Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Summary and Analysis

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule is a nonfiction book about the author's long time friendship with convicted serial killer, Ted Bundy. Having first met as workers in a Crisis Clinic in Seattle, Washington, in 1971, Ann and Ted's friendship continues until his execution in January of 1989. As might be expected, Ann's emotions wax and wane through their seventeen-year friendship as Ann rejects and finally accepts the fact that Ted Bundy her friend is also Ted Bundy the serial killer.

As the novel begins, a young man arrives on a Trailways bus in Tallahassee, Florida, on January 8, 1978. As is his intention, the young man blends in easily into the college town determined to start a new life. A sense of freedom and happiness washes over the man who could not walk down a street without being recognized in his...