I just finished reading Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule.

[Left Is Write]

It took me for-freaking-ever to read it, partly because my only quiet time to read is in the bath at night, and partly because I had to keep going back and re-reading earlier parts, trying to know the victims and their lives.

Who else has read this book and/or followed the case?

This sounds stupid, even to me, but I was very disappointed to learn that Dave Reichert, once a detective on the case and the King County Sheriff at the time of Gary Ridgway's arrest and the aftermath, went on to become a Republican Congressman firmly allied with the Bush Administration. I can't help it, but the esteem I developed for him while reading the book (his dogged pursuit of the GRK and the final success in arresting him) dropped immeasurably when I read afterword with its updates.

[Pendrench]

1. I haven't read the book, but last night on the Biography Channel they had a movie called

"The Riverman"...which was based on the police interviews done with Ted Bundy, hoping to gain his insights about the GRK. I only saw the last 1/2 hour or so, but it was very interesting.

Tim

[flamingyouth]

2. I have followed the case pretty closely.

I was in junior high and high school when the victims were discovered - it was extremely frightening and sad, to put it mildly. A family friend worked on the task force, actually.

After so many years, I was shocked and so glad when they finally arrested him.

And yeah, Dave Reichert has turned out to be a huge disappointment. But Ann Rule's book is good - I got it as soon as it came out.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

3. I was a kid living in the Pacific Northwest when the killings started

I remember seeing the reports of newly discovered victims on the evening news while my mother prepared dinner. A few years later, in high school, I became friends with a girl who had been through a horribly abusive home life and had ran away at 12 years old and ended up in street prostitution. One of her best friends from that time ended up a GRK victim.

I've never read the book.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Welcome to DU!

Enjoy your stay in our little, addictive village!

:hi:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

5. Thank you California Peggy

I've actually been lurking on DU for several years. You are one of my favorite lounge lizards. :hi:

[Crabby Appleton]

6. I read the book, followed the case for years

glad they finely caught the guy.

[SeattleGirl]

7. I followed the case closely, and have the book (not done with it yet).

As to Reichert, though, he's not in complete lock-step with the Bush Administration, though he does have views that I don't agree with at all.

[Left Is Write]

8. I'm glad to hear he's not hook, line and sinker with the Bushies...

because I really want to like him.

A couple of weeks ago I DVR'd a "Cold Case Files" that was devoted entirely to Reichert and the search for the GRK. I didn't want to watch it until I had finished the book (even though I obviously knew who the killer was). I watched it today. It was fascinating, and it was also easy to see why Reichert went into politics.

[soleft]

9. When my son was about 4 years old

I left him with my parents for the weekend. WHen I picked him, on the way home in the car he asked me, Have you ever heard of the green river killer?

Apparently my father had been watching a documentary about the case and did so with my son in the room.

i was not pleased.

[idgiehkt]

10. I'm certainly going to read it

thanks for the heads up. :hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. I did a couple months ago.

And I read the other book that came out before they caught Ridgeway.

I just kept asking myself how so many women could have ended up that way, as much fear that was circulating around the area at the time.

The explanation was so simple-- doggy style. Get them facing away from you so they never saw it coming. So sad that so many young womens' lives were cut short.

And he didn't even remember half of them-- they were just trash to him. Less than nothing. I was so overjoyed to hear that they caught the bastard. It's amazing that he was a suspect for so long-- that one detective did not give up on that theory. And thank goodness he didn't.