The End of the Dream ─ The Golden Boy Who Never Grew Up and Other True Cases

AS SEEN ON 48 HOURS -- AN EXPLOSIVE ACCOUNT OF LETHAL GREED AND TWISTED DESIRE, FROM THE FILES OF AMERICA'S #1 TRUE CRIME WRITER, ANN RULE

They were best friends, four talented and charismatic young men who lived charmed lives among the evergreens of Washington state: Kevin, the artist; Steve, the sculptor; Scott, the nature lover and unabashed ladies' man; and Mark, the musician and poet. With their stunning good looks, whip-sharp minds, athletic bodies -- and no lack of women who adored them -- none of them seemed slated for disaster.

But few knew the reality behind the leafy screen that surrounded Seven Cedars, Scott's woodland dream home -- a tree house equipped with every luxury. From this idyllic enclave, some of these trusted friends would become the quarry for a vigilant Seattle police detective and an FBI special agent, who unmasked clues to disturbing secrets that spawned murder, suicide, million-dollar bank robberies, drug-dealing, and heartbreaking betrayal. When the end came in a violent stand-off, the ringleader of the foursome -- the fugitive dubbed "Hollywood" for his ingenious disguises and flawless getaways; the persuasive talker who turned his friends into accomplices -- faced a final chapter no one could have predicted. In a blast of automatic gunfire, the highest and lowest motives of the human heart were, at last, revealed.

Along with four other true-crime tales, The End of the Dream is a masterful and compelling tour of the criminal mind from Ann Rule.

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 scores 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.