Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers and Their Victims and Tells How to Fight Back - Softcover

Douglas, John E.; Olshaker, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671017047 ISBN 13: 9780671017040

Publisher: Pocket, 1998

Synopsis

The legendary FBI profiler takes readers into the psychological profiles of both criminals and the people they target, sharing many of the author's experiences and explaining how people can protect themselves from crime. Reprint.

About this title

About the Author

John Douglas has become the leading expert on criminal personality profiling and the pioneer of modern criminal investigative analysis during his remarkable twenty-five-year career with the FBI. He conducted the first organized study into the methods and motivations of serial criminals and has aided police departments and prosecutors throughout the world. A veteran of the Air Force, he is the author of numerous articles and presentations on criminology and the coauthor of the landmark books Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives and Crime Classification Manual. He has been called upon to analyze violent crimes from those of the Unabomber to the Nicole Brown Simpson-Ron Goldman and JonBenet Ramsey murders. John Douglas and Mark Olshaker coauthored Mindhunter: Inside the FBl's Elite Serial Crime Unit; Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer; and Journey into Darkness. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

From Kirkus Reviews

A look at rape-and-murder and its perpetrators by one of the men who invented the forensic art of psychological profiling. Douglas (Mindhunter, also with Olshaker, not reviewed, etc.) was the founder and longtime head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit and over his career saw many cases that went unsolved, including the Green River Killer, a case so frustrating that it nearly killed Douglas himself. Douglas's readers will be familiar with this assortment of famously grisly scenes combined with profiles of the murderers. This book focuses mainly on stalkers and their victims, so Douglas necessarily revisits the scenes of Rebecca Schaffer, Dominique Dunne, and Teresa Saldana. He also gives an overview of rapists/murderers such as Ted Bundy and Gary Heidnik, the City of Brotherly Love's answer to Jeffrey Dahmer. Unfortunately, much of the information here is already so familiar to crime buffs that there isn't much to be gleaned from these sections. Douglas is much better at the beginning, when he discusses a little-known killer who seems to have been the basis for Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon (Thomas Harris fans, take note). Douglas's profile of this stalker and killer is illuminating, unlike too much of this book, which is merely titillating. The promise of the subtitle goes unfulfilled--the ``fighting back'' seems limited to victim's families joining support groups, rather than any real advice to those seeking protection from a stalker. In fact, most of these victims had restraining orders against their stalkers, which were of little use in the face of a knife or a gun. Not much more than a collection of truly horrifying stories, which is a shame for both the reader, who justifiably expects more, and for Douglas, who has more to offer. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pocket
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671017047
• ISBN 13: 9780671017040
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 528