Ted Bundy

The Only Living Witness

By: Stephen G. Michaud, Hugh Aynesworth

Narrated by: John Chancer

Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Intelligent. Articulate. Evil. Killer.

Two journalists with unprecedented direct access speak to Ted Bundy and those closest to him - friends and family.

What follows is a candid and chilling full account of the life and crimes of the most notorious serial killer in history.

What Bundy had to say in more than 150 hours of face-to-face interviews is as relevant today as it was at the time.

©2020 Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

Some annoying narration issues, but fantastic book

OK; So if you are familiar with this story, you will appreciate the insight and first hand information that Hugh and Stephen have on Ted, which gives them an incredibly unique perspective on him, and the murders.

I also purchased Conversations with a Killer, and the audiobook of the same name; both of which are based on the Bundy interview tapes that Hugh and Stephen collected through hundreds of hours of interviews with Bundy while he was on Death Row in Florida. (Also made into a fantastic Netflix documentary).

Most of that is in this book, as well as a very comprehensive history of Ted, and his life and crimes, interspersed with some of the information from Ted and the Death Row interviews- extremely fascinating, and compelling. Very well written, and I would highly recommend.

BUT.....

I am a full time working Artist, so I listen to audiobooks constantly while I work, and some things can start to grate after awhile. Narration can make or break an audiobook experience. For the most part the narrator is very competent, but there are a few things that I really had to will myself to overcome.

First, as a native Oregonian born and raised, anybody from the Northwest will tell you that it is absolutely maddening when people can't pronounce the state name. Throughout the whole book the narrator refers to Oregon as OR-EE-GONE. It might seem like nitpicking, but it should be pretty common knowledge at this point- if it's your job to narrate for a living, getting basic pronunciations of major state names correct seems like not a lot to ask. And since a lot of this centers around Oregon and the NW, it comes up a lot. And he always gets it wrong.

He also gets a number of the victims names wrong. Denise Naslund (one of Ted's victims) he pronounces as Denise NASH-LUND. Again, it's a basic pronunciation, and it seems kind of disrespectful that he can't get her name right. He also mispronounces Lisa Levy's name throughout the whole book. Some basic research, or a cursory listen from an editor and these things would be very easily fixed.

It's obnoxious.

There are a couple other things, but I'll leave well enough alone.

FANTASTIC book, definitely worth a buy.

Just prepared to be extremely annoyed if you're from Oregon.

Very in-depth and personal account

Great book, and beautifully written. I read some negative comments about the narration. There were a few mispronounced words but I thought the narrator's style and interpretation were excellent overall.

Best Bundy Audiobook yet

This is my 4th audiobook about Ted Bundy. I’d have to rate it as the best, although the others have their merits. This one is very well written and thorough. It contained things about his family life that I didn’t know about before. And, it is delivered so well by the narrator! The narrator’s clear and expressive voice was definitely a factor in my enjoyment of this book.

excellent

really enjoyed this book well worth the read thought it was more detailed then the stranger besides me

Great Book

14 words is not enough to give a good review. Change it back please.

Great listen/read

I've listened to a few books about Ted Bundy and this is def one of the best ones. Lots of great information.

Well researched, well written, well read

A well researched, thoughtful and overall pretty decent attempt at understanding a serial killer’s mind can be found in “Ted Bundy - The Only Living Witness” by Michaud and Aynesworth. Here the authors not only explore the circumstances and the trial(s), but interview witnesses, family members, medical experts, (etc), and spend considerable time with the killer listening to his words and drawing supported inferences from his (sometimes roundabout) testimony. The authors see Ted for the monster he is, but still take the time to ask why.

Great add for anyone looking to learn about Bundy

I liked this book. if you are a fan of reading about Bundy then you know most of this information, but the way the story is told here is good. I also love how they completely roast Ann Rule whenever they get the chance.

This book is the same as the others!

Good book if it's the first you ever read about Bundy. The fact that I have read most of the books on him makes this one low on my list there have been better more complete biographies on Ted that I would recommend to read before this one I thought there would be some new insight from the author being that he was there at the end for his final interviews and testimonials on all his victims but there were non to my knowledge that I haven't seen in documentaries or read in previous books.

Well-researched and compelling

This is perhaps the best of all the Ted Bundy books. It contains original research and interviews, and provides a thorough overview of Bundy's life and crimes, without undue sensationalism and gore. The narration is perfect—perfectly clear, but not overly dramatic, and the narrator has a pleasant baritone. Even if you've read other Bundy books, this one is worth your time, in my opinion.