Every Breath You Take, Ann Rule
Every Breath You Take, Ann Rule
3 Rating(s)
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Every Breath You Take
A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder

Author: Ann Rule

Narrator: Blair Brown

Abridged: 5 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2002


Synopsis

America’s #1 true-crime writer unveils the chilling true story of the Sheila Bellush murder, unveiling domestic violence, an obsessive ex-husband, and a desperate plea for justice in this gripping account written at the victim’s request.

“If anything ever happens to me…find Ann Rule and ask her to write my story.”

In perhaps the first true-crime book written at the victim’s request, Ann Rule untangles a web of lies and brutality that culminated in the murder of Sheila Blackthorne Bellush—a woman Rule never met, but whose shocking story she chronicled with compassion, exacting detail, and unvarnished candor.

Although happily ensconced in a loving second marriage, and a new family of quadruplets, Sheila never truly escaped the vicious enslavement of her ex-husband, multi-millionaire Allen Blackthrone, a handsome charmer—and a violent, controlling sociopath who subjected Sheila to unthinkable abuse in their marriage, and terrorized her for a decade after their divorce. When Sheila was murdered in her home, in the presence of her four toddlers, authorities raced to link the crime to Blackthorne, the man who vowed to monitor Sheila’s every move in his obsessive quest for power and revenge.

With her careful research and signature reporting, Ann Rule captures Sheila’s harrowing story while honoring a victim’s last request.

About Ann Rule

Ann Rae Stackhouse was born in Lowell, MI in 1931. Her mother taught school, specializing in developmentally disabled children, and her father was a coach. Ann was in law enforcement in her young adult years, as was many in her family. She received various degrees from different colleges and universities, including studying creative writing, criminology, and psychology at University of Washington.

Ann's marriage, and eventual divorce changed her last name to Rule, which she keeps as her author name. Her extensive education and experience as a police woman gave her the perfect credentials to become regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, setting the standards for the genre. For example, while she was volunteering at a suicide hotline center in Seattle in 1971, she met a work study student by the name of Ted Bundy, not realizing until a few years later that it was the same Bundy responsible for a series of murders. To her, he was kind, solicitous, and empathetic. She wrote her first book about him, considered one of the definitive biographies of Bundy.......The Stranger Beside Me (written under her own name, rather than the previously used pen name).

Rule has been a full-time crime writer since 1969, and has published 33 books and 1400 articles, mostly on criminal cases.

Today, she teaches seminars to law enforcement groups, a certified instructor in many subjects such as: Serial Murder, Sadistic Sociopaths, Women Who Kill, and High Profile Offenders. She has consulted with the FBI at their headquarters in Quantico, VA tracking a system to help identify and trap serial killers. She testimonies twice before the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on victim's rights and the danger of serial killers.

Simon and Schuster currently have Rule under contract. Eight of her books have been made into TV movies, and more are in the works. Ann is in active support groups for victims of violent crimes and their families, in programs to help battered and abused women, and support group.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Sherry on 2007-05-25 16:07:27

I love true crime books, and this one was okay, just not great. I've read this author's work before, and this just wasn't up to par for me.

Goodreads review by Robin on August 29, 2011

Basically a good read if you like to follow true crime. However it's a novel that could and maybe should have been written with half as many pages. Rule gives far too many quotes and snippets from all sides of the families, legal teams and accused to make it a pleasure to read. It drags as we are bu......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on June 18, 2024

And Ann Rule hits it out of the park again! I will never get tired of reading her work, she’s brilliant at what she does and I love it.......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on June 18, 2017

If Ann rule wants a simple story of right and wrong, then she should pick a simple story in which there is clearly a victim and clearly an evil person and there is no overlap. If she chooses to pick a more complex case, like this case, then she should have enough respect for the intelligence and ana......more

Goodreads review by Sandra on July 27, 2009

Every Breath You Take is the story of the life and death of Sheila Bellush and the road to bring those responsible for her murder to justice. Sheila had a tumultuous marriage to Allen Blackthorne. Violent and controlling, she finally found the courage to leave him. After her divorce to him he procee......more

Goodreads review by Jimmy on July 18, 2022

One of Ann rule’s better books this is a very detailed book about the murder of Sheila bellush. The amount of detail from both her and Allen’s life is 2nd to none. This case is about domestic violence the lengths an abuser is willing to go to end another’s life. Please read this book and if someone y......more