crime and criminals

I have been a huge fan of John Douglas' career and books. In this latest book he focuses his attention and uses his professional profiling expereince to analyze one case. In Anyone You Want Me To Be, the reader doesn't just get the facts of the case but it is told from an entirely different perspective, that of a profiler. From the title of the book one may think the character is fictious, but this story is very true. Mr. Douglas takes us into the mind of John Robinson and explains how one man used the Internet to manipulate and control women for his own personal gain. He also tells us how we can protect ourselves from predators on the Internet. A true page turner.

After being an avid fan of serial killer books for quite some time, I'd begun to think that I'd read everything that was ever written on the subject. However, soon after I picked up John Douglas' new non-fiction book, "Anyone You Want Me To Be," I quickly realized there was an entire world of crime I had yet to discover.
While I had previously heard of John Robinson, I knew very little about the details of his background and killing spree. In today's world, where the Internet is such an integral part of everyday life, it is frightening to know there are predators like John Robinson out there, preying on innocent trustworthy people.
Mr.Douglas, who created the FBI's profiling unit, effectively allows the reader to enter a place many authors have previously left untouched, a killer's mind. Tracing John Robinson's background from his childhood to his days as a killer, Douglas allows us to see Robinson as more than just a psychotic maniac.
For those who enjoyed Mr. Douglas' previous works, this haunting, bone chilling masterpiece is an absolute must read.

This is my fifth John Douglas book, the first I've read with Stephen Singular. Like many true crime books, it is not great literature. The story feels stretched out for extra drama over too many pages and the books strays off into Douglas' discourse on cybercrime fighting it loses it's momentum. The sections on cybercrime fighting should have been in the appendix. John Douglas is a passionate crusader for both law enforcement and victim's rights, but he really was a snooze here--his knowledge of the internet is not very deep and the listing of government agencies is bland. However, the John Robinson story was completely new to me. He is truly a one of a kind serial killer...from white collar criminal to murderer is not the "usual" route. I wonder if he is proud of being the first internet serial killer. His wife Nancy is also a tragic, yet frightening woman. How could she not know? Or more likely, how could she deny, deny, deny his nature? Wow. However, the focus should remain on the monsterous deeds of JR. He again shows us the banality of evil. Not great literature, but a fascinating case that I had never even heard of until I read this book.