A Tangled Web: A Cyberstalker, a Deadly Obsession, and the Twisting Path to Justice.

Spoiler Alert: I'm a fan of true crime and this story intrigued me greatly. However I found it hard to read in some places. Like tracing Cari's family history, was like reading a history book, I understand giving a personal and sometimes even a psychological background helps to define a person, however going all the way back to the 1800s really had no relevance. Delving into statistics in regards to other aspects made it hard to pick up the story. To be truthful not sure where the statistics of contracting herpes has anything to do with the stalker accusing the victim of having herpes. Don't get me wrong, I'm intrigued, I have few questions myself regarding the investigation into Cari's disappearance. It's the author who throws in these random facts in a haphazard way, like a child using random Lego blocks to build a train or robot. Its just real hard to pick up the story after these facts are thrown out there even though they can be found online.

This is a true story written by Leslie Rule ... daughter of Ann Rule. My mom was a big fan of true crime and Ann Rule was her favorite author. And because my mom read it, so did I .. under her very close attention. An everyday man who wants just a casual relationship falls prey to a woman who wants way more than he is prepared to give. When he finally tires of her efforts to rope him in, he decides to date someone else. And this is where her obsession was born. She's eaten up with jealousy ... and a stalker was born. He and his new girlfriend receive death threats, vandalism, but no one was charged. How does she get his phone number even moments after he has it changed? The threats were vicious, vile and often obscene, sent mostly via text and always in the old girlfriend's name. There was some truth in the messages, but all of them contained one big lie. This stalker had already killed once and was prepared to do so again. He has received 12,000 emails and texts during a 3-year period. It's a breath-taking journey through a sociopath's twisted mind to the deadly deception and the high-tech forensics that condemned the killer to prison. Very well written showing this author's meticulous research into this case. Hard to put down for any reason, it was riveting from start to finish. In this day and age of internet and social media and even cell phones, this could possibly happen to anyone. Some things will never change. The better our technology becomes, the more some people will go to any length to cause havoc and chaos. Many thanks to the author / Kensington Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this true crime. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

The daughter of Ann Rule, infamous true crime writer, was groomed at 17years old as a research assistant and photographer of murders. Leslie Rule describes her mother’s humble beginnings as a writer and an unlikely friendship with a man who is now synonymous with “serial killer”. It is quite astounding how close to evil Ann was while working with Ted Bundy at the Crisis Clinic in Seattle. She describes the eventual murders which occurred later in her 1980 book, The Stranger Beside Me. As much as Leslie Rule has avoided writing about true crime, she felt compelled to venture into this genre after the death of her mother in 2015. With the development of the internet in 1989 the manner in which crimes are committed and covered up have become more sophisticated. Unfortunately, as Leslie describes the nature of crime over the years always seems to be the same. She hopes to alert people to the increased vulnerability of being a victim with information so accessible to anyone. I really enjoyed A Tangled Web and couldn't put it down. I finished it in 2 days. Leslie Rule did a phenomenal job of showing just how unhinged and unstable "Liz" was. It was unbelievable how much effort Liz put into the deception and how she was able to get away with it for so long. Absolutely amazing and terrifying.