Comparison Of Defending Jacob And The Stranger Beside Me

Mystery and Crime is so impactful because of the perspective of the narrator. They take the readers on a journey throughout the twists and turns through the certain parts of the big picture that the readers are allowed to see. Novels both read in class and out of class this year showed many different aspects of the genre. The books Defending Jacob and The Stranger Beside Me have many differences and parallels as shown by the relationships of the narrators, the information that the narrator's reveal , and how information is presented throughout the novel.
In each of the novels, the main character is closely connected to the perpetrator. The Stranger Beside Me portrays Ann Rule’s friendship with serial killer Ted Bundy. They worked together,

Ann Rule was a crime author and would track down every lead possible. She would fact check and accept the information she found. As she researched Ted’s case, every clue lead to the conclusion that he was guilty. Rule did not desperately grasp for every hole in someone’s story because she knew that she should not make the evidence fit for what outcome she wanted. The information just is and would lead to the truth, even if it was the truth that she did not want to be true. Andy, on the other hand, was completely blind to every bit of evidence regardless of his background of being a district attorney. He even admits that he is biased though he sees his beliefs as truth and, remarkably, has not even one bit of doubt. Andy claims that no one can “see (their) own kids straight. No one can,” (Landay 230). Throughout the novel he desperately tries to find any shred of evidence that proves his son was innocent, constantly questioning the validity of evidence and how it pertains to the case. Unlike Rule, Andy vehemently refuses to believe the evidence of his son’s

The Stranger Beside Me and Defending Jacob are filled to the brim with witness testimonies, physical evidence, trace evidence, and many other pieces of information. Ann Rule merely presents the information and lets the reader accept it as truth or not. She does not argue, she is merely a bystander in the case. Andy Barber on the other hand comments on every piece of information that is revealed. Constantly commenting and criticizing the evidence against his poor baby boy. He will reveal evidence and then immediately attempt to make the reader discount it as false. The stranger beside me merely presents information and does not try to convince the reader of anything while Defending Jacob is essentially like reading Andy’s diary where he tries to convince himself that there is no way the evidence proves his son's