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The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter
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The legendary FBI criminal profiler, number-one New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the hit Netflix show Mindhunter delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, offering never-before-revealed details about his profiling process, and divulging the strategies used to crack some of America’s most challenging cases.
The FBI’s pioneer of criminal profiling, former special agent John Douglas, has studied and interviewed many of America’s most notorious killers—including Charles Manson, ”Son of Sam Killer” David Berkowitz and ”BTK Strangler” Dennis Rader—trained FBI agents and investigators around and the world, and helped educate the country about these deadly predators and how they operate, and has become a legend in popular culture, fictionalized in The Silence of the Lambs and the hit television shows Criminal Minds and Mindhunter.
Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical criminals he’s confronted, interviewed and learned from. Going deep into each man’s life and crimes, he outlines the factors that led them to murder and how he used his interrogation skills to expose their means, motives, and true evil. Like the hit Netflix show, The Killer Across the Table is centered around Douglas’ unique interrogation and profiling process. With his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, Douglas recounts the chilling encounters with these four killers as he experienced them—revealing for the first time his profile methods in detail.
Going step by step through his interviews, Douglas explains how he connects each killer’s crimes to the specific conversation, and contrasts these encounters with those of other deadly criminals to show what he learns from each one. In the process, he returns to other famous cases, killers and interviews that have shaped his career, describing how the knowledge he gained from those exchanges helped prepare him for these.
A glimpse into the mind of a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, The Killer Across the Table unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggereInformazioni sul libro
The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter
Descrizione
The legendary FBI criminal profiler, number-one New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the hit Netflix show Mindhunter delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, offering never-before-revealed details about his profiling process, and divulging the strategies used to crack some of America’s most challenging cases.
The FBI’s pioneer of criminal profiling, former special agent John Douglas, has studied and interviewed many of America’s most notorious killers—including Charles Manson, ”Son of Sam Killer” David Berkowitz and ”BTK Strangler” Dennis Rader—trained FBI agents and investigators around and the world, and helped educate the country about these deadly predators and how they operate, and has become a legend in popular culture, fictionalized in The Silence of the Lambs and the hit television shows Criminal Minds and Mindhunter.
Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical criminals he’s confronted, interviewed and learned from. Going deep into each man’s life and crimes, he outlines the factors that led them to murder and how he used his interrogation skills to expose their means, motives, and true evil. Like the hit Netflix show, The Killer Across the Table is centered around Douglas’ unique interrogation and profiling process. With his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, Douglas recounts the chilling encounters with these four killers as he experienced them—revealing for the first time his profile methods in detail.
Going step by step through his interviews, Douglas explains how he connects each killer’s crimes to the specific conversation, and contrasts these encounters with those of other deadly criminals to show what he learns from each one. In the process, he returns to other famous cases, killers and interviews that have shaped his career, describing how the knowledge he gained from those exchanges helped prepare him for these.
A glimpse into the mind of a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, The Killer Across the Table unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.
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Super! I've been waiting for this book since watching the Mindhunter mini-series on Netflix. A real, fleshed-out (sorry for the pun) version of what actually happened. The way the author has of drawing you into the situations he faced is amazing. You feel like you are there in the room with him, interviewing these people. And the way he has of getting these monsters to open up to him is incredible. You would have to think that if the author wasn't a law enforcement professional, he would have made a great priest, getting people to confess their sins. While only covering a handful of cases, the author is given time to delve deeper into each case. The result being a great read!I can't wait for his next book. And for the next season of Mindhunter!
Excellent book. This is a very interesting book written by well known criminal profiler, John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Very detailed description of interviews with 4 killers.
While this book has some interesting content, I was disappointed by the overall presentation and tone.The basis of the book is an overview of four killers Douglas interviewed. We learn about their lives, from childhood up through their crimes, and then we're told about the interviews Douglas later did with each of the men. Direct quotes are included, so we get a good sense of their thought processes. I found these parts informative and interesting.Unfortunately, the content gets kind of messy as Douglas continually strays from the subject at hand. We wander off into long passages about various killers featured on the Netflix show Mindhunters in which Douglas took part. These killers are far more notorious and well known, but their stories are unnecessary and distracting. Many of the passages are so long that, by the time we got back to the original story, I'd forgotten the point of it all. Tossing in tidbits for comparison would've been fine, but the volume and tone felt gratuitous, as if we had to keep being reminded about the Netflix show and all the infamous killers Douglas worked with.The writing style is conversational. While the topic is dark and disturbing, the book itself is an easy read. In fact, for me it's a little too light. I was hoping for something more science-based, and the tone here is very much pop culture.Finally, I have to mention the Epilogue, because, well, it made me cringe inside. Douglas talks about Dr. Stanton E. Samenow, a forensic psychologist whom he praises as "a hero". Samenow, in my view, is anything but. He wrote a book in which he claimed that genetics, upbringing, poverty, and environment have absolutely nothing to do with the making of a criminal. All our actions are choices we make from equal ground. He spoke about a man who'd sexually abused dozens of children, calling his crime an "irresponsibility". Another man who'd been arrested for possession of child porn was only looking for "a relief from boredom", and Samenow authoritatively stated that the man should not have received such a harsh prison sentence. I know this is not a book about Samenow, but when Douglas referred to him as a hero, I had to stop and question this author's judgement. *I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.*
Author and FBI criminal profiler John Douglas has done it again. In this book he describes interviews with a variety of killers to try to ascertain why they did what they did. It is a fascinating read that takes the reader inside the minds of some of people who have committed some of the worst acts known to mankind. While many of them suffered as children, what most of them have in common is that they have made the choice to do what they did to others. It is a frightening look that makes one really think and wonder if there will ever be a way to prevent people from taking this path.