Whoever Fights Monsters

Rating:
Summary: Very eerie, but fascinating
Review: Very well written book that gives insight into the ways some of the most infamous murderers in America have been caught (and how some were almost not caught). Ressler also gives a good background about how various crime solving techniques were invented. Very much worth reading, but do not expect it to be anything like a Hollywood movie. Be ready for stories much more disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: I save almost every book, this one I threw away.
Review: We all like hearing scary stories about monsters. This book provides a few of them. Because of its pulp horror novel quality it has some redeaming value. The negatives make it not only a bad read, but make me wish that I had not read it. 1) The author spends a lot of time tooting his own horn. This is fine, but you grow weary of it after a few chapters. It wouldn't be so annoying but because of the way he writes comes off as if he is trying too hard to make it sound like NOT bragging. Because of this I grew very aware of it, like when your tounge won't stop worrying at a new tooth-filling. 2) It grows very predictable. We get it! Serial killers are psychos who fit into patterns and act out fantasies. It isn't a surprise anymore once we learned this early in the book. 3) Ressler brags about his profile helping to send 4-5 Chicago teenagers to prison for a a grusome murder/rape. A decade after this book went to press DNA evidence and discovery of the real killers proved that these kids had been railroaded--unequivocally innocent. Ooops! This incredibly gross injustice wouldn't seem so terrible if Ressler didn't come off as such a judgemental, I-told-you-so-ing, J. Edgar Hoover loving cop's cop.

Rating:
Summary: I save almost every book, this one I threw away.
Review: We all like hearing scary stories about monsters. This book provides a few of them. Because of its pulp horror novel quality it has some redeaming value. The negatives make it not only a bad read, but make me wish that I had not read it. 1) The author spends a lot of time tooting his own horn. This is fine, but you grow weary of it after a few chapters. It wouldn't be so annoying but because of the way he writes comes off as if he is trying too hard to make it sound like NOT bragging. Because of this I grew very aware of it, like when your tounge won't stop worrying at a new tooth-filling. 2) It grows very predictable. We get it! Serial killers are psychos who fit into patterns and act out fantasies. It isn't a surprise anymore once we learned this early in the book. 3) Ressler brags about his profile helping to send 4-5 Chicago teenagers to prison for a a grusome murder/rape. A decade after this book went to press DNA evidence and discovery of the real killers proved that these kids had been railroaded--unequivocally innocent. Ooops! This incredibly gross injustice wouldn't seem so terrible if Ressler didn't come off as such a judgemental, I-told-you-so-ing, J. Edgar Hoover loving cop's cop.