Now a Netflix original series Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals. In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, … his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases–and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.
During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle’s Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.
As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims’ peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer’s and the victim’s actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.
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Mindhunter is a True Crime Must Read! After having finished Chase Darkness with me (Billy Jensen) and watching a few episodes of the Netflix series I discovered this book. I would recommend any real fan of True Crime read the book over the Netflix series. Books always have so much more information to begin with but also TV tends to add unnecessary drama to boost their ratings. I’m not saying the show is bad and you shouldn’t still watch it because I watched both seasons myself. What I am saying is the book holds with it a lot of good information and insight into the FBI’s Behavioral Science and how they got inside the minds of serial killers. John Douglas is one of a kind with a gift for being able to profile these killers (he makes it look so easy). This book is one of few that took me longer than I expected to get through but it also isn’t one I felt like I could rush. There was so much information and so many cases he was involved in (most of which he couldn’t even cover in this book) that I took my time and slowly worked through the chapters to absorb every detail he was providing. The only thing about this addition that I didn’t like was in the beginning they put the 20 year update. I wished that would have been at the end after you make your way through the whole book. Regardless I just went back to the front of the book and reread it. Anyone who hasn’t read this yet needs to go pick up a copy today.
I’m one of those weirdos who likes to read really intense books poolside. This one had me hooked from beginning to end and is much better than the Netflix series (less unnecessary drama). The open loops of each true crime profile carry the reader seamlessly from one serial killer case to the next without dropping a beat.
Best enjoyed with a cold adult beverage and a patient reading companion who won’t mind you recapping the most insane parts. And yes, I plan on reading it again this year.
I’ve been a fan of John Douglas’s work for a long time, but I only recently read Mind Hunter, which I somehow missed in the 90s. If you’re fascinated by true crime and the minds that solve those crimes, you’ll want to read this book. Part memoir, part procedural, it’s a fascinating look at how the science of profiling was developed, how it works, and how much it cost Douglas.
I loved this, it kept me occupied for two weeks and I loved every minute of it.
This book is a great read, I do love the Netflix series Mindhunters but the book gives you another point of view. The author gets into details about his process of interviewing serial killers, trying to relate to them to get the full story and just overall the experience he had and how it impacted his career.
This is the stories from the authors’ 25 years as an FBI agent where he used psychological profiling to solve some of the toughest crimes. He helped capture and interviewed many serial killers and assassins over his career and became one of the most well known and well respected FBI psychologists of his time.
This was an incredible book. The stories are numerous in the book, and – while gruesome – they were intriguing to listen to. We learned in depth details of the crimes of some of the most notorious serial killers, and how John and his team caught them. We got into the minds of these criminals as John tries to figure out how they work. Many times he was called in to try and figure out exactly the kind of person they were looking for after a crime had been committed. His skill lead to the capture of many killers.
Definitely worth the read. I am going to rank it as one of the best reads of the year. Just know that the content of the book is at times hard to read and the details are numerous about the crimes. The book is well written, and Johns story incredible.
If you weirdly love watching documentaries about serial killers and murderers. This is a great read!!
Socio and psychopaths are not at all what I thought they’d be. Great read
The first head of the FBI criminal profiling department tells all. Only not actually all, because “all” is more than you can cover in one book.
This is not a book on how to profile. This is an autobiography by someone who helped work out how to profile. I got a lot of insight out of it, but the book is a series of anecdotes, not an instruction manual. That being said, what a great book! The handling of the story as it unfolded was wonderful. I felt like I was in good hands.
I recommend this for anyone who can stomach it, basically. Some of the people involved are terrible, but what terrible means–what kind of person a serial killer is, generally–is something that most people never realize. This is a book about drawing a line and making a choice, and is just as much about the people who choose to do good in the face of difficulty as the ones who choose otherwise.
I enjoy true crime and psychological analysis, but this is less than either one of those categories and more like a really extended brag sheet that Douglas has written about himself. Within the first chapter I felt like I had been duped and was not getting the look into the FBI that was promised.