Another chilling and creepy book from the reigning queen of true-crime, Ann Rule, who also penned the riveting bestseller Small Sacrifices. Here, we encounter a charismatic con-artist accused of brutally bludgeoning his wife and follow his case through to its strangely redemptive end.
From Publishers Weekly
Brad Cunningham was handsome, brilliant, a high-school hero in his native Seattle, a football star at the University of Washington. His family background was unusual, with a Native American mother of whom he was ashamed and an Anglo father who was contemptuous of women. As an adolescent, Brad was violent with his sisters and his mother. This pattern continued in his first, second and third marriages but reached its apogee with his fourth wife, Cheryl Keeton, a highly successful lawyer by whom he fathered three sons. When their marriage collapsed and she sought custody of their children, Brad, a bank executive, threatened her; in September 1986, she was found bludgeoned to death in her car on an Oregon highway. The case remained unresolved until Cheryl Keeton's estate filed a civil suit for damages against Brad in 1991. A criminal trial followed in 1993, in which Brad was found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years. Rule (Small Sacrifices) provides a perceptive character analysis of a malignant, self-centered, charismatic con artist. It's a chilling, haunting portrait. Photos not seen by PW. 125,000 first printing; True Crime Book Club main selection; Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild and Mystery Guild featured alternates; Reader's Digest Nonfiction Condensed Book Club selection; Tri-Star/NBC-TV miniseries to air in November. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Bradley Cunningham was, to all appearances, a handsome, charming, and loving father, and caring husband. In reality, he considered his wives and children to be nothing more than disposable possessions. Rule proves herself once again to be the master of the true-crime genre in this account of abuse and murder. The narrative follows Cunningham's childhood, business dealings, affairs, and marriages and includes a look at his relationships with his parents, friends, and co-workers. Rule's writing is crisp and well paced, full of details that give the reader clear insight into circumstances and surroundings, as well as motive. Not only is Cunningham revealed as a master of manipulation and, ultimately, murder, but with the added dimension of sociopath-one who is absolutely unfazed by his crimes. Rule, if possible, has outdone herself.--Christine Moesch, Buffalo & Erie Cty. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review
A cast of characters like this would provide fascinating material for any capable reporter...Ann Rule is more than capable. The author brings to her work the passion, the prodigious research and the narrative skill necessary to create suspense.
From Booklist
Eight years after killing his divorced wife in Portland, Oregon, Brad Cunningham was finally convicted of her murder. The best-selling author of The Stranger beside Me (1981) and Everything She Ever Wanted (1992) tackles the case of the five-times-married Cunningham, whose loving personality and demeanor changed after each marriage. Although Rule's treatment has a promising beginning, her initial remark about the whole affair--that "the end would be a long time coming" --fittingly applies to the whole chronicle. Part of the book's overall problem may be that, compared to, say, cunning serial killer Ted Bundy, the manipulative Cunningham, who killed only once, is not particularly interesting, nor is his particular crime unique. Now if he had killed all five wives, that might be quite a story! Still, Rule knows how to pack some punch into her narrative, and her name on the cover will garner the interest of true-crime aficionados. With a large first printing, an author tour of the major venues, and lots of marketing hoopla, Simon & Schuster is counting on that. Sue-Ellen Beauregard
Review
Dan Webster The Spokesman-Review (ID) The similarities with the O.J. case are compelling.
Book Description
The author of eight New York Times bestsellers, Ann Rule first won nationwide acclaim with The Stranger Beside Me, about serial killer Ted Bundy. Her Crime Files volumes, based on fascinating case histories, have assured her reputation as our premier chronicler of crime. Now the former Seattle policewoman brings us the horrific account of a charismatic man adored by beautiful and brilliant women who always gave him what he wanted...sex, money, their very lives.... When attorney Cheryl Keeton's brutally bludgeoned body was found in her van in the fast lane of an Oregon freeway, her husband, Brad Cunningham, was the likely suspect. But there was no solid evidence linking him to the crime. He married again, for the fifth time, and his stunning new wife, a physician named Sara, adopted his three sons. They all settled down to family life on a luxurious estate. But gradually, their marriage became a nightmare.... In this gripping account of Cheryl's murder, Ann Rule takes us from Brad's troubled boyhood to one of the most bizarre trials in legal history, uncovering multiple marriages, financial manipulations, infidelities, and monstrous acts of harassment and revenge along the way. Dead By Sunset is Ann Rule at her riveting best.
Download Description
Dead By Sunset is the extraordinary true story of a charismatic man adored by beautiful and brilliant women who always gave him what he wanted. But he wanted everything--sex, money, and their lives. How long would it take before he finally got what he deserved?
About the Author
Ann Rule is a former Seattle policewoman and the author of twelve New York Times bestsellers, including four Crime Files volumes prior to THE END OF THE DREAM: In the Name of Love, the #1 bestseller A Fever in the Heart, You Belong to Me, and A Rose for Her Grave; Bitter Harvest, the shattering case of Debora Green, a doctor and loving mother driven to lethal acts of vengeance; the #1 bestseller If You Really Loved Me, a chilling chronicle of a millionaire's murderous secret life; Everything She Ever Wanted, the terrifying story of a sociopathic Georgia belle and her fatal allure; Small Sacrifices, the horrific account of a woman's homicidal assault on her three young children; The Stranger Beside Me, the fascinating tale of Rule's dawning horror as she realized her friend and coworker, Ted Bundy, was a serial killer; the #1 New York Times bestseller Dead by Sunset, a nightmarish story of a charismatic man and the women who always gave him what he wanted -- sex, money, their very lives; and the #1 New York Times bestselling novel, Possession. Ann Rule has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee and regularly presents seminars to score s of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Academy. She served on the U.S. Justice Department task force that set up VI-CAP (the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program now in place at FBI headquarters) to track and trap serial killers. She lives near Seattle.
Dead by Sunset: Perfect Husband, Perfect Killer? ANNOTATION
Dead By Sunset is the extraordinary true story of a charismatic man adored by beautiful and brilliant women who always gave him what he wanted. But he wanted everything--sex, money, and their lives. How long would it take before he finally got what he deserved? A soon-to-be ABC-TV miniseries.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
When attorney Cheryl Keeton's brutally bludgeoned body was found in her van in the fast lane of an Oregon freeway, her husband, Brad Cuningham, was the likely suspect. But there was no solid evidence linking him to the crime. He married again, for the fifth time, and his stunning new wife, a physician named Sara, adopted his three sons. They all settled down to family life on a luxurious estate. But gradually, their marriage became a nightmare. In this gripping account of Cheryl's murder, Ann Rule takes us from Brad's troubled boyhood to one of the most bizarre trials in legal history, uncovering multiple marriages, financial manipulations, infidelities, and monstrous acts of harassement and revenge along the way.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Brad Cunningham was handsome, brilliant, a high-school hero in his native Seattle, a football star at the University of Washington. His family background was unusual, with a Native American mother of whom he was ashamed and an Anglo father who was contemptuous of women. As an adolescent, Brad was violent with his sisters and his mother. This pattern continued in his first, second and third marriages but reached its apogee with his fourth wife, Cheryl Keeton, a highly successful lawyer by whom he fathered three sons. When their marriage collapsed and she sought custody of their children, Brad, a bank executive, threatened her; in September 1986, she was found bludgeoned to death in her car on an Oregon highway. The case remained unresolved until Cheryl Keeton's estate filed a civil suit for damages against Brad in 1991. A criminal trial followed in 1993, in which Brad was found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 22 years. Rule (Small Sacrifices) provides a perceptive character analysis of a malignant, self-centered, charismatic con artist. It's a chilling, haunting portrait. Photos not seen by PW. 125,000 first printing; True Crime Book Club main selection; Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild and Mystery Guild featured alternates; Reader's Digest Nonfiction Condensed Book Club selection; Tri-Star/NBC-TV miniseries to air in November. (Oct.)
Library Journal
Bradley Cunningham was, to all appearances, a handsome, charming, and loving father, and caring husband. In reality, he considered his wives and children to be nothing more than disposable possessions. Rule proves herself once again to be the master of the true-crime genre in this account of abuse and murder. The narrative follows Cunningham's childhood, business dealings, affairs, and marriages and includes a look at his relationships with his parents, friends, and co-workers. Rule's writing is crisp and well paced, full of details that give the reader clear insight into circumstances and surroundings, as well as motive. Not only is Cunningham revealed as a master of manipulation and, ultimately, murder, but with the added dimension of sociopath-one who is absolutely unfazed by his crimes. Rule, if possible, has outdone herself. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/95.]-Christine Moesch, Buffalo & Erie Cty. P.L., N.Y.
BookList - Sue-Ellen Beauregard
Eight years after killing his divorced wife in Portland, Oregon, Brad Cunningham was finally convicted of her murder. The best-selling author of "The Stranger beside Me" (1981) and "Everything She Ever Wanted" (1992) tackles the case of the five-times-married Cunningham, whose loving personality and demeanor changed after each marriage. Although Rule's treatment has a promising beginning, her initial remark about the whole affair--that "the end would be a long time coming" --fittingly applies to the whole chronicle. Part of the book's overall problem may be that, compared to, say, cunning serial killer Ted Bundy, the manipulative Cunningham, who killed only once, is not particularly interesting, nor is his particular crime unique. Now if he had killed all five wives, that might be quite a story! Still, Rule knows how to pack some punch into her narrative, and her name on the cover will garner the interest of true-crime aficionados. With a large first printing, an author tour of the major venues, and lots of marketing hoopla, Simon & Schuster is counting on that.
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