Book Title: Mindhunter
Author: John E. Douglas
Genre: Nonfiction – True Crime
Page Count: 375
Started/Ended Date: March 12 – March 15
Total Reading Time: 9 hours 9 minutes

FBI Special Agent and expert in criminal profiling and behavioural science, John Douglas, is a man who has looked evil in the eye and made a vocation of understanding it. Now retired, Douglas can let us inside the FBI elite serial crime unit and into the disturbed minds of some of the most savage serial killers in the world.

The man who was the inspiration for Special Agent Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs and who lent the film’s makers his expertise explains how he invented and established the practice of criminal profiling; what it was like to submerge himself mentally in the world of serial killers to the point of ‘becoming’ both perpetrator and victim; and individual case histories including those of Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and the Atlanta child murders.

With the fierce page-turning power of a bestselling novel, yet terrifyingly true, Mindhunter is a true crime classic.

John Douglas knows more about serial killers than anybody in the world – Jonathan Demme, Director of The Silence of the Lambs

The first nonfiction review! Reviewing nonfiction is much different than reviewing fiction because I can’t say “Oh, I didn’t like this part, they should have changed that,” because this is real life, baby. So, my nonfiction reviews may be a little gentler seeing as there aren’t any themes or storylines to review. I guess we will see when I review others, because I have nothing but good things to say about Mindhunter and I’m not sure if that is due to it being nonfiction or just a really good nonfiction.

Besides the content of this book being extremely fascinating, there were a few other things that made this a great read for me. First, John Douglas’s writing style is perfect for storytelling, especially when the story is something as gruesome as serial murders. He’s blunt, to the point, and “just the facts, ma’am”, when he needs to be, like when describing a crime scene, and is lighthearted and funny where appropriate. It felt like he was telling me this story over a nine-hour dinner.

I also appreciated the stories of his own life and how this work affected him personally. He talked about how the work emotionally hardened him. This was great when he was analyzing gruesome crime scenes, but not so great when one of his children came to him with a scraped knee. He had a hard time showing concern because he knew life could be a lot harder than scrapes and a few stitches. I appreciated his honesty and vulnerability in admitting that his family life fell apart mainly because of him and how he approached his work.

What did you think of this book? Let me know in the comments!