A Light in the Dark
Surviving More than Ted Bundy
Kathy Kleiner Rubin’s earnest memoir A Light in the Dark spans three brushes with death.
As a child, Rubin had lupus and was isolated until high school—the first death sentence she avoided. In college, she and her roommate survived Ted Bundy’s attack on Chi Omega, enduring brutal facial injuries; two of their sorority sisters died. And in her thirties, Rubin was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Here, Rubin recounts her numerous recoveries in terms of her personal growth while also giving space to everyday realities (interest in boys; high school musicals)—partially alongside notes regarding what her later attacker was doing at the time (when Rubin was in high school, for example, Bundy was arrested for attempted kidnapping; when he was in prison, she was trying to get pregnant). Rubin also works to honor the women and girls who were murdered by Ted Bundy, rewriting the serial killer’s narrative: “The Bundy victims have been treated like cartoon characters who saw a handsome man, developed red hearts in their eyes, and then idiotically trailed behind him to their own deaths.” In reality, she says, most of his victims were attacked from behind or while they were sleeping.
In discussing the Chi Omega attack, Rubin makes use of both firsthand, gruesome details and facts that she learned later through the murder trial. These chapters take up the bulk of the book, bookended by bittersweet memories from her childhood and adulthood. And in her epilogue, Rubin encourages others to find light within the darkness. Her appendices include biographies of Bundy’s victims; they also correct news articles that framed Bundy as a charming man and share tips for honoring victims.
An inspiring addition to the true crime space, A Light in the Dark rewrites broken narratives around a serial killer.
Reviewed by
Ashley Holstrom
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
