The Pursued: A True Story of Stalking, Memory, and Madness in America's Heartland

From 1977 to 1981, Ruth Finley, an ordinary wife and mother from Kansas, was tormented by an elusive stalker known as the Poet. Police, already on edge from BTK's reign of terror, spent years searching for him while his cryptic letters in rhymed verse grew increasingly disturbing and violent, escalating to acts of stabbing and kidnapping. In this nonfiction account, as Ruth is surveilled from all sides, her nightmare takes a chilling turn: the stalker is not a stranger. He is someone the police have been close to for years—someone far closer to home than Ruth had realized. This revelation recasts what seemed like a cruel twist of fate as something far more disturbing. The book examines both the true-crime events and the deceptions that drove those involved, exploring what happens when such deceptions finally unravel.