Rating: 
Summary: worth reading.. but not Douglas's best
Review: This is the fifth John Douglas book I have read. I have found Obsession to be the least interesting of the five. I love reading about actual cases and the hunt for criminals. This book lacks a lot of that and instead focuses more generally on the types and behaviors of offenders. The best part of the book focuses on the three real-life serial killers that were used as a basis for Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs". Overall, I would have to say that "Mindhunter" and "Journey Into Darkness" are definitely my favorites. This book, "Anatomy of Motive" and "Unabomber" were not quite as good although the unabomber's manifesto is really interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Superman into Criminal Profiling? Apparently.
Review: Well this is a very unique book indeed. I bought it because I am a clinical psychology major with a special interest in forensic psych, and it seemed like an interesting topic to have an FBI profiler's opinions on. It started off wonderfully, but soon I noticed a disturbing trend. Time after time after time Douglas mentions his previous books by title, the same two books over and over again. Every other page makes reference to one or the other, and it's almost like an obvious plug or commercial every few pages. It gets really old really quick. The next thing I noticed was how the author mentioned time after time examples of extraordinary or unusual behavior that he performed, and he should receive glory for. Granted, he is an expert in this area, but the book was supposed to be about the psyches of killers, stalkers, and rapists, but is instead a book written with the underlying job of boasting this man's career and advertising his previous books. I'm not saying this because it was mentioned only a few times, I'm saying this because it took away from the book itself. These were repeated a dreadfully annoying number of times, and that was all within the first four chapters (where I decided to read another book instead.)The technical aspects, however, were very good when they were actually given the spotlight for a few minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: John Douglas- One of the Real American Heroes
Review: Without a doubt, John Douglas is extraordinary and a very dear man. He has dealt with, on a DAILY basis, for years, into the horrific and graphic details of the aftermath of serial killers, serial rapists, stalkers, mutilators. He has gotten into the minds of those criminals and looked at the crime through their point of view. Being able to do this process, called profiling, he has identified these killers and sexual predators. Still with all that he has seen, he has given so much compassion and empathy to the victims of these acts of violence. John Douglas has tried to also get the knowledge to the people so that we can all become more aware. He has traveled to hospital emergency rooms to inform doctors and staff about evidence needed for rape cases. He has also conducted seminars in colleges. This is an excellent book that John Douglas has written. Mr. Douglas is very respected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in which he worked for over twenty-five years. He became head of the Investigative Support Unit in 1979. May John's story go on. He's one of the real American heros. As a victim of attempted rape and child molestation myself and from all of the other victims in the U.S. that he has helped, I would like to extend a very heartfelt and deep appreciation to John Douglas.
Rating:
Summary: Indecent Obsession
Review: Yet another classic expose of the sadistic sociopath written by the man who knows them best - John Douglas. In this book, John meticulously describes 2 types of obsessions - the obsessions of the sociopathic sex criminals who prey on society, and the obsessions which drive law enforcement officials who, very often risk their own safety and sanity in order to capture these monsters and bring about justice. Throughout his quarter century in the FBI, John gained valuable knowledge. He learned how serial offenders "profile" their potential victims to test their vulnerability. He learned what ruses they employ to lure unsuspecting victims away from areas of safety. And as he graphically illustrates in the tragic stories of Jennifer Levin, Katie Souza Hanley, and Stephanie Schmidt, he learned how sometimes we can unfortunately place our trust in the wrong person, a person who is quite literally "a wolf in sheep's clothing." So instead of speaking disparagingly about John, we should realise that we have cause to be grateful to him. He has such great insight into the minds of these human demons, and because of his lecturing and writing, he has undoubtedly saved many lives. We should thank him in any way possible - one day his experience and insight might help save our own life or the life of a loved one. He has given us valuable advice about how to keep ourselves and our children safe. He has showed us how we can turn profiling to our own advantage, how we can use it and our own survival instincts to keep ourselves safe. Undoubtedly this type of knowledge is certainly just as important as the knowledge of how to perform adequate, life saving first aid treatment.
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