Rating: 
Summary: A book into the life of an FBI agent and profiling
Review: I thought this book was really great. I read it in about 3 hours. I read the reviews that said they did not like the personal stuff. Well, in my opinion thats what makes it interesting. He is showing us the life as an agent. His marriage broke up and he had a stroke from the stress. I have read all of his books and I loved them all. If you dont like that kind of stuff then you should read a text book. Because this adds life to a story. Its not just a run on of facts.
I do not believe this was a "pat on the back" for him, I believe he wrote this to give us insight to that kind of life.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Anatomy of Motive
Review: This book is really an autobiography of the author. I liked it. It was well written, colorful, kept your attention, and was truthful, which is more admirable than jsut some guy blowing his own horn. Still, I would honestly say that Anatomy of Motive is far superior to this book. The writings in this book are more personal, and some may say that is better, but I like cold hard FACTS, which is why I read this stuff in the first place. Its cool to read about someone that is a pioneer in their field, but I would rather read about catching the bad guys.
Rating: 
Summary: Underwhelming journey through the megalomaniac mind
Review: Many of the reviews here aptly point out that the bulk of this book is Douglas' effort to pat himself on the back and inflate his work without really saying much about it. It is more a capitalization on the public interest in profiling than it is a helpful tool for understanding what the FBI does and why.Thankfully, there are books out there that do just that. Douglas' book is valuable as a quick skimmer to familiarize yourself with some prominent cases while sitting in an airport lounge. On the whole, the biographical bits were wholly unnecessary. The structure of the book was a string of anecdotes that only served to confirm Douglas' prowess and importance ("He is white, and inadequate" yawn). He dodges in and out of cases, and his attempts to make a case for the importance of his work are never well argued (although I agree it IS important). Essentially, every anecdote is designed to show us that the person that was caught matched the profile, yet the book oddly talks very little about profiling in any significant way. He pretty much comes and and says how highly he regards himself. When talking about his underlings, he refers to them as "stars in their own right." That characterizes much of the book: John Douglas thinks he's very much a star, and the only significance of everything else is to confirm that.
Rating:
Summary: Good Crime Read
Review: This book I found to be intresting. After the NBC series Profiler I become intrested in profiling this book does a great job of exploring many crimes were profiling played a role in catching a crimnal. Personally, I liked his writting though a little egotistical at times still a good book I'd recommend to all those interested in crime and profiling.
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Summary: Biographic story of John Douglas and the Serial Crime unit
Review: REFERENCED BY CANDICE DELONG'S RECENT BEST SELLER:
I read this book because of a reference in the book by Candice DeLong called: "Special Agent : My Life on the Front Lines As a Woman in the FBI". In Ms. Delong's book she made many references to work that John Douglas' group did and cited this book many times. This book gave me further insight into how the Serial Crime unit evolved. ONE THING THE BOOK DIDN'T DO, WAS EXPLAIN HOW THEY CAME UP WITH A PROFILE:
Many cased were cited in this book and the profiles that were tied to them. However, still after reading this book, I did not come away with an understanding on how they established that the potential culprit was early 20's, did not know the victim, drove a VW beetle (this can't be too great for sales), lived with his Mom and used to be a bed wetter. I can hypothesize, how this was derived, but the book only gives you that much. I imagine many hours of correlating details of solved crimes helps provide the statistical information, they use. This data I'm sure is also closely guarded. One thing they did state was some serial killers were quite bright and no doubt this date could be used as a blueprint to hide your identity. Thus, the need not to publish it. Ironically too many serial killers, were police buffs. All the more reason, not to share it here as well. JOHN DOUGLAS COVERS MANY HIGH PROFILE CASES IN THIS BOOK BUT, IT IS MORE A BOOK ABOUT HOW THE THE SERIAL CRIME UNIT AND HOW THEY LEARNED SOME OF THE TECHNIQUES THEY USED.
Ironically, common sense prevails. Why not ask some of the perpetrators now that have nothing to lose and a lot of time on their hands. The unit begins interviews with some of the more nototious killers to see what their thoughts were when they committed the crimes they did. As predicted some offenders were less than candid, but even in their lies some insight was gained. THE LOGIC AND STRUCTURE OF MANY SOLVED INVESTIGATIONS WAS DETAILED. Here you can see where involving this unit may be able to save precious time. From evidence gathering, questioning and staking out various locations associated with the crimes. There is a pattern we all follow. As humans, we are all creatures of habit and compulsion. Those of us driven to crime and horrible acts of violence even more so. John Douglas discusses this in many situations they dealt with. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BOOK THAT:
Covers many high profile cases in broad strokes and deals with the logic behind profiling, while also
showing the people and the process involved in building a department devoted to this, this is the book for you. BUT, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
Detail case specifics and how all that profiles are generated, this is not it. JOHN DOUGLAS DOES A NICE JOB WRAPPING UP THE DETAILS OF HIS LONG CAREER AND A PART OF IT HE FEEL PASSIONATE ABOUT. We should all be so lucky to have an opportunity to shape the world around us as he has. He has paid the price with health and family issues, but the outcome, I'm sure he would never change. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Side of Man
Review: Mindhunter is quite simply one of the most disturbing books I have read in years. Douglas' blunt, matter-of-fact style of storytelling gives an engrossing edge to these crimes. From well known to not so well known cases, Douglas explains in graphic but kurt detail the nature of these crimes & the profiles and psyches of the killers. His profiling techniques are second to none. This is nowhere near a biography of J.D.'s life although the first two chapters introduce Douglas to the readers. People who gave up on this book before chapter 3 missed out on stories that will make you think twice about the person sitting next to you on the subway. These stories will give you a nightmarish glimpse into the dark side of man.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: John Douglas is a true professional in the field of criminal profiling and does a good job of sharing his cases, experiences and expertise to the reader. The author makes you feel like you could conduct profiling yourself and you often find yourself say "that makes sense" as you cruise through the pages. Anyone interested in law enforcement, especially investigating serial crimes should read this book. RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: JOHN E. DOUGLAS & MARK OLSHAKER take us on an educational journey of the FBI Serial Crime Unit in MIND HUNTER. The two gentlemen need to be applauded on this easy to read and incredibly in-depth study. If you want to know how they do it, this is the book to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this a biography of the author ??!?!
Review: My God, talk about wanting to throw a book against the wall. I wish the author would shut about how wonderful, elite, fantastic, etc, he thinks he is, and write more about actual case work. What a self-indulgent load of you-know-what most of this book is. I picked up to read casework on serial killers, and ended up getting a stomachful of more-than-I-care-to-read than the minutia of his biography. I see he has written a number of other books that I would otherwise find interesting. I'm just afraid of more crap like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fascinating
Review: This book is a look into not only into the world serial killers, but the men who hunt them. The parts about John Douglas's early life and his career in the FBI drag on a bit, but it is more than made up for by how they weave the story of development of the unit with it's cases. It's not just about the serial killers but about how profiles are developed; at times the profiles contain details such as "The killer will have a speech impediment", which sounds wacky, but was based in solid analysis, and turned out to be correct. They also show how the profiles were used to help find the killer,interrogate him and convict him. Overall, fascinating from start to end. A must read!
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