Every Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder

Written by Ann Rule

Narrated by Blair Brown

America’s #1 true-crime writer fulfills a murder victim’s desperate plea with this shattering New York Times bestseller.

“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 now chronicles 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 Blackthorne, 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 slain 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9780743567893

Ann Rule

Ann Rule wrote thirty-five New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. Her first bestseller was The Stranger Beside Me, about her personal relationship with infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. A former Seattle police officer, she used her firsthand expertise in all her books. For more than three decades, she was a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She lived near Seattle and died in 2015.

Reviews for Every Breath You Take

[leahboyer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

interesting true crime story

[brenda joseph · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great suspenseful. Ann Rule has a gift for this genre.

[leahhenderson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

interesting true crime story

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

True crime is one of my vices. I have always enjoyed a good Ann Rule book and this one did not disappoint. Great audio

[skstiles612 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 proceeded to create trouble for her and their two daughters Stevie and Daryl. Long after Sheila had married Jamie Bellush and they had quadruplets, Allen did his best to disrupt their lives. He used her neighbors and his children to create havoc. After his oldest daughter refused to visit him any longer he turned up the heat with his youngest daughter. He encouraged her to accuse her mother of child abuse. After one particular event it was decided they had to get away from Allen and do it secretly. Jamie and Sheila moved to Sarasota, Florida after Jamie’s boss transferred him to Sarasota. Sheila’s youngest daughter was still in Texas. After flying back to get her and take care of legal issues, Sheila brought Daryl back and she was put in a youth camp. Problems prevented them from taking her home with them. Daryl through manipulation managed to give her father enough information for him to find them. This set in motion that wheels that led up to Sheila’s death. On November 7, 1997 while at home with her four youngest children Sheila was brutally attacked and killed. Ann Rule did an excellent job of taking the reader through the troubles that plagued Sheila until her death. She then takes you down the heart wrenching path of the day Stevie finds her mother’s body and the all of the law enforcement officers that eventually brought the people responsible for her death to justice. This is a 5 out of 5. I read the book in 4 ½ hours.

[tonyasb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Every Breath You Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder by Ann Rule is exactly what the title says: A true story of a brutal murder. I'm not generally into true crimes novels, that's usually my mother's genre. She loves them and loves to watch those true crime television shows too. I enjoy them sometimes, but after awhile, everyone begins to look like a cold-hearted-B out to kill their mom, dad, son, daughter, wife, husband, or neighbor. It really makes you feel hopeless about the human race!This is another I picked up through Paperback Swap to give me something to listen to on my long commute. I was impressed by Ann Rule speaking at the beginning and the end of the audiobook about Sheila and how this apparently lovely woman knew something could happen to her and she needed to have her story told if possible. This story seems to have affected Rule unlike any other book she has written since Ted Bundy. If there is anyone out there, like me, that did not know that Rule knew Ted Bundy and considered him a friend before it was known he was a murderer, well, now you do. This was very surprising to me because one of her books is about him. I wonder what it would be like not only to know a murder (because I have) but to then have to write about him! I can't imagine living in the story of that person for the time that it takes to write a book about him. It might just drive me crazy!Another thing that impressed me was the story of Sheila herself. How such a strong person can let herself become enveloped so much in an abusive relationship no longer surprises me. Anyone who says it would never happen to them has simply been lucky. What surprises me is that she was able to get out with her two children and remake her life. She returned to the strong person she was before this relationship.Ann Rule writes in such a way that you forget this is a true story. You forget that most of the people in the story are actually living somewhere in this world having to deal with the consequences of this murder. I was sucked into the story and only afterward was I reminded that this is not fiction. It breaks my heart that this family has been so completely torn apart.