Shelia Belush lived with the fear that her ex husband would track her down and kill her. She told people that if anything was to happen to her to get Ann Rule to write her story. When she was brutally murdered after fleeing to another state her family tracked down the author and asked her to write her story.
When Shelia first met Allen she thought that she was lucky to have met her dream man at such a young age. Her dreams soon became a nightmare. She suffered abuse with Allen. She had to put up with his sexually deviant behavior. He even hired male prostitutes to have sex with her! Finally after three years she could no longer tolerate the abuse so she filed for divorce. She tried to get money to support her two daughters but Allen fought her every step of the way. Finally she won her case and Allen couldn’t stand to lose so he started terrorizing her. After many years after she had married her new husband she decided to escape to Fla and get away from Allen. He tracked her down and had someone kill her. It took authorities three long years to prove Allen was behind the murder plot. Justice was served in the end.
When I was younger I used to read lots of true crime and Ann Rule was one of my favorite authors. Her books bring the topic to life. I could feel the terror that Shelia Bellush felt when she was dealing with Allen. Allen was a manipulative liar and abusive and I felt contempt for him. Ann Rule managed to paint a full picture of what all transpired and made you feel what the people in the book felt.
This book reads like a good mystery also. You know early on who did it but it not until the end of the book that all the pieces fall into place. I kept turning the page wanting to know why Allen was so obsessed with making his ex wife “pay”. This was a page turner and I would recommend it to anyone who likes true crime.