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Title: Mindhunter: Inside the Fbi's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas, Marx Olshaker, Mark Olshaker ISBN: 0-684-80376-3 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.03 (148 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Discriminating readers
Comment: What many reviewers of John Douglas and Mark Olshaker's book seemed to have overlooked is the tie-in between the biographical information and the profiling techniques John helped to develop. The story of John's mother inquiring into his sex life leads directly to his 'everybody has a rock' theory. The story of betting on raindrops clearly shows why criminals continue to commit crimes: because they can.
John's other biographical stories help illustrate how diffcult life inside the FBI can be. The list of victims in a murder isn't limited to the one murdered; they include the family, neighbors, friends, investigators working a case and Federal law enforcement officers and their families. Anyone considering a career in law enforcement or with the Bureau, should take this into consideration before signing on.
In the context of writing, there are two ways to tell a story; telling vs showing. Mark and John chose to write this book by showing the reader how profiles are constructed. No, you won't find a step-by-step instruction manual within these pages, but you will find the method fully illustrated. An example is the Trailside Killer profile. Carpenter approached his victims in isolated areas and used a blitz attack from the rear to disable them. John Douglas wondered why and took the reader through the steps; the killer didn't attempt to lure or trick his victims as had Bundy. Instead, the killer felt the need to take the victims by surprise even in isolated areas of Tamalpais Park. This told John the killer felt awkward, possibly had a handicap. A physical impairment or disfigurement would have been noticed by others in the park at the time of the murders. That left a speech impediment. The rest of the reasoning behind the profile is detailed quite clearly.
John's methods aren't magic but a result of years of studying human nature, a creative way of thinking about a problem and a background based on intensive interviews with hundreds of convicted killers.
Ego plays a large part in the life of any law enforcement officer. Had John Douglas or Robert Ressler, or Roy Hazelwood spoken to police departments in an unsure manner, would any of those agencies have paid attention? That confidence carries over into real life and to the written word.
For those seeking an inside look at the FBI, there are other books available. Mindhunter, however, is the story of the FBI's first profilers (All of them, not just Douglas) and a look at the Behavioral Science Unit.
Mindhunter, along with John's other books co-authored with Mark Olshaker, show the impact of murder on those closest to the crimes --the families and loved ones. John Douglas' caring for the surviving victims shines from every page in which he talks about that impact, the friendships formed through tragedy, the advocacy of victim's rights and his push to have VICAP become mandatory.
If I could give a higher rating, I would rate Mindhunter a 10.
Rating: 2
Summary: Too little information
Comment: It's a very good thing for the FBI, and the public he was protecting, that John Douglas made a better profiler than he did an author. It's difficult to believe that the authorship was the joint venture it is credited as.
_Mindhunter_ is at its best when Douglas is recounting the interesting details of the cases that he has worked on, and when giving some insight into the way in which criminal profiling developed in FBI history. The middle of the text is a kind of "panoramic true crime" book, narrated by a cop involved in working on a number of fascinating crimes. Unfortunately, a great deal of the rest of the book is devoted to rather dull and poorly-written autobiography, along with Douglas' opinions about criminal justice, capital punishment, psychology, marriage, job stress, and government, usually without giving the reader the benefit of real argument or fact to support his statements.
A couple of warnings: _Mindhunter_ is gruesome. Douglas is not at all interested in preserving the sensibilities of the squeamish. It is also not a "How-To" book on criminal profiling. Don't read this book expecting to come away with a better understanding of how a profile is developed.
More than anything else _Mindhunter_ is a justification of the FBI's use of criminal profiling. Douglas wants to convince the reader that profiling is practical and gives valuable results. Given that as his argument, Douglas doesn't spend any time on the problems with profiling, a topic one might like to see addressed. Those interested in criminal profiling will want to read this first book by the person who defined the practice for the FBI out of historical interest, but shouldn't expect too much from this thick paperback that's thin on real details.
Rating: 5
Summary: LOVED IT
Comment: If your a true crime buff, buy it. If you've already read his book Obsession, don't....a lot of the same stories and material.
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Title: The Anatomy of Motive : The FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker ISBN: 0671023934 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Journey into Darkness by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker ISBN: 0671003941 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: OBSESSION by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker ISBN: 0671017047 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas, Mark Olshaker, John "Douglas ISBN: 0671017063 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Whoever Fights Monsters : My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert K. Ressler, Thomas Schachtman ISBN: 0312950446 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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