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    Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath
    Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath
    Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath
    Ebook494 pages7 hours

    Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath

    By Kathryn Casey

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Sleeping with a monster

    At first, Linda Bergstrom's marriage to her husband James was idyllic. They were young and in love; he was about to enter the Navy and she was eager to start a family. But it wasn't long before the dream exploded. James became abusive and violent, prone to sudden bursts of anger, long silences, and unexplained disappearances. But Linda vowed to hold on, despite the pain and fear . . . and her disturbing suspicions about her husband's secret life.

    Then, not long after their move to Houston, Texas, she made a terrifying discovery: James's hidden cache containing duct tape, a ski mask, and handcuffs. No longer could Linda Bergstrom deny the hideous truth.

    The man she lived with, the man she married for love, was a dangerous psychopath. And there was no escape and nowhere to run. Because no one—not her friends, the Navy, or the police—would believe her.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061980503
    Evil Beside Her: The True Story of a Texas Woman's Marriage to a Dangerous Psychopath
    Author

    Kathryn Casey

    Kathryn Casey is an award-winning journalist, who has written for Rolling Stone, TV Guide, Reader's Digest, Texas Monthly, and many other publications. She's the author of seven previous true crime books and the creator of the highly acclaimed Sarah Armstrong mystery series. Casey has appeared on Oprah, Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen network, Biography, Nancy Grace, E! network, truTV, Investigation Discovery, the Travel Channel, and A&E. She lives in Houston with her husband and their dog, Nelson.

    Read more from Kathryn Casey

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    Reviews for Evil Beside Her

    4/5

    47 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Very well written couldn’t put it down sad story jeanne
    • 5/5
      I read a 494 paged book in just two days! I'm not saying that I have a lot of ample time in my hands , but the intensity of the book. It just kept getting better.
      It gets you riled up, emotional. You get mad, and cry sometimes even scream. But what's a good book if it doesn't make you feel?
      Also, love the fact that it had photos too.
      And as a feminist and a free will lover, I'd like to give my sincere gratitude and appreciation without forgetting Prayers for the victims and the Wife herself for such a traumatizing life they lived.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book!!! Ms. Casey has researched very much (as like the other books I've read, by her) and so wonderfully lucky to have some "research help" from some of the people who were either victims, law enforcement and everyone else who didn't want to be named. I'm so glad I found this author, because she, at least for me, manages to draw readers in and then makes them want to stay until the very end of the book, lol
    • 1/5
      Nothing. Way too long and monotonously repetitive. Absolutely nothing interesting or redemptive about any of the characters, what a bunch of losers. They all get what they deserve. He probably would have been caught much earlier if she hadn't spent years enabling him. Doubt I will read any more of this author.
    • 5/5
      Another winner from Kathryn Casey

      As prolific and powerful as Ann Rule, Kathryn Casey cannot produce anything but fascinating and heartbreaking true crime books. Evil Beside Her is no exception. My heart goes out to Linda Bergstrom, an amazing intrepid heroine you will never forget. Unputdownable. You will not regret picking up this book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is the first true crime book Kathryn Casey wrote. It is told mainly from interviews, most with Linda Bergstrom. After a difficult childhood and a sexual assault as a teenager Linda found someone she thought would treat her well, at first the marriage seemed good, James himself had a difficult childhood with anger issues. He became abusive and violent, would disappear for hours at a time.James had a secret life that when Linda found out about she was horrified. Her attempts to report him appeared to go nowhere, unfortunately she had no proof of her allegations. Also as his wife she was unable to testify against him. Eventually he was brought to justice.This is not a good as the other books of Kathryn Casey, however it is her first book. I have read other reviews that felt Kathryn was making excuses for the wife staying with the husband, one reviewer went so far as to say she was a ‘dumb-ass’. I don’t feel this was the case, the excuses were the wife’s and are consistent with battered woman syndrome. Even though this was not as good as others, I still enjoyed it, even though much information was from interview, she did try to bring out several points of view if she was able to. I recommend this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Not as good as I hoped it would be.
      It felt like the author was constantly making excuses why the rapist wife stayed with her husband all those years and that started to get old very quickly.
      Its not a bad book but I wish I would not have bought it, not worth 7 or 8 euros.
    • 4/5
      Linda thought that she had found the perfect man: shy, quiet, respectful James. What she didn't know, however, was that he had dark impulses for violence against women. James starts as a peeping tom, then escalates into attempted rape, before finally raping a woman. He also becomes violent against his wife. Linda believes that the only way she can protect herself and her young daughter from James is to find a way to turn him in...if only the police would listen to her.This was an interesting case. I get the urge to read true crime now and again, and this was a well-written book. I couldn't get over how Linda stayed with her husband for at least three years after she found out that he was a rapist. I know that she was a battered wife and he guilted her into staying with him, but still...three years? Wow. Also interesting how Linda kept trying to reach out to the police and warn them what her husband was, but no one seemed to want to take her seriously. Recommended for true crime fans.

    Book preview

    Evil Beside Her - Kathryn Casey

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