Summary
This dramatic and compelling true-crime psychological thriller provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes narrative of one of the most bizarre and terrible serial killers stories in US history. For 31 years a man who called himself BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) terrorized the city of Wichita, Kansas, strangling and sexually assaulting a series of women (and one child), taunting the police and the community with frequent letters, communications, crime scene photographs, property stolen from his victims, bragging about his crimes in correspondence to local newspapers, tv, and radio stations, describing himself as a "psychotic and sexual pervert" who claimed that "I can't stop it." After he seemed to disappear for nine years, he suddenly reappeared, complaining that no one was paying enough attention to him, that he had committed crimes for which he had not been given credit. When ultimately captured, using many techniques suggested by Douglas himself, BTK was shockingly revealed to be a 61 year old married man, cub scout leader, President of his church, with two children, who worked as a Code Compliance officer for the Wichita city government, harassing citizens about their lawns and garbage preparation, "a glorified dog catcher...a bureaucratic bully". John Douglas was first called into the case as an expert profiler in 1980 and has been deeply involved in the case and all its principal players ever since. After Rader was arrested he was able to obtain the only exclusive interview since sentencing, as well as exclusive interviews with family, friends, and the police. As a result, he's able to reveal news-breaking new information about why Rader did what he did, and why he stopped for a long period before surfacing again. Douglas tells the whole incredible story and also draws from it a program for new and improved police methodology to prevent such serial killers from remaining at large, including early intervention in childhood development, and more community involvement in apprehension.
Criminal profiler John E. Douglas worked for the FBI's Investigative Support Unit for 25 years. He is an Air Force veteran and doctor of education and has written or coauthored more than 100 criminology texts and research papers. In his study of the criminal mind, Douglas interviewed convicted murders, rapists, kidnappers and assassins that included Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz, James Earl Ray and Ted Bundy, to name a few. Through this research, he learned how criminals think, and to see the world, the victims and the crime scenes through their eyes as well as perfected the art of psychological profiling to catch serial killers. Jack Crawford, a major character in the Thomas Harris novels Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, was directly based on Douglas..
"Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit," which is co-written with Mark Olshaker, is a psychological study that tells the real life story of the Investigative Support Unit of the FBI and the country's most notorious serial killers. It's a memoir of Douglas' time with the FBI and shows how this special force assisted state and local police in solving some of the most celebrated serial murder and rape cases. Olshaker and Douglas' first fictional work together was "Broken Wings." It tells how former profiler Jake Donovan and a special team of former agents investigate the apparent suicide of the director of the FBI. Also written with Olshaker were the titles "The Anatomy of Motive," "Obsession," and "Journey into Darkness."
"Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives" was written with Robert K. Kessler and Ann W. Burgess, both former FBI agents. These three authors, along with Allen G. Burgess, also wrote "Crime Classification Manual," which classifies the three major felonies of murder, arson and sexual assault and standardizes the language and terminology used throughout the criminal justice system.
(Bowker Author Biography)
