The Killer Across the Table - Large Print by John E Douglas & Mark Olshaker (Paperback)

About the Book

The FBI criminal profiler and inspiration for the "Mindhunter" series shares the stories of four of the most complex predatory killers of his career, offering previously undisclosed insights into his strategies and profiling process.

Book Synopsis

The legendary FBI criminal profiler, number-one New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the hit Netflix show Mindhunter delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, offering never-before-revealed details about his criminal profiling process, and divulging the strategies used to crack some of America's most challenging cases.

The FBI's pioneer of criminal profiling, former special agent John Douglas, has studied and interviewed many of America's most notorious serial killers--including Charles Manson, "Son of Sam Killer" David Berkowitz and "BTK Strangler" Dennis Rader--trained FBI agents and investigators around the world, and helped educate the country about these deadly predators and how they operate, and has become a legend in popular culture, fictionalized in The Silence of the Lambs and the hit television shows Criminal Minds and Mindhunter.

Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical violent predators he's confronted, interviewed and learned from. Going deep into each man's life and crimes, he outlines the factors that led them to murder and how he used his interrogation skills to expose their means, motives, and true evil. Like the hit Netflix show, The Killer Across the Table is centered around Douglas's unique interrogation and behavioral analysis process. With his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, Douglas recounts the chilling encounters with these four killers as he experienced them--revealing for the first time his profile methods in detail.

Going step by step through his interviews, Douglas explains how he connects each killer's crimes to the specific conversation, and contrasts these encounters with those of other deadly criminals to show what he learns from each one. In this masterclass of criminal psychology, he returns to other famous cases, killers and interviews that have shaped his career, describing how the knowledge he gained from those exchanges helped prepare him for these.

A glimpse into the mind of a killer from a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, The Killer Across the Table unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.

In these pages, you get a seat across the table from evil, learning directly from the master of the Behavioral Science Unit:

• Legendary Case Files: Go inside four of the most complex and disturbing cases of John Douglas's career, with never-before-revealed details about the predatory killers he confronted.
• The Mindhunter's Process: Discover the step-by-step interrogation and profiling methods that inspired the hit Netflix show and changed modern criminal investigation.
• Conversations with Killers: Sit in on the chilling interviews as Douglas explains how he connects each killer's personal history and motives to the crimes they committed.
• Nature vs. Nurture: Explore the central debate of behavioral science as Douglas uses these four diabolical criminals to unpack the ultimate mystery of depravity.

From the Back Cover

From the New York Times bestselling authors of Mindhunter comes their most riveting tale yet . . .

The FBI's legendary pioneer of criminal profiling and inspiration behind the hit Netflix show Mindhunter, John Douglas has spent decades working with law enforcement to understand the criminal mind and hunt violent predators. Now Douglas, along with his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, turns his keen eye to four of the most disturbing killers he has confronted. Offering never-before-revealed details about his interview techniques and profiling process, Douglas goes step by step through his encounters with these murderers, connecting each sadistic predator's crimes to his conversation with them. In doing so, he shows his unprecedented ability to get into the heads of both predator and prey as he talks to the country's most dangerous men, and how he used his interrogation skills to expose their true evil.

Review Quotes

"This fascinating and haunting expert account helps us understand why the most shocking homicides occur... [this] will be of particularly urgent interest." - - Booklist starred review

"An eye-opening and chilling look into the minds of brutal murderers...Douglas succeeds in taking readers inside his own mind as he worked to understand 'four killers [he] confronted'...separating fact from fiction, Douglas adds to lay readers' understanding of human evil." - - Publishers Weekly

"[A] must read for everyone wanting to understand the minds of depraved serial killers. Once again John Douglas walks into rooms most of us would shun in our worst nightmares and comes back with remarkable insight into what type of person perpetrates such horrible acts." - New York Journal of Books on The Killer Across the Table

"This fascinating and haunting expert account helps us understand why the most shocking homicides occur . . . [this] will be of particularly urgent interest." - Booklist (starred review) on The Killer Across the Table

"John Douglas is the FBI's pioneer and master of investigative profiling, and one of the most exciting figures in law enforcement I've had the privilege of knowing. At last, in this chronicle of his remarkable and chilling career, he allows all of us to accompany him into unthinkably dark places. . . . With Mr. Douglas we explore why there are monsters." - Patricia Cornwell

"Mr. Douglas sets out to produce a good true-crime book, but because of his insights and the power of his material, he gives us more--he leaves us shaken, gripped by a quiet grief for the innocent victims and anguished by the human condition." - Dean Koontz, New York Times Book Review

"[A] winning tale of awful crimes and awe-inspiring detective work. . . . Douglas gives us a pair of human eyes through which to view crimes and criminals that are at once grotesque and compelling." - USA Today

"Hannibal Lecter may have been a fictional creation but his counterparts exist in real life, and Douglas has tracked down, testified against, or just sat down and talked with dozens of them . . . a chilling memoir." - Toronto Star