Don't Look Behind You: Ann Rule's Crime Files #15 Paperback – December 1, 2020

There's something amazing about people who solve crimes that are decades old. Reading about how this comes about is just as interesting--to me--as it is reading about crimes that are solved closer to the time they were committed.Anne Rule might be my favorite author ever. Just because of the detail she covers in unwrapping the "why" and "how" of the crimes she describes. The creepiness level of the first story, North to Alaska, kept me hooked. But it's the second story, Too Late For The Fair, that, for some reason, I found I could not stop reading. Here's someone who got away with a horrible, horrible crime for years and years and years. And the way people came to her to write about it is also a bizarre and stunning story. What amazed me was how the victim's best friend called her up, heard her terror as her husband approached, and then did nothing. When I read the friend's description of the victim's words, the hair all over my body literally stood on end; and, I never get that type of physical reaction, from a book, hardly ever.That moment in time has haunted me since I finished the book. What went through that friend's head as she made the decision not to call police after what she heard on the other end of the phone, before it went dead? She doesn't call police, not that night, not the next day. And her husband's a police officer!! But they do nothing.Anne Rule took me back to that moment in, what was it, 1963 or so. A moment that was concealed (out of fear? ignorance?) and forgotten for years, and years, and years. Three children who had to have witnessed a thing too horrific to process grew up, lived with the concealed secret somewhere in their minds, and suffered greatly from the violence that took their mother from them on that fateful day. The fact that no one knew or discussed what had happened to this lady, though everyone sensed what had happened to her, is the most horrible thing of all. The fact that the plight of these kids was known by the community but never addressed or dealt with was one of the less pleasant messages of this story. Rule quotes one of the kids as saying, "didn't anyone notice the bruises on our faces?" This is a story of an entire community that chose NOT to deal with the horrible act of a person who terrorized and destroyed a family, right in front of their eyes.It's a sad commentary on community life in this U.S. of A.---that such a vicious act could be enabled and supported by the silence of those who are responsible for justice. That the best friend's husband was a police officer does not sit well with me at all.Despite the fact that this crime happened so long ago, the telling of it affected me in a way not even the best Rule books have. Just the fact that the story is written is a kind of justice, belated but real, for the remaining players in this sad drama. Their tragedy is real for me and that is the only justice possible at this point--to share the story.

I have read all of Ann Rule's books over the years and enjoyed all of them. I don't think there will ever be another writer to compare.

I purchased this book because of one story "Late to the Fair", about Joann Hansen, who was a friend of mine when she "went missing" in 1962. When I left Washington in 1969 I firmly believed she had died at the hands of her husband, as she would never have abandoned her children. A few weeks ago I searched the Internet to see what the status of her case was and subsequently found that Anne Rule had written a most informative story about it. I had always wondered how the lives of her four children turned out. For me, it was a well-written account of the time surrounding her disappearance and the actions of people involved as well as the lives of her children in the ensuing years. A tragedy affecting so many lives.

I have always loved true crime. I have also had half brothers who committed it so I suppose the connection is reasonable. Ann Rule has been my hero in crime writers from the very day I discovered her, which was a long time ago. "Don't Look Behind You and Other Stories" is tour de force by a write so consistently so good, it's impossible to imagine that she'll ever produce anything bad. And no, there's teaser here. Don't Look Behind You is another Ann Rule venture into the darkest minds. What amzes me the most about Ann Rule is that no one seems to be publishing exposes about what a dark creature she is. Which just tells me that she's not. I don't know that I could get through all these dreadful crimes committed by the utter flotsam of human society and still have a sunny smile and love this author. But I do and I do. All I can say without utterly giving away everything in this book is, buy it. Read it. Revel in it. And if you want to write to her, she does respond. At least, she's responded to three friends of mine who have written to her, so from that I assume she responds. Try it. She might. But meanwhile, get them all. Because the other thing that doesn't happen? It never gets old reading her.

I read 30-40 books per year (more during COVID). So, I decided to read one by Ann Rule that I have heard about so much. Well, the several stories in this book were terribly violent and Ms Rule did a fine job of describing that violence in much too much detail for me.There was one story about a very tall man that rapes a small woman that still has me perplexed. I cannot understand the point of that story at all. To be honest, it was so difficult to read the story and to finish it but I did. The subject material is just not to my liking although she has a talented writing style.

I enjoyed all the true crime stories in this book. The first one was bizarre and hard to imagine a person is so egotistical and kills his wife and beats his kids. So tragic.

My granddaughter loves true crime and Ann Rule is her favorite crime writer

I'm baffled about why some other reviewers have given this so few stars. The cases are "cold cases," true, but to my mind that makes them more intriguing. These murderers thought they got away with it long ago -- they thought no one would figure it out now -- but they were wrong. It's nice to see that murder cannot be hidden, however long it may take to be discovered. Ann Rule has done a lot of research about these cases, even though the murderers clearly wanted to hide their tracks. And it's a fascinating portrait of some families who regard murder as "just another day's work," as well as of some people who have survived terrible situations. My only complaint is that the Kindle edition doesn't seem to come with photos (not sure about the print edition). Ann Rule's collections of murder cases, the Crime Files, are always going to have shorter cases than the single-murder books, but there's still a lot of detail in here. And for what it's worth, I didn't spot a single typo.