Green River, Running Red

By: Ann Rule

Narrated by: Barbara Caruso

Length: 19 hrs and 23 mins

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

Critic Reviews

"[C]onveys the emotional truth of the Green River case." ( Los Angeles Times)

"Riveting." ( People)

"Perhaps Rule's finest work." ( Statesman Journal)

Suspenseful and chilling

This is one of the better true crime books I have ever encountered. Ann Rule succeeds in chronicling nearly every step of the two decade investigation, yet it is never tedious. At different times during the story suspects are named, questioned and dismissed. The book is more like a suspense/thriller than a typical true crime novel. The frustration and anger of the numerous investigators, and the author, is evident. This very frustration led to a high rate of illness and death among those who worked on the GRK task force. I will not tell you which suspect is the actual killer, but it is so chilling to realize how "normal?" he appeared. It is important to understand he worked for decades to appear normal. The killer was really twisted. Caruso narrates perfectly, putting the listener within the ranks of the task force searching for this monster. I put this audiobook in the few dozen of the over 1300 I own as a "can't stop listening" category.

Narration was the big drawback

As a fan of other Ann Rule books - and having just finished listening to the Audible version of 'The Stranger Beside Me' (which I loved) - this one left much to be desired. In 'Stranger', Rule lamented that the sheer volume of Bundy's killing removed a specialness to the victims, that due to their vast number no one victim would be remembered as an individual. It was clear she felt some guilt that she wasn't able to celebrate who the victims were as people prior to becoming a Ted Bundy victim, and she tried to make up for it in 'Green River'. However, it's too much. I felt like the book was dragging when I began listening - three hours in and it was still discussing just the victims with barely any touches on the investigation or how they linked the earlier crimes to one individual. It's clear, without the personal touch provided by Rule's personal friendship with Bundy, something is lost in the telling of a crime novel.

Beyond that, I could not get in to Barbara Caruso's reading. As a Seattle-ite, absolutely no attempt was made to ensure PNW names were actually pronounced correctly. Drove me crazy and really pulled me out of the experience.

Well written story, faulty narrator.

The book is very well written and documented. It only feels long because the narrator speaks as if she cannot breathe properly and is breathing through her mouth all the time.

I had to make an effort to ignore the constant sound of the narrator pulling air through her mouth at the beginning of each sentence, as if she had a cold and was congested during the reading of the book.

Excellent story and narration

Anne Rule tells the stories of several of the young women who were removed from this world by the Green river monster before they had a chance to better their circumstances. Young people believe they're invincible and prositutes are no different. Gary Ridgeway deprived them of the opportunity to grow up and find other ways to make a living. I would like to say that I hope he can/does read the book, but I'm not sure it would matter at all. How could it matter to someone with no soul?

As a side, I'll look for more books narrated by Barbara Caruso.Great vocal pitch and intonation that doesn't need exaggeration to elicit our sympathy.

A Chilling Nightmare Come True

She's done it again.
Beginning with 'Stranger Beside Me', her story of her once good friend, Ted Bundy, and his hellacious killing spree, then moving onto Washington States most notorious serial killer, Ann Rule out does herself in this horrifying tale of a man gone mad.
The Green River Killer put himself on the map by inspiring use of the term, Serial Killer. Mass Murderer just wouldn't cut it.
Ann takes us behind the scenes with the detectives who worked for years on this case. They devoted their lives to catching one man; A journey that would last much longer than anyone had anticipated.
She dives into the lives of the prostitutes Ridgway chose as his prey. By telling their stories, she presents them as the wonderful women they were. Though their profession was anything but glamorous, she portrayed them as women with dreams, hopes, families, kids, and friends. The vicious cycle these girls were caught up in was pointed out and explained the way it should be, with an open mind and an open heart.
One of her best works, Ann has truly outdone herself in this tale of psychosis, murder, tragedy, and success.
I would recommend this read to anyone, especially in the state of Washington, as a reminder that the monster that can hold you in a grip of fear can be the last person you would ever expect.

Detailed account--worth the listen!

Caruso tells it as if you were in her living room and she wanted you to know everything that happened. Pretend she's your favorite aunt and you can forgive her the mispronunciations and slight lisp. She really put her all into the telling.

Anne Rule wants you to know these girls intimately before you meet the Green River Killer and she does a thorough job honoring their memories. The frustration of the law enforcement teams becomes our own and what great satisfaction to finally nab the real GRK.

What a sicko.

Very, VERY detailed!!!

This is Ann Rule's most detailed and specific book to date...almost too much so! We kind of lost track of which girl was which!!

T...M...I...

Waaaaay too much information. While each life taken by the GRK absolutely should be cherished and remembered, this book may not be the correct place to remember them. Much attention is paid to the various victims while relatively little attention is given to the pursuit and capture of Gary Ridgeway.

Although historically accurate, the story trudges along until the end.

Long, drawn out, bland

I am a lover of mystery, murder stories, serial killer stories, etc., so when I saw the reviews and read the summary, I was hooked and used one of the credits. Without getting too wordy, the best way to describe what this book was is that it feels like you’re reading someone’s very bland journal about the GRK. The book gives us the facts about each victim and most of the book is just that. Maybe I just thought I was getting into a different style of book? If you’re looking for great storytelling, some suspense and a creative take on this serial killer story, I would unfortunately look elsewhere.

Awful

Would you try another book from Ann Rule and/or Barbara Caruso?

No

Would you ever listen to anything by Ann Rule again?

No

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not her fault

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Green River, Running Red?

80% of what was read

Any additional comments?

This book should have been titled "The Lives of the Green River Killers Victims" ...I couldn't finish listening to this book. I got half way through it and couldn't listen anymore! All this book talks about is the lives of the victims, hardly anything about Gary Ridgeway. i don't know if she was waiting until the end to actually talk about the killer himself, but needless to say the book is very boring for the first few hours.

Not for the faint-hearted

True crime writer Ann Rule tells the story of the Green River killer in this extraordinary book. Researching the case for more than twenty years, she later discovered the perpetrator had carried out many of his grisly crimes close to where she lived and had even attended her book signings. America’s most prolific serial killer is known to have murdered at least 49 women and evaded detection until he was caught in 2001. The author sifted through thousands of documents, police records and photographs to bring this harrowing tale to life, detailing the lives of the many victims, their stories and their deaths.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted – packed with gory details and scene-of-crime minutiae, Rule outlines how the police investigation team went through many permutations before they eventually apprehended the killer. At a time when DNA evidence was virtually unheard of, the Green River Task Force struggled to find links that might tie any of the victims to a particular person. Fighting the quirks and whims of political enthusiasm for the case, the detectives were often left with only a skeleton crew, and some members even followed up leads in their spare time.

This is a disturbing story of an apparently mild-mannered but deeply troubled individual and the trail of bodies he left across King County, Washington.

Green River Running Red Ann Rule

Ann Rule delivers again,what a fantastic story,just like Dead Before Sunset a gripping true story of a man that committed so many crimes and got away with it for so long,the crime task force worked so hard but left so many holes in the case Ann explains everything to detail this is my third book by this author and i have enjoyed everyone,Highly recommended.

Nightmare Narration

Great book but the very perculiar narration was a major irritation to the point where it distracted from the story for me far too often.

Great Book

Very detailed and gripping. This is my first book by the author, ignore other review narration is clear and concise and a pleasure to listen to.

True crime for housewives.

Plods through the story of the Green River Killer. Overly descriptive and convoluted. Unnecessarily sentimental.

Entire chapters are devoted to barely relevant events that could be summed up in a paragraph. A psychic, for example, has a lead role in the tale, though this person seems barely relevant and a side note in the actual facts of the case. The author seems to enjoy mentioning needless information about politics, I'm assuming to attempt to place the reader into the time and place. This seems like such a pointless literary device that feels like reading someone's school work.

The author bombards you with more names and descriptions of locations than could possibly be remembered, to the extent that any obvious timeline has been lost, and any scale of the murders is impossible to gauge. After all the waffling, chapters often end abruptly with no conclusion or summation at all.

The narration is fitting, in that it is also poor. It sounds like you are listening to an episode of "Murder She Wrote".

I wish I could like this book, because it's such an interesting case, but it seems to be more about the author that the Green River Killer.

Be prepared to be disappointed.

True crime

As a fan of true crime I was surprised that I had never heard of the Green river killer. A truly harrowing account of a vicious, pathetic, cowardly man. The book was slow to begin with, but picked up around the middle. good narration throughout. If you are interested in true crime you will enjoy this book.

Another Ann Rule classic

Well written as you would expect, compassionate, informative, well researched well worth a read .

Good, but too long

Good book , exciting to listen too, just too much information on the backgrounds of the victims? IMO

Great research, but far too long

Read this after The Stranger Beside Me, which was brilliant. I didn't really like the way the narrative shifted in this, might work better when reading, but for audio I found it jarring. Also, the narrator consistently mispronounced words, which was a bit distracting - not accent related, just completely mispronounced. There were a lot of characters in this too and the length of it made it hard to keep up with who was who.

journey along the green river

the boat bobbles up and down, calm waters lap against the side
above green mosses hang from twisted branches reflecting sun light back above

the river is placid and I fall asleep, in the distance a motorway sounds

Then i wake up, there are dark clouds, the shadows are lengthened, and the strong breezes make leaves fall around,
In the distance i can just make out some desperate cries, but i cannot see anyone.

then after a short while it calms again, the sun comes out and in the trees birds sing, i settle back down to sleep