Mindhunter: Inside the FBI Elite Serial Crime Unit (Now A Netflix Series) by John Douglas.

 

Link to book on Amazon

This is hands-down the most action-packed biography I have ever read!  And it’s almost the most egotistical and narcissistic sounding biography I have ever read!

In his opening scene in the prologue, Douglas finds himself waking up from a coma in hospital expecting to be tortured by sick criminals, having (almost) single-handily run the FBI’s psychological profiling unit, handling hundreds of cases for several years.

I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the Netflix series based on this book, but I am quite a fan of the Criminal Minds series, so I had an idea of what to expect.  However you need to get 6 chapters in before Douglas starts talking about his work as an FBI profiler.  He starts off talking about growing up, his love life, and getting into his career.

Douglas may call himself a profiler, but in my opinion he is first and foremost a story-teller, with a talent for a drama-filled yarn.  And rather than being put off by his constant bragging, I found myself hanging on his every word.

This light and long prelude to the criminal profiling section of the book made the crime details feel all the more gruesome.  Some of the predictions made by Douglas about the murderers are barely believable.  I mean, how can a crime scene really tell you the age of a murderer or what kind of car he drives?

Unfortunately, Douglas doesn’t offer much explanation into these kinds of things, and the leader is left assuming it’s all down to statistics.  And if there’s anywhere the book is let down it would be here, because this would be why readers would pick the book up.

I once read a similar book called The Profiler, by Pat Brown.  Brown however was a mere spectator to criminal goings on and had no influence whatever on getting criminals brought to justice.  Douglas however would meet with local police and provide strategies on getting the bad guy, and getting him to confess.