Ann Rule portrays Bradley Cunningham as a man of humble origins who, in becoming self-made and prosperous, creates a charming persona behind which a criminally irresponsible, mendacious, and violent man resides. As Cunningham lives more and more by the lie of this persona, in his private life, especially with his girlfriends, wives, and children, he becomes incrementally more and more autocratic. Rule diligently chroncicles the descent of Bradley Cunningham into hell, a hell where fair is foul and foul is fair, and chroncles the lives of the women he seduces into his nightmare. The book climaxes when Cunningham is put on trial for murdering Cheryl Keeton, and we see that when as fine a vision as the American Dream goes beserk in the imagination of Bradley Cunningham, he won't be satisfied until he brings down American Justice along with it. It's a compelling and very disturbing true crime story.