social sciences

This is the first of Douglas' books I've read. After having read Robert Ressler's 2 books, I found this to be more of the same serial killer profiles, with a different spin on the same cases that Ressler reviews in his books. "Mind Hunter" has more of Douglas' personal & professional journey woven into his case studies. It's somewhat boastful of his accomplishments, and, at times, self congratulatory, but still very interesting. The book achieves a good level of insightfulness into the minds and psychopathology of the serial killers profiled. The disappointment lies, however, in that Douglas casually glosses over exactly how his profiles are derived and constructed from the particular facts of each case. Little to no analytic methodology is presented. (I mean, it's not as if readers are gonna run out and take his job away from him if he reveals too many tricks of his trade). In fact, Douglas presents his ability to profile as if he's a magical psychic, pulling personality theories out of his hat. Low and behold! - once the investigations are complete, he ends up with an accurate profile, and people are amazed by him! Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable and very interesting book. If you're intersted in criminal profiling, it's worth a read, but it's not as in-depth as say, Michaud and Hazelwood's "The Evil that Men Do".

I agree with the other reviews that have been posted previously. While the book is an interesting read based on John Douglas' accomplishments, it doesn't really give an "inside" look on serial killers and how to draw behavorial conclusions based on the evidence. I have no idea how he determined that killer was black or white - "it was just a gut feeling." He'll say things like "Based on the photos I looked at and the M.E. report, I determined that the killer drove a BMW with a Jack in the Box antenna ball and has a speech stutter ... " And that's it. What we the readers are missing are photo descriptions and details of the crime scene to comprehend how he came to the conclusions he did. (I recommend "The Evil Men Do" for a good illustration - you figure out what happened and then they tell you if you're right.) I'm interested in behavior science and would like to know how Douglas gained the unique insight he had. I'm onto his second book, "Journey into Darkness" and while it's slightly better, I've noticed that some of the cases are repeated in a more edited form. I realize he wants to illustrate a couple of points for those who may have missed his earlier book. Yes, it's a good book, but read it knowing that it'll focus on his life in the FBI, his failed marriage, and his health problems. Don't expect to gain profound understanding of how criminals work because there really isn't anything to look at - just his word that he was right in most of his assessments.

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.