Legal Figures, Law Enforcers, & Criminals, Law Enforcement, Criminology, True Crime
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Overview
Far removed from the light of the sun, in basement offices sixty feet below ground at the National Academy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Virginia, a small and elite group confronts one of our deepest and most primal fears: the fear of evil lurking among us. They are known as the Investigative Support Unit and their leader is John Douglas. He has hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: the Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta child murderer, the Tylenol poisoner, the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly ended his own life. He has confronted, interviewed, and studied dozens of serial killers and assassins - including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Son of Sam (David Berkowitz), and James Earl Ray - for a landmark study, to understand their motives and motivation. To get inside their minds. He is able to become both predator and prey. He examines a crime scene and creates profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and predicting their next moves. Ultimately, when his work has helped snare the criminals, he can help build strategy for interrogating and prosecuting them. He is Special Agent John Douglas, a legendary figure in law enforcement and the model from which Jack Crawford was drawn for Thomas Harris's thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. As chief of the team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved violent crimes, John Douglas is the man who ushered in a new age in behavioral science and criminal profiling. Now, after twenty-five years of service, John Douglas has just retired and can finally tell his unique and compelling story.The New York Times bestseller from the FBI agent who inspired the Jack Crawford character in The Silence of the Lambs, Mindhunter is a riveting look at the major serial killers of our time. It takes readers behind the scenes of America's most gruesome serial killer cases. Includes an eight-page photo insert.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
One of the first to develop the specialty of "criminal-personality profiling," Douglas has written a readable, popular version of his earlier Sexual Homicide (Lexington, 1988). He discusses how FBI profilers, working from crime scene evidence, predict the type of personality who committed a serial murder. Accurate profiles-such as that of Wayne Williams, the Atlanta child killer-can help focus on likely suspects. Profiling can also suggest proactive steps for luring the culprit into contacting the police. Unfortunately, a profile is apt to "fit a lot of people." As the unsolved Green River Killer case attests, it cannot substitute for hard evidence. Although profiling has limitations not emphasized in this semiautobiographical account, Douglas is justifiably proud of its success. Recommended for true crime collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/95.]-Gregor A. Preston, formerly with Univ. of California Lib., DavisBook Details
Published
February 2, 2006
Publisher
Arrow
Pages
383
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780099435679