Empty Promises by Ann Rule

I started reading the book and after a few pages wondered if I wanted to continue. It wasn't my normal reading material for sure. The second night rolled around and I hadn't picked out anything else to read so I read some more. Still thinking to myself that I really didn't want to read this book. Well, along come the third night and the rest is history, I am now done reading the book.

This is a true crime book. As I read Empty Promises I came to some pictures. They were crime scene and investigation pictures of the case I was reading about in Empty Promises. But wait.....there are more pictures with other names. What? I wondered.
It was then that I realized that Empty Promises was not the only story in this book. I turned to the front page and discovered the FULL title of the book: Empty Promises and Other True Cases Ann Rule Crime Files #7.

Empty Promises is 216 pages of 524 pages in the book. The other stories are: Bitter Lake, Young Love, Love and Insurance, The Gentler Sex, The Conjugal Visit, Killers on the Road, A Dangerous Mind, To Kill and Kill Again, and The Stockholm Syndrome.

I am not going to go into details about any of the stories as I don't want to ruin it for anyone who might decide to read this book. However, I will say that the crime scenes and how the crimes happened are given in grave details.
I will tell you that the main story is about Jami Hagel and her disappearance.

If you enjoy reading true crime and haven't read this book then I would recommend it highly. I don't however recommend it to be your bedtime reading, especially if you are susceptible to nightmares. As I said, it goes into a lot of details about the victims.

It was interesting enough for me to complete the book, but as I said, not my normal reading. I enjoy self-help and inspirational books. I won't pick up another book like this by choice to start reading.

Ann Rule (born October 22, 1935 in Lowell, Michigan) is a popular American true crime writer.

Rule got her start writing for the magazine True Detective under the presumably male nom de plume Andy Stack. When she started writing for the magazine in 1969, the editor suggested she write under a male name in order to be taken seriously as a crime writer despite having a short stint as a police officer herself (with the Seattle Police Department). After proving her ability in several magazines, including Master Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Office Detective she was invited to start writing under her own name, but decided to keep the pen name at that time in the interest of protection for herself and her family from her subjects.

She came to prominence with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, about serial killer Ted Bundy. At the time she started researching the book, the murders were still unsolved. In the course of time, it became clear that the killer was Bundy, her friend and colleague on the suicide hotline at the Seattle, Washington Crisis Clinic. She has also met and interviewed a number of other serial killers in the course of researching her books.

She wrote The Stranger Beside Me under her own name. However, her next three books (The Lust Killer, Jerry Brudos; The Want-Ad Killer, Harvey Carignan; and The I-5 Killer, Randall Woodfield) were written as Andy Stack at her agent's advice since she had been offered very little advance for them. Once she had established popularity under her own name, later editions of the book listed her as the author and sold much better.

Rule, who lives in Renton, Washington, has been writing full-time since 1969 and has published over 20 books and 1400 articles, and also teaches seminars to law enforcement groups. She was also part of the task force that created Vi-CAP, a computer tracking system designed to identify serial killers. Although some of her cases have been high-profile, she says she prefers the "sleeper" cases, not wanting the reader to know the ending before picking up the book. She also tries to keep in touch with the families of the victims, and sometimes will add an update to a later edition of a book to include new information.

* Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder (2007)
* Too Late to Say Goodbye (2007)
* No Regrets (2006)
* Worth More Dead (2005)
* Kiss Me, Kill Me (2004)
* Green River, Running Red (2004), about the Green River Killer
* Heart Full of Lies (2003)
* Without Pity (2003)
* Last Dance, Last Chance (2003)
* Every Breath You Take (2001), about the murder of Sheila Bellush
* Empty Promises (2001)
* And Never Let Her Go (1999), about Thomas J. Capano's murder of Anne Marie Fahey
* A Rage to Kill (1999)
* The End of the Dream (1999)
* Ann Rule's Omnibus (1998)

* Bitter Harvest (1998), about the murders committed by Debora Green
* In the Name of Love (1998)
* A Fever in the Heart (1996)
* Dead By Sunset (1995)
* You Belong to Me (1994)
* A Rose for Her Grave (1993)
* Everything She Ever Wanted (1992, afterword 2002)
* If You Really Loved Me (1991)
* Small Sacrifices (1987), about the murders committed by Diane Downs
* The Want-Ad Killer (1983)
* The I-5 Killer (1988), about the murders committed by Randall Woodfield
* Possession (1983)
* Lust Killer (1983), about the murders committed by Jerry Brudos
* The Stranger Beside Me (1980, Updated 20th anniversary edition 2000), about Ted Bundy and the murders he committed

At times fascinating, at times maddening, July 5, 2008
By Bonnie Lass "love to learn" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
I confess I read everything by Ann Rule that I can get my hands on. My admiration for her began when I read "The Stranger Beside Me," her bone-chilling account of her unsuspecting friendship with Ted Bundy, the man who was later discovered to be one of the most horrific serial killers of our time. The title story of this book, "Empty Promises," is all too familiar -- the wife as victim to her husband's control and abuse. It is a gripping story that sadly occurs often all around us, but is never the less quite frustrating to read. I am accustomed to Rule repeating herself often, describing again and again how helpless the woman felt, how cruel the husband was. The repetition is something I have just come to expect from the author and I have come to overlook it for the most part.

The frustrating part is trying to understand how the victim, Jami, could possibly allow herself to remain involved with Steve, her husband, for more than a few months. Granted, she fell for her husband's declarations of love after he beat her, but come on -- I kept wanting to scream at her to get a clue and get out. She had a supportive family who tried to convince her to leave, but interestingly, they never offered any solutioin other than for her to stay in their house with them. I cannot help but wonder why, when Jami was finally ready to leave after years of abuse, they did not secret her away to a hotel or a relative or something that would not have been easily tracked by her husband. Everyone around Jami seems maddeningly helpless, and Jami herself often seems idiotic.

The story was entertaining, and I realize that hindsight is 20-20, but good grief; if a few people had been a little smarter and more prone to taking action, Jami would be alive today. I know these things happen in real life all the time and often with the victim ending up dead. But I have to wonder why those around them simply gnash their teeth and wring their hands over their worry for the victim and don't do anything concrete and intelligent to help the victim really get away.

Emptry Promises, October 31, 2007
By Agnes E. Bronka - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
All of Ann Rule's books a very well written. Very interesting story.
Excellent read.

cautionary tales, May 8, 2006
By Sammy Madison (USA) - See all my reviews
"Empty Promises" is a collection of short stories by Ann Rule, built around one long, book-length story. The main story is about Jami and Steve Sherer. He is a drug addict, thief, insurance defrauder, and con man who uses and abuses his wife Jami and finally murders her. The big lesson in Ann Rule's books is that people are not always as they appear on the surface, and charm is often a tool used by the dishonest to manipulate the naive. Often, as is the case in the title story "Empty Promises", it is hard to understand how an abused woman could be so compliant and stupid about staying with her abuser. One thing I know from experience is that men like Steve Sherer have practiced lying and sneaking from childhood. From the day they meet a potential girlfriend, they carefully construct an intricate web of lies, and they are very, very good at it. They always have an ex-girlfriend in the wings who they are still threatening and abusing. They always have at least one other potential or second-string girlfriend waiting in the wings to support them if the main wife or girlfriend manages to get away. They enlist friends and family members to back up their stories, and for some reason these people support them. It is hard feel too much sympathy for Jami Sherer, after all, she helped him defraud insurance companies, and was into drugs herself. The man she picked out to leave Steve for was an even worse druggie than Steve. But no matter how stupid or even complicit a woman is, no one ever deserves the brainwashing and violence the victim of a pathological narcissist goes through. I have wondered over the years how many women Ann Rule has helped get away from men who are manipulating and using them. I bet it is a lot. Thanks for this book, Ann.

Shorter stories are more interesting than title story, January 7, 2006
By E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
Ex-cop and serial killer expert Ann Rule isn't a profound writer. She tells the same story over and over again with new victims and grisly variations on the way a human being can die. I suppose there's nothing profound about me either, since I read her stories. But it's a relief to know that no matter how badly my life is behaving, I'm better off than the victims of Rule's psychopaths.

The title story, "Empty Promises" is 216 pages long, and I had a problem empathizing with the victim, an abused wife who eventually disappears, because the husband in this case is such an unrelenting crudball. Ann Rule allows Steve Sherer absolutely no redeeming features and as a result, I can't figure out why Jami married him, much less went out on that first date with Steve. She learned right away that Steve was still beating up his previous girlfriend. It was quickly obvious that he was into drugs, thievery, and insurance scams. He bullied Jami into dyeing her hair blond and getting her breasts enlarged. Part of this bullying went on while Steve was in prison. Then when he is set free, Jami MARRIES him, supports him financially, and bears his child. When she finally decides to leave him for yet another druggie, Jami disappears.

The only really interesting thing about this story is the trial, which was conducted on purely circumstantial evidence and the personality of the accused.

This book's shorter case histories are more interesting and varied than the long, sad story of Jami and Steve:

"Bitter Lake"--another woman tries to break off a relationship with an overly-possessive boyfriend with a very brutal outcome.

"Young Love"--A teen-age romance goes sour and the boy breaks into his ex-girl-friend's college dorm, loaded down with dynamite.

"Love and Insurance"--Two publicity-seeking men enter into a gay relationship that lasts only until one of them is murdered.

"The Gentler Sex"--Some women are tempted by the thought of widowhood, cushioned by scads of life insurance, including the wife of one hard-to-kill Marine drill instructor.

"The Conjugal Visit"--Nowadays some prisons include nearly all the comforts of home, including conjugal relations. Even a man who has committed crimes of extreme violence can sometimes fool prison officials into thinking he is willing to reform. When cop-killer, kidnapper, and repeat felon Carl Bowles is allowed to visit his 'fiancée' in a Motel 6 room, the couple disappears.

"Killers on the Road"--Some American murderers are named after the roads where they pick up their victims. Ann Rule shares one of the first trials she covered as a true-crime writer. A married woman goes missing on the way home from work. Her killers are traced only after another one of their victims survives multiple gunshot wounds.

"A Dangerous Mind"--A pretty blond child is murdered in her own home during the dark hours of the night. This case predated by almost two decades that of JonBenét Ramsey.

"To Kill and Kill Again"--Four separate victims have only one thing in common--their nineteen-year-old killer.

"The Stockholm Syndrome"--This true case was explored on the TV show, "Forensic Files." A young couple and their collie meet a stranger while camping in the woods.