The Killer Across the Table Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter

John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker — 2019

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 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 killers—including Charles Manson, ”Son of Sam Killer” David Berkowitz and ”BTK Strangler” Dennis Rader—trained FBI agents and investigators around and 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 criminals 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’ unique interrogation and profiling 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 the process, 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 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.

Reviews

Jamieson@jamiesonk

Jan 23, 2023

I think parts of this book did get bogged down in its structure (introduce killer, explain their casefile, plus random name-drops of other killers with similar backstories that disrupted the flow) but besides that, it was really .. not ENJOYABLE to read, the first two killers especially made me feel sick but interesting? If you like Mindhunter or even just true crime / criminal profiling it's worth reading.

Georgia Carr@greatgatsbys

Sep 27, 2022

This isn't bad, it's just kind of long and rambly in places. Interesting insight into criminal profiling though

Hannah Pratt@hannernanner

Aug 13, 2022

A new all time favorite true crime book for me! I recommend reading Mindhunter before this, you don't have to but it definitely provides a lot of context. I thought this book walked the perfect line between retelling stories and thoughtful contemplation. What truly amazes me about what John Douglas did in his interviews was finding the shreds of humanity that still linger within these horrible killers, so that he could better understand why they committed such horrible acts. All the while keeping his sympathy and empathy with the victims, never losing sight of that. I could see that in Mindhunter, but did not fully appreciate it until this book. Also, the audiobook is fantastic!! Jonathan Groff reads it, and does an amazing job!!

Sophia Owen@sophowen

Feb 24, 2022

this book was crazy. as a fan of true crime, i had to read this and it did not disappoint. douglas explains everything in a way that makes it easy to understand and follow, which is so helpful considering there are a lot of elements to the four killers he describes talking to. some of it was so hard to read, what the killers did to the victims. but overall, i feel like i learned so much about criminals and human behavior and general. i am excited to pick up mindhunter and finish the netflix show!

Georgia Carr@greatgatsbys

Jan 16, 2022

This isn't bad, it's just kind of long and rambly in places. Interesting insight into criminal profiling though

Kim@skullfullofbooks

Nov 15, 2021

I can't say anything bad about this book, because if there were bad things, I didn't really notice them. 😅 I think it's great, it delivers on what it sets out to do. If you want interviews with some high profile serial killers, it gives you that. If you want some other facts peppered in about similar crimes or types of killers, it also has that. It had some cases I hadn't heard of before, and some that I kind of glazed over because I did in fact know them. My only critique, I guess, is more of a warning. If you know you're well versed in some of the included cases, it might be worthwhile to see what is covered. The ones I knew, well, I already knew. He can't give much more detail than what other in-depth or dedicated books give. He doesn't uncover any new secrets. So if you're really a true crime junkie, you may want to go in not blind, unless you will gladly read about murders you already know.

Loredana@the_french_librarian

Nov 15, 2021

Douglas takes us in prison to interrogate 4 murderers. We first learn about their stories, criminal history, we then have an insight in Douglas' interrogations. Couple of months ago I read mindhunter and I really liked it, so I pick this one after and I am not disappointed. First it was well written and organised, making it clear of the reader. I liked the fact that we first have the criminal's story before the interviews, it gives us insight on what is in their minds and Douglas points out elements that can explain the behaviours. The element that I really loved was that Douglas explains why he asks a question and what the answer reveals about the killer, it helps the reader really understand things. Finally the links with other stories and murderers is also really helpful and interesting. A bonus goes to the audiobook edition on scribd for the little interview of the author by Jonathan Groff the narrator.

Chelsea White@itschelseaw

Nov 8, 2021

It could be that it took me so long to read this one (I started in January of 2020) thanks to library loan times, a global pandemic and wanting to read not-murder books before falling asleep (my main reading time). Turns out I just don’t really want to hear WHY someone who murdered others did it! I don’t want to know their psychology, etc. I just don’t!

Taylor McNeely@taylorcatherinemareads

Oct 18, 2021

I put this book on hold for several months, because I was busy and I think it was the perfect choice. I got in the mood to read it after binge watching Mindhunters Season 2 and it was a great choice since that show is based off this author and a lot of the interviews he mentioned in the book with people like the Son of Sam and Ed Kemper were shown in the show. It definitely made me more intrigued when I found out that certain events that occurred in the interviews for Mindhunters actually happened in real life. . . This book showed past murders that have impacted laws and justice today and how each serial killer is different in terms of why they did these murders. I like how Douglas goes in depth with his process of finding these killers and how each serial killer may seem similar to another one, but that isn’t always the case and that shouldn’t let us bias certain cases.