What makes a serial killer? Only one man really knows. John Douglas. A man who has looked evil in the eye and made a vocation of understanding it. Now retired, Douglas can let us inside the FBI elite serial crime unit and into the disturbed minds of some of the most savage killers in the world. The man who was the inspiration for Special Agent Jack Crawford in "The Silence of the Lambs" and who lent the film's makers his expertise explains how he invented and established the practice of criminal profiling; what it was like to submerge himself mentally in the world of serial killers to the point of 'becoming' both perpetrator and victim; and individual case histories including those of Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and the Atlanta child murders.

About the Author

John Douglas is from the Washington DC area. Mark Olshaker, author of four novels and producer of the Emmy-nominated The Mind of a Serial Killer, lives in Washington DC.

Prizes

With the fierce page-turning power of a bestselling novel, yet terrifyingly true, Mindhunter is a true crime classic

Reviews

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., Davis

"'John Douglas knows more about serial killers than anybody in the world' - Jonathan Demme, Director of Silence of the Lambs 'A cracker of a book' - Esquire 'John Douglas is the FBI's pioneer and master of investigative profiling, and one of the most exciting figures in law enforcement I've had the privilege of knowing' - Patricia Cornwell 'Douglas is a hero for the agonised Nineties: not the action man quick on the draw, but the thinker who dares go into the unexplored badlands of the mind' - Nicci Gerrard, Observer"