann Rule does a steller job in research, interviews and in including court records which help round out the story. However, it is her fantastic ability to pull it all together and write of it coherently which sets her books above the other true crime writers.
'Lust Killer' brings up some important points about relationships and being too stupid to live:
Rule number one: don't marry someone you've known only three months.
Rule number two: don't make babies with someone you've known only three months.
Rule number three: if someone has changed jobs multiple times in one year and moved just as often, the problem may be about the person, especially if the reason given for the moves is always because the boss had it in for them or the boss or job was stupid - and then refuses to provide any other details.
Rule number four: if your spouse or sex partner has rooms or building structures forbidden to you to enter, leave NOW. Try to think it through: is it about respecting your partner's privacy or is it being too stupid to live.
Rule number five: learn the difference between respecting your partner's sex fetishes, and being so naive, deaf, dumb and blind to odd behaviors that you are too stupid to live. For example: he says he needs naked pictures of you and you don't want to be nude in photos, but he makes you pose against your will; or he steals clothes; or he wears stolen high heels panties and bras way nicer than yours, and you are miserable.
Rule number six: a person who enjoys artwork that looks like female breasts that have been cut off and are placed around rooms of the house on tables should set off some concern if the fellow doesn't have any other art.
Rule number seven: He NEVER let's you see inside of home meat freezers. You must ALWAYs ask him to get the meat, ice cream or TV dinners. Leave NOW.
Rule number eight: a MAJOR HINT of terrible things to come - you are too scared to ask questions or express your disagreement. YOU ARE IN TROUbLE, friend!
I think a custom that women developed in the 1980's was fantastic. We used to go to work wearing running shoes and carry our high-heels in our purses. While at work, we wore the heels, and then when we left the office, we changed back into our Nikes or whatever. Just saying. I cannot think of a more vulnerable adult person than a young, small, petite woman who is wearing 6-inch heels walking about distractedly in lonely public places.
Brudos only picked short, petite women who were wearing high heels to kidnap. Weirdly, the women Brudos selected also all went meekly with him without a sound or struggle, even when he was not displaying a gun. Later, police found their cars, but NO evidence of struggle, damage or blood. In police interviews, Brudos mentioned it was as if they wanted to be with him because they all calmly left with him. Police had a difficult time ascertaining a crime even had been committed - until their bodies showed up floating in nearby rivers. Most of the bodies, anyway. Rule recommends screaming and fighting because if you get in the car or out of the public eye, the odds are you will never be seen alive again, so you literally have nothing to lose by fighting back. People are usually kidnapped for the purposes of, mostly, rape, torture or cutting parts of you off until you die.
January 6, 2020
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.
"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.
March 20, 2024
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.
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.
October 29, 2016
Long form suits Ann Rule a good deal better, as does having an agenda. There's a reason she's writing about Jerry Brudos, and that reason informs her story-telling.
Her reason, of course, is the same reason that makes The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story compelling: educating her readers, specifically her young female readers, on the existence of men like Brudos, on the fact that you can't protect yourself from them by being "good" (or "bad," for that matter), and that if one targets you, cooperation almost certainly means your death. Good girls who cooperate are exactly what a man like Brudos wants; it makes them easy prey.
The most horrifying thing about Jerry Brudos is that I'd never heard of him, that there are so many serial killers like him that his name doesn't hold a charge. (The dubious upside to this observation is that it would have infuriated him, Brudos, like others of his ilk, having had a poisonously swollen ego.) If you are interested in serial killers, this is a good case study, clearly written and compelling and, as she quoted from Ted Bundy's letters, she quotes from Brudos' petitions and appeals written in prison--that kind of primary evidence, when available, is certainly the quickest way to get a visceral understanding of how someone like this thinks.
I'm interested in true crime as a genre. This is a good example of how to tell a no-frills story cleanly and concisely. It would be a good choice for representing Ann Rule in a class on twentieth-century American true crime writing.
Her reason, of course, is the same reason that makes The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story compelling: educating her readers, specifically her young female readers, on the existence of men like Brudos, on the fact that you can't protect yourself from them by being "good" (or "bad," for that matter), and that if one targets you, cooperation almost certainly means your death. Good girls who cooperate are exactly what a man like Brudos wants; it makes them easy prey.
The most horrifying thing about Jerry Brudos is that I'd never heard of him, that there are so many serial killers like him that his name doesn't hold a charge. (The dubious upside to this observation is that it would have infuriated him, Brudos, like others of his ilk, having had a poisonously swollen ego.) If you are interested in serial killers, this is a good case study, clearly written and compelling and, as she quoted from Ted Bundy's letters, she quotes from Brudos' petitions and appeals written in prison--that kind of primary evidence, when available, is certainly the quickest way to get a visceral understanding of how someone like this thinks.
I'm interested in true crime as a genre. This is a good example of how to tell a no-frills story cleanly and concisely. It would be a good choice for representing Ann Rule in a class on twentieth-century American true crime writing.
July 1, 2011
Due to lack of reading material, I was forced to read Lust Killer. I wasn't too thrilled about this. I had never heard of Ann Rule, and I underestimated her because, honestly, the book just looked mediocre (I guess that goes with the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover"). I'm sorry for this, Ann. This book exceeded my expectations dramatically! This book had me hooked from almost the beginning. This was a very gruesome book, and I almost feel guilty for admitting my liking for it. It's interesting to be able to be in the mind of a sexual psychopath killer, though. Ann Rule did an exellent job.
March 13, 2021
Well written true crime drama of a horrific, sadistic predator, hiding in plain sight.
December 6, 2020
For ‘Non Fiction November’ my book club really wanted to read a true crime novel. And seriously, is there anyone better than Ann Rule?! The answer is no….no there is not. I absolutely love all of her novels and have read so so so many of them.
However, it’s been years since I have read one of her novels. Like at least 15+ years. I went through a big true crime phase back in the early 2000s and a devoured many of her books but for some reason I didn’t read this one and I am shocked because I have an intimate connection with this book.
My uncle was one of the defense attorneys for the wife in this book and the murders happened right here in my home town, and my dad went to school with the killer. I mean why haven’t I read this book long before now?! I literally have no idea but our book club thought this would be a great read for Non Fiction November!
Let me just say right off the bat, this book was disturbing and I mean disturbing. It read like something right out of a Law and Order SVU episode. It has a strong sexual element so it might not be for everyone but it was a fascinating read. This book was much shorter than her usual books and it was written back in the 1980s originally. Many of her other books in the 400-500 range but this one came in at just under 300. I can wholeheartedly say I wish this book was longer and would have expanded more on the killer himself or even the trial portion.
As I said, this book and it’s murders happened in my home town of Salem, Oregon. I drive by the house where he tortured his victims every day and honestly it looks like a typical family home with pumpkins on the porch and kids bikes in the yard. It’s disconcerting to say the least. I know many of the locations in the book and even though the crimes took place back in the 1960s, Salem, Oregon hasn’t changed that much in the last 50 years.
Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction and this was one of those books that just leaves you wondering WHAT THE FU*K IS HAPPENING! Ann Rule wrote with such a great ability to present facts but yet make them not boring. Her books all read like suspense novels rather than true crime. So many true crime books read like police reports but with Ann Rule, she really had such a talent for writing wonderfully suspenseful true crime. I am so sad that she has since passed away because she was a legend!
I also downloaded the audiobook since I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time in my car when I started reading this, save you money. The audiobook is terrible. I had to stop listening when the narrator kept saying the ‘will-a-mutt’ river instead of the Willamette River……it was painful. If you love true crime, Ann Rule is who you need! All of her books are great but if you are looking for a real life Law and Order SVU, this is your novel!
See my full review here
However, it’s been years since I have read one of her novels. Like at least 15+ years. I went through a big true crime phase back in the early 2000s and a devoured many of her books but for some reason I didn’t read this one and I am shocked because I have an intimate connection with this book.
My uncle was one of the defense attorneys for the wife in this book and the murders happened right here in my home town, and my dad went to school with the killer. I mean why haven’t I read this book long before now?! I literally have no idea but our book club thought this would be a great read for Non Fiction November!
Let me just say right off the bat, this book was disturbing and I mean disturbing. It read like something right out of a Law and Order SVU episode. It has a strong sexual element so it might not be for everyone but it was a fascinating read. This book was much shorter than her usual books and it was written back in the 1980s originally. Many of her other books in the 400-500 range but this one came in at just under 300. I can wholeheartedly say I wish this book was longer and would have expanded more on the killer himself or even the trial portion.
As I said, this book and it’s murders happened in my home town of Salem, Oregon. I drive by the house where he tortured his victims every day and honestly it looks like a typical family home with pumpkins on the porch and kids bikes in the yard. It’s disconcerting to say the least. I know many of the locations in the book and even though the crimes took place back in the 1960s, Salem, Oregon hasn’t changed that much in the last 50 years.
Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction and this was one of those books that just leaves you wondering WHAT THE FU*K IS HAPPENING! Ann Rule wrote with such a great ability to present facts but yet make them not boring. Her books all read like suspense novels rather than true crime. So many true crime books read like police reports but with Ann Rule, she really had such a talent for writing wonderfully suspenseful true crime. I am so sad that she has since passed away because she was a legend!
I also downloaded the audiobook since I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time in my car when I started reading this, save you money. The audiobook is terrible. I had to stop listening when the narrator kept saying the ‘will-a-mutt’ river instead of the Willamette River……it was painful. If you love true crime, Ann Rule is who you need! All of her books are great but if you are looking for a real life Law and Order SVU, this is your novel!
See my full review here
September 26, 2021
Memorable quote:
"In murder, of all human phenomena, things are seldom what they seem." -Ann Rule
"In murder, of all human phenomena, things are seldom what they seem." -Ann Rule
February 5, 2017
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.
July 13, 2018
Written in 1983 -- just after her Bundy book -- and published under her pulp pseudonym of "Andy Stack" -- this is essentially a pulp true-crime book, and so a work of inferior quality. I gave it up halfway.
Jerry Brudos was a creep, not even intelligent or in the least interesting.
One note: We tend still to think of serial murderers as a product of their environment -- but that is not true. While abusive upbringing can exasperate psychopathy, and love (perhaps) moderate it, it does not cause it. Brudos did not have such a terrible childhood. His mother was cold and disinterested and prefered his older brother. But that's about it. Yet when Brudos was just 3-years old, his aunt woke-up from a nap and found herself surrounded by a ring of sharpened kitchen knives pointing at her in the center -- and little Jerry sitting there and smirking.
It is hard to read about these types and still maintain a principled opposition to the death penalty --unless one has some theological basis for it.
Jerry Brudos was a creep, not even intelligent or in the least interesting.
One note: We tend still to think of serial murderers as a product of their environment -- but that is not true. While abusive upbringing can exasperate psychopathy, and love (perhaps) moderate it, it does not cause it. Brudos did not have such a terrible childhood. His mother was cold and disinterested and prefered his older brother. But that's about it. Yet when Brudos was just 3-years old, his aunt woke-up from a nap and found herself surrounded by a ring of sharpened kitchen knives pointing at her in the center -- and little Jerry sitting there and smirking.
It is hard to read about these types and still maintain a principled opposition to the death penalty --unless one has some theological basis for it.
November 24, 2021
This follows a real serial killer from childhood, to his teenage years, through adulthood, marriage, kids… to when he was caught, interviewed, sentenced, imprisoned. The “lust killer” is said to be the most dangerous serial killer of all killers.
It all started with stealing his kindergarten teacher’s high heels- graduating to stealing underclothes from clothes lines, and morphing into the most horrible and horrific of crimes. With a genius IQ, the only way he would ever stop, is to be caught - it took more than 12 yrs to do that.
Very informative on many levels. Highly recommended for those fascinated by true crime reads.
It all started with stealing his kindergarten teacher’s high heels- graduating to stealing underclothes from clothes lines, and morphing into the most horrible and horrific of crimes. With a genius IQ, the only way he would ever stop, is to be caught - it took more than 12 yrs to do that.
Very informative on many levels. Highly recommended for those fascinated by true crime reads.
January 25, 2025
This isn't my favorite Ann Rule book. It is one of her earlier ones, and you can tell her writing ability has improved over time. Overall, the book is interesting. I wasn't aware of this case.
February 6, 2018
Oh my, oh my, Oh Fing MY!! I did not go into this book knowing that it was a true crime mystery. This threw me for a loop and drug me into the story even more. This is the crazy, twisted, dark, chilling account of the serial killer Jerry Brudos aka The Lust Killer. Jerry killed women in the Portland/Salem, Oregon area in the late 1960's. It is crazy to think that such a disturbed person lived. I enjoyed that when I sped up the narration the story felt like a fiction story instead of a biography based in facts and evidence. This serial killer's story is also featured in the Netflix's Show: Mindhunter and now can't wait to watch the show.
This specific review will be included in the February 2018 Wrap-up.
For other video book reviews check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Rom Book Talk.
This specific review will be included in the February 2018 Wrap-up.
For other video book reviews check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Rom Book Talk.
March 30, 2009
This book is creepy. I learned that if I am ever attacked by a psycho I should fight and try to get away. The girls that fought in this book survived. The girls that tried to reason with him or did what he said because they though he would let them go later were murdered. Jerry Brudos was one sick lunatic. Thank God he died in prison where he belonged.
January 23, 2016
Good, interesting read about a sex killer. One of my favorite Ann Rule books.
August 1, 2019
Talk about a difficult, extremely disturbing read! Ann Rule definitely gave details and a lot of facts about the Lust Killer, Jerome Brudos, and much of it I'd like to say I wish I hadn't read; however, knowing there are true sickos in this world who care not one iota for a human being is important to try to wrap your head around it.
I don't want to give this guy any of my time, so I'll just say that the thing I had no idea about is exactly what a lust killer is. Rule explains that in her afterward in the book. I thought that was just the title that this killer was given, but a lust killer is a specific type of serial killer.
I was shocked and saddened by how very little they (law enforcement, detectives, etc.) were able to do back then and this book definitely made me very grateful for the DNA evidence and technology that we have today to help identify creeps like this serial killer. While ONE woman's torture, death, and rape (after death) was more than anyone should ever have to go through, I will say that I'm glad it was "only" four women.
I am also very happy to have learned that
I don't want to give this guy any of my time, so I'll just say that the thing I had no idea about is exactly what a lust killer is. Rule explains that in her afterward in the book. I thought that was just the title that this killer was given, but a lust killer is a specific type of serial killer.
I was shocked and saddened by how very little they (law enforcement, detectives, etc.) were able to do back then and this book definitely made me very grateful for the DNA evidence and technology that we have today to help identify creeps like this serial killer. While ONE woman's torture, death, and rape (after death) was more than anyone should ever have to go through, I will say that I'm glad it was "only" four women.
I am also very happy to have learned that
June 18, 2013
Jerome Brudos did not like his mother, who doted on his elder brother, and this life style more than likely influenced his later behaviour thought the psychiatrists once he had been captured.
But by that time he had killed, most gruesomely, four ladies, all of whom happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had transgressed with ladies before he started his killing spree but in a more minor way and he had been fortunate enough not to have been caught. Had he been caught perhaps the disasters that followed might not have happened.
Oregon's Salem and Portland districts were terrorised once the spree began and Lieutenant James Stovall, one of the best detectives on the force, was at a loss to uncover the killer.
He worked diligently and once he got a break he honed in on Brudos, whose insignificant manner, made him appear the least likely of killers. But he was and when Stovall skilfully draws a confession from him the full story unfolds as Brudos told it all quite dispassionately.
Meanwhile his somewhat meek and mild wife, who was completely unaware of his activities, could not believe that her husband had committed such crimes. But when she too is suspected of being an accomplice she is devastated. Fortunately the jury at her trial believed in her innocence and she was set free to start a new life under an assumed name.
On the other hand, Brudos initially pleaded not guilty but eventually changed his plea thus saving not only the expense of a trial but also preventing the damaging effect such a trial would have had on the families of the victims.
'Lust Killer' reads like a thrilling novel but sadly it is all too true.
But by that time he had killed, most gruesomely, four ladies, all of whom happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had transgressed with ladies before he started his killing spree but in a more minor way and he had been fortunate enough not to have been caught. Had he been caught perhaps the disasters that followed might not have happened.
Oregon's Salem and Portland districts were terrorised once the spree began and Lieutenant James Stovall, one of the best detectives on the force, was at a loss to uncover the killer.
He worked diligently and once he got a break he honed in on Brudos, whose insignificant manner, made him appear the least likely of killers. But he was and when Stovall skilfully draws a confession from him the full story unfolds as Brudos told it all quite dispassionately.
Meanwhile his somewhat meek and mild wife, who was completely unaware of his activities, could not believe that her husband had committed such crimes. But when she too is suspected of being an accomplice she is devastated. Fortunately the jury at her trial believed in her innocence and she was set free to start a new life under an assumed name.
On the other hand, Brudos initially pleaded not guilty but eventually changed his plea thus saving not only the expense of a trial but also preventing the damaging effect such a trial would have had on the families of the victims.
'Lust Killer' reads like a thrilling novel but sadly it is all too true.
September 28, 2023
This is not my first Ann Rule read and it most definitely won’t be my last either! In fact, I think it’s amongst my favourites I’ve read by her. Minus maybe The Stranger Beside Me because that one is just beyond iconic and my fave by her. But this one made me feel almost as excited and horrified while reading it. This story is really both horrifying and fascinating, a space Rule occupies so well. Of course the events these victims went through at the hands of this monster were horrifying but seeing justice served provided such an immense sense of satisfaction. Knowing the victims got justice makes any true crime read all that much sweeter. And as usual Rule’s sensitivity is on point in her writing, she’s not being sensationalistic or exploiting the victims. That’s one of my favourite parts about her writing, her ability to bring class and sensitivity to a normally quite exploitative genre.
October 22, 2011
Straightforward biographical sketch of Jerome Henry Brudos. Active in the late 1960's in the Portland/Corvallis/Salem areas of Oregon. Married with two children. Electrician. Shoe fetish. Stocky and incredibly strong. Strangled, raped, and mutilated victims. Weighed bodies with engine parts, and dumped in river. Pleaded guilty. Multiple life sentences. Became a computer expert in prison. Died of liver cancer 2006.
August 23, 2010
I very seldom read true crime accounts. I generally find them horribly banal, and I get irritated at the blurbage where every serial killer victim is "beautiful" or "all American." I read this one to get anecdotes for my psychology classes and for my own writing. I thought it was well told although I didn't find the case itself terribly compelling.
November 10, 2010
Ann Rule's writing has really matured from her older books like this one. For one, she no longer writes what the murder victim was thinking and feeling before and during the murder, something that drives me nuts in true crime.
March 10, 2020
I miss Ann Rule
This is one of the few Ann Rule books I missed reading during her lifetime. It is gripping and solidly fact based. It's a bit too long but otherwise a compelling true crime book.
This is one of the few Ann Rule books I missed reading during her lifetime. It is gripping and solidly fact based. It's a bit too long but otherwise a compelling true crime book.
November 30, 2011
This book has been my least favorite by Ann Rule. I just didn't like it at all I skipped pages and read the last page! It
April 16, 2014
I hate to say this, but I found this book to be dull and boring. Sorry, Ann Rule fans. Now I am trying another of Ann Rule's books and it is starting off even worse.
December 18, 2022
I'd first learned about Jerry Brudos from the Netflix series Mindhunters.
This guy made Ed Gein look like a choir boy.
This guy made Ed Gein look like a choir boy.
January 23, 2025
As someone who did not know about Jerry Brudos prior to reading this, I really liked this book. One thing that stood out to me was getting the actual events of what happened in the beginning and then much later hearing about these acts in Jerry’s words. Presented that way, it provides a chilling sick feeling that fits very well with the content of this story.
August 26, 2025
Horrors!!! This is a true horror story. He reminded me a little of Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs. The good news is, he died in prison in 2006.
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