The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy | Book Review | True Crime

The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy, by Elizabeth Kendall/Kloepfer. (Amazon creators independently recommend products and may earn commission from purchases.)

The book is okay.

I am not sure why she chose to put up pictures, do interviews, etc. — but use an alias, Elizabeth Kendall; especially since she's never tried to make her identity a secret. 

I always wondered why Ann Rule's book was a NYT Bestseller and so popular, while this book basically was collecting dust and relatively unheard of. Ann Rule was definitely NOT the definitive source on Ted Bundy. Although Rule inflated her relationship to sell her book, logic tells the common-sense reader that Rule really did not have the sort of relationship with Bundy that she tries to portray in her book.

For example, they only really had any interaction while he worked at the crisis center for one semester, and it was really only once a week that they even worked together, and Rule was 10 years older too and hardly attractive by his standards — yet, her novel portrays herself as something of a BFF to Bundy. Rule clearly was not. 

As a matter of fact, Rule actually got sued because of one of her novels (Heart Full of Lies), and she basically admitted that she hadn't interviewed anyone or did any actual research for that novel. Yet, Rule was a great writer though, and was definitely a great storyteller too.

The same can't be said about Kloepfer. 

I feel Kloepfer's really trying to milk it, you know. First, the Netflix movie based on the book (starring Zac Efron), which basically bought this book back into print (the original version was out of print for years before this second edition came out), and now the Amazon Prime series documentary to compete with the Netflix docu-series. I mean, really.

See, in Bundy's death-row interviews with journalists Michaud and Aynesworth, they didn't write a novel, they basically transcribed their tape recordings and made it into a book. Then Netflix made a docu-series based on those recordings. 

With Rule, a 2003 movie was also made based on her book (it's available on Prime to stream, as well), but the "first" movie that's based on her book was actually The Deliberate Stranger (starring Mark Harmon, in 1986, an NBC TV movie). Harmon was probably the best Bundy because they're both very naturally handsome and charismatic.

Anyway, that's why I feel like Kendall/Kloepfer is trying to milk it. I don't know, maybe she's got money problems now or something, who knows?

The book is hardcover with a jacket and thread binding. The jacket is made out of quality paper. The book itself is a short read, you can finish it in one afternoon if you really want to. Print is a good size font, I'd said it's a standard 12-size Times New Roman font (or something similar to it). Chapters are really short though. 

Kloepfer is just not a good storyteller. 

There's lots of colored pictures though, and that part of the book is printed on glossy brochure-type paper. The back flap of the jacket has a recent picture of her and her daughter. They're both matching peroxide blondes, and Molly (the daughter) looks like she's gotten quite a lot of facial surgeries done (she could be on one of the Bravo shows, The Real Housewives).

Kloepfer starts the book by giving a few short paragraphs about how she ended up as a single mother. I got the feeling she wasn't being completely honest and was trying to present herself in the best light. I mean, we all do that though, so it's understandable. 

Also, Kloepfer seemed like a very neglectful mother too. I'm sure if it was in today's era and she wasn't white, she'd have Child Services called on her. For example, Kloepfer wrote she had her young daughter sleeping on the couch instead of in the bedroom with her. I can't understand why she'd make her very young child sleep on a couch instead of sharing the room, or at least the bed, with her. 

Within the second chapter Kloepfer invited a man (Bundy) home from the bar, but instead of just owning up to her promiscuity and admitting she didn't have the best parenting skills or motherly affection, she tries way too hard to convince the reader that was something she's never done before previous to meeting Bundy.

Yet, Kloepfer ends the chapter with worrying if Bundy saw her birth control pills. 

OK, this is the early 1970's, BC was prescribed back then just for contraception. I know that doctors now prescribe it for other hormonal reasons, but that wasn't the norm back in the 70's. So why can't she just say that she was young, still in her 20s, and wanted to be a bit risque? I mean, we've all felt that way at one time or another, but her trying to adjust the narrative in her favor makes me regard the whole book with skepticism like I did with Rule's.

Also, within the first few chapters, Kloepfer basically dumps her young daughter at "daycare". She says daycare, but I'm doubtful.

She goes drinking at a bar (the night she met Bundy), and some guy at her friend Angie's suggests a babysitter for Molly so they can go drinking! Who's this babysitter at night time?! I mean, you can excuse Bundy going with her to pick up Molly at the sitter's, her driving drunk and letting Bundy stay overnight because she was intoxicated, but that other part happened BEFORE they went to the bar.

Forward to the following chapter, she states that Angie wouldn't be able to watch Molly for the weekend so she could go to Vancouver with Bundy, but that Angie said her roommates would be able to instead. WTF!?

BTW, Diane Edwards (AKA Stephanie Brooks) was the woman that everyone thought Bundy was targeting his victims after, NOT Kendall/Kloepfer. Edwards was the woman who broke his heart, and who made Bundy basically excel in life to win her back so he can dump her (Google her if you need to). He was also engaged to Edwards while he was dating Kloepfer (although the engagement was probably a sham just so he can eventually get his revenge breakup with her), and by all accounts, it was after Edwards dumped him that the attacks and murders started happening.

I'm waiting for either Bundy's ex-wife, daughter, or Diane Edwards to finally get a piece of the pie and write their own book about Bundy. Those three are the ones I'm most interested in, especially Edwards. She knew him before he became a serial killer, and most journalists and law enforcement agents, and Bundy-fans all agree that she's the reason he targeted the women that he did.

I did like that Kloepfer was honest about her alcoholism, but it seems that other parts of it was her trying to be a revisionist instead. 

Why can't she just say she was a neglectful mother and she realized it now, but she didn't then because she was an alcoholic? It's better than saying she sometimes thought she was a bad mother — if you're an alcoholic, then you're a bad mother. Just like if you're a drug addict, then you're a bad mother too. That's the whole thing they teach you in recovery, addicts are selfish people. It's like part of their actual mantra.

This is an okay read. 

I liked Rule's book better, and this is definitely no Truman Capote's In Cold Blood either. Three stars (out of 5) — something I would borrow from the library and enjoy, but am regretful that I spent the money to buy.