Dark Tide : Growing with Ted Bundy

Title: Dark Tide: Growing Up with Ted Bundy
Author: Edna Cowell Martin, Megan Atkinson

Publisher: Permuted Press
Release Date: July 23, 2024
Page Count: 311
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Although the Ted Bundy murders began in Washington State 50 years ago, the horror lives in the memories of so many people. And now we finally have a close family account of Ted Bundy - from his younger cousin. It's so sad, terrifying and I'm glad Edna has finally told her story. 

Edna does a great job of sharing her life in the Seattle area in the 1960s and 1970s. Of the close community she found on Puget Sound at Far-A-Way where she met her future husband, horse-back riding and digging for clams on the beach, her happy family life, and her beloved cousin Ted who was more like a brother. How he visited her small college apartment usually bringing food and wine and good conversation. That time he asked Edna's brother and boyfriend to show him the bars near the campus where students congregated. And the night he got stoned and danced "spasmodic and agitated" on the coffee table. Yet, these were just small things that were minor blips on a lifetime of friendship and love. 

The growing horror as Edna and her family learn about Ted is heartbreaking and palpable. "How does a mind process something like this, reassigning an adored cousin to one of the most well-known serial killers of the twentieth century?" Edna - or anyone placed in the same horrible situation - wants to believe that yes, the signs were there, they were just missed. But Edna shares another truth:

"Because the other answer is, I suspect, the one people are begging me to refute when they ask the question. It's the possibility no one wants, including myself. No. There were no signs. Nothing out of the ordinary. If that's true, it means Ted could be anyone. even those we'd never suspect. That means it's possible to have everyone fooled. No one wants that."

I strongly recommend Dark Tide. 5 stars and a Recommended Read. 

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.