Book Review
Title: Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
Author: John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker
Genre: Crime/Non-Fiction
Rating: *****
Review: All I knew about Mindhunter before going into it was that it follow the career and cases of an FBI special agent who was the inspiration for Jack Crawford’s character in Silence of the Lambs, needless to say I was sold. We are introduced to one of the authors John E. Douglas who in 1983 had been running the Behavioural Science Unit of the FBI by himself and after an almost deadly battle with viral encephalitis, he was considering giving up on the FBI altogether when he visits the grave of a little girl that was murdered and her case was still unsolved, when he returns to give a talk, he finds the appreciation and drive to work again and is back in action a month later in April of 1984. This man’s determination from the beginning was brilliant and really made me admire him before I even knew the cases he had worked on. It does mention in the introduction that some of the cases detailed in this book are now solved whereas they we still open and unsolved when the book was written and published.
Douglas begins to walk us through what criminal profiling is and what the Behavioural Science Unit does and it is honestly astounding. One story Douglas tells about a prison interview group he did was brilliant, he meets Charlie Davies who was convicted of killing 5 women, he was a part-time ambulance driver, he raped and killed these women before picking up the bodies. During the interview he just gets Charlie to talk about his crimes, why he choose them, how he killed them etc. from this brief ten minute conversation, Douglas is able to tell that Douglas was drinking a lot at the time and having arguments with the woman he was living with and he mentioned none of this. He was also able to tell that he didn’t enjoy killing his last victim because she had a husband who was sick, he is also able to tell her took something from her which turned out to be a family picture which he later returned to her grave before his capture. After introducing us to what he does now, Douglas talks about how he ended up in behavioural science and criminal profiling and it turns out it was completely by accident. Douglas initially wanted to become a vet but after getting poor grades in school and a few run ins with the police, he ended up joining the air force where he was a clerk. However, using his charm he managed to get into training the athletic recruit and from their meet a friend who worked with the FBI and later applied. After completing his training and becoming a special agent he spent many years working the streets and had many ups and downs in his career, but eventually he was becoming more interesting in why people committed crimes and his previous career choice of industrial psychology was becoming more and more relevant for him.
After being with the FBI for three year isn’t sure where he is career but in June 1977 at 32, his transfer to Behavioural Science is approved and he begins to the journey that led him to be the person he is today. Now, you’d imagine this guy to be young, ambitious and single but this isn’t true as by this time Douglas had married his wife, Pam and had a daughter named Erika but still continue to work full-time. Douglas after transferring to the Behavioural Science Unit moves more into teaching than active police work but still does a lot of ground work. However, during this time he begins to take part in prison interviews the first notable one he mentions is the interview of Ed Kemper, “The Co-Ed Killer” who killed six women, his mother and her friend, he had also previously shot and killed both of his grandparents. Douglas remarks that Kemper was a shy, soft-spoke, highly intellect man with an IQ of 145 which was completely overshadowed by his huge appearance. Kemper was incredibly tall and well-built which gave him a brutish look that is in direct contrast to his personality. Kemper was more than happy to take part in the interview and even offered his own psychological insights into his behaviours in regard to why he choose those women as his victims, why he killed them in the way that he did and most importantly why he decided to kill them in the first place. Kemper’s case is a classic example of misdirected anger, he directed his anger and frustration at his mother’s treatment of him onto the very women she said he never had a chance with and killing them was his only way of forming relationships with women. Douglas also writes that he wouldn’t be completely honest if he said he didn’t like Kemper, because he was a nice, well-mannered, and humorous man and despite this both Kemper and Douglas agreed that he shouldn’t be on the streets as he is a danger to the public.
The next notable interview Douglas mentions is the complete opposite to Kemper and that is the interview of Charles Manson. Manson was very different to Kemper in appearance, he had a wild, dangerous look about him and despite his short and slim stature, and Manson used his environment to assert his dominance. In the desert he would sit on top of boulders to deliver his sermons to the “family” and during the interview he sat on top of the chair so he could look down on his interviewers. Also in direct contrast to Kemper, Manson didn’t know why he was in prison because in reality he hadn’t killed anyone, but he had brainwashed and influenced his family to commit the crimes, he brainwashed them to the point where some couldn’t even think for themselves without Manson’s approval of their thoughts and ideas. Manson, unlike Kemper, didn’t have the physical ability of the Co-Ed Killer and have to make up for that with the force of his personality, he is the complete embodiment of the saying behaviour reflects personality. Manson’s case, however, is difficult as he didn’t kill anyone, he was a cult leader and through the interview Douglas is able to determine that he didn’t sanction the murders of Sharon Tate and her guests by rather another man in the cult known as “Tex” was seeking to challenge Manson’s control and dominance over the family and in order not to lose his control Manson had to make it seem like the murders were his idea and get them to do another one but he himself didn’t get involved because he was on parole at the time. Douglas believes that if Manson was ever released, which he won’t be, he wouldn’t kill as he isn’t that type of person, but rather he would either head back into the desert or try to cash in of the fame of the Manson family cult. After ten or so interviews ending around 1979, the demand for a criminal profilers was growing around 50 cases that tripled by 1981/2 and at this time Douglas was teaching which was side-lined and working almost full-time of criminal profiling mainly in homicide but he also profiled sex crimes. Douglas also talks a lot of the structure of the FBI and the teaching methods during this time which seems strange by today’s standards, for example, classes of sex crimes were usually seen as a bit of a joke which rapidly changed in a few years. He even remarks that when he was in hospital having surgery on his nose which had been broken several times giving him breathing difficulties, other officers would bring him stacks of files to work on, because the demand was so high. He and Roy Hazelwood were also approached by Dr. Ann Burgess to consult on the compilation of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).
Douglas talks about several other criminals but the thing that stood out to me was his comparison of paraphilias in murderers versus non-murderer and why there is such discrepancy between the two groups. In the murderers the paraphilia or fetish was an odd behaviour present at a much younger age with then became a key element in their crimes as they evolved, meanwhile, in the non-murderer group the paraphilia had little to no impact on their lives apart from one teacher who lost his job due to his fetish over children's feet. Douglas agreed with the decision because after meeting the man he theorises that if that child had caused a fuss or screamed, he was likely to kill them in a panic, rather to satisfy a sexual urge. As the BSU is called upon to help with more and more cases involving serial or sequence killers, they begin getting the recognition they had been fitting for especially after Douglas moves to work full-time in the BSU, using teaching as a side line. Some of the serial killers he discusses are known worldwide but others aren’t so it was interesting to read about all of them from someone’s perspective who helped catch them even if they weren’t directed involved in the arrest and trial proceedings. As I crossed into the second half of the book, I had caught up to where I am in the Netflix show and in the pictures the book provides it was quite a shock to see how much the actor in the series looks like the real Ed Kemper, but so far I am really enjoying it and can’t wait to see what comes up next and what’s in store for me with the show.
By the time Douglas and Roy Hazelwood are called down to help with a case in Atlanta, 16 black children have gone missing and most have been found dead. Douglas and Hazelwood are able to determine that most but not all of these killings were relating and that they weren’t hate crime committed by the KKK as they were sure that the killer was black himself. Douglas draws comparisons between the Atlanta case and the Yorkshire Ripper as he is sure in his profile but the constant hoaxes are making things difficult and the press attention is immense. However, very soon the killer breaks his pattern to prove he is superior by playing games with the press and police, so Douglas decides they can use this to their advantage. When they finally catch him the profile once again is spot on as he is an intelligent, mild-mannered man but they use his own pride in court to make him reveal the other side of himself. Learning about all these cases which took place primarily before I was born was extremely interesting but the thing I enjoyed the most was seeing the justice system evolve with these new techniques as time goes on and it begins to resemble something we can recognise as the modern American legal system. Watching the FBI helps solve the murder case of the all-American girl Karla Lou brown was intense. The original investigation went cold for many years but was later solved with the help of the FBI profiling team and some good old fashioned detective work.
As we cross into the final section of the book I was wondering where the book would end as we have seen cases from the late 1800’s right up to the 1990’s. The final section shows the struggles that the F.B.I. Behavioural Science department had with numerous psychologists and psychiatrists over the years, some aren’t even aware of the crimes their patients committed allowing the smart ones like Ed Kemper to avoid detection for months even years. It also discusses some cases like the Green River killings which have since been solved. Along with the Netflix show Mindhunter has been an informative, eye-opening and at times entertaining book to read and I can’t wait to continue with the show. Despite being outside my comfort zone I will be reading more books like this in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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