Father of the Year by Glenn Puit

Released: May 2009

Father of the Year is the second novel by Glenn Puit, otherwise known as the "King of True Crime"—a well-deserved title.

Father of the Year tells the story of Bill Rundle, a con man who murdered his wife and discarded her corpse on the side of the road. Rundle also killed his mother in addition to multiple other sick and heinous crimes. Rundle once won the Father of the Year award after his son praised him in a school assignment, but ironically, this very Las Vegas resident became infamous after his true ugly nature was revealed to the public.


Glenn Puit is my new favorite true crime author next to Jack Olsen. First, Puit writes perfect introductions to the crimes he writes about without revealing too many details. It bothers me when true crime authors put all the gruesome details in the first chapter, and then in chapter 2, bring us all the way back to when the killer emerges from his mother's womb.

Glenn Puit leaves us hanging on the edge of our seats throughout the entirety of the novel, building up to the crimes, which is great! I'm definitely reading more of Puit's work in the future regardless of what the book is about. Puit also has an admirable blunt, no-nonsense style when describing his killers. Some authors will take the serious, politically correct approach and just state facts without becoming emotional or opinionated, which usually ends up reading like a stiff newspaper. Puit's hatred for Rundle is apparent through his writing and why shouldn't it be? Who cares? Rundle is a scumbag and everything Puit says is easy to agree with.

In addition to Father of the Year, I also recommend reading Witch (2005) and Ghost (2011).