What makes people kill? Specifically, what are the motivations behind serial, mass, and spree killings? Drawing from cases such as the mass murder in Dunblane, Scotland, in which a lone gunman mowed down 16 children and their teacher, the still-unsolved Tylenol poisonings, and the Unabomber, former FBI profiler John Douglas and coauthor Mark Olshaker try to explain the unthinkable. What sets The Anatomy of Motive apart from so many of the theories about these horrific acts of violence is that Douglas and Olshaker have no obvious political agenda. They don't look for easy answers and they don't provide easy solutions. They do, however, offer some insight into the twisted kind of thinking that can lead a person to believe that the solution to his problems lies in bloodshed. They also provide some danger signs that may help to identify the potentially violent criminal before he has a chance to act out his morbid fantasies. While The Anatomy of Motive is undeniably horrifying, it is also illuminating, and Douglas and Olshaker approach their topic with grace and insight. --Lisa Higgins


From Publishers Weekly
A volume of case studies by Douglas, the former chief profiler at the FBI's legendary behavioral sciences unit, and Olshaker has become an annual event, from 1995's Mind Hunter to last year's Obsession. Here, the duo exhume the victims of Andrew Cunanan, Charles Whitman, Theodore Kaczynski and many others for insight into the killers' minds. Douglas's formula is deceptively simple: "WHY? + HOW? = WHO." But since serial killers are rarely caught through profiling, the formula is better expressed as "WHO + HOW = WHY." Douglas is tops in the field. He was among the first to suggest that the Atlanta child murderer was African-American, and he delivered a dead-on profile of Scottish mass-murderer Thomas Watt Hamilton on live TV based on preliminary news accounts. Still, most of what's here will be familiar to readers of other profiling books: the lonely white male with an obsessive sense of his own failure who tortured animals, wet his bed and played with matches as a child. Though Douglas promises to explain the differences among bombers, arsonists, shooters, cutters and stranglers, his profiles too often cleave to predictable, reductive formulations. Both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby are characterized as "paranoid losers"; Timothy McVeigh is "a scrawny, pissed-off young hick." As always, Douglas and Olshaker deliver an entertaining read, but fewer case studies presented with more depth would better inform and educate the amateur profiler. (June) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The team that brought you Mindhunter and other best sellers on tracking criminals is back with more.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Mary Grace Butler
...it offers interesting, if depressing, insights into the psychology of deadly behavior.


From Kirkus Reviews
Renowned G-man Douglas, originator of the FBIs Investigative Support Unit, offers his fourth collaboration with co-author Olshaker (Obsession, 1998, etc.), a dense admixture of profiling theory, grim criminal history, and cautionary admonishment that, though at times unwieldy, adds up to an informative, provocative page-turner. As fans of Thomas Harriss novels know, Douglass essential thesis is that even the most violent antisocial deeds contain signature elements (as distinct from modus operandi) that allow investigators to construct the framework of what he calls that key question: Why do criminals commit the crimes they do? This technique creates the profile of an unknown suspect that often aids investigations with startling accuracy. Douglas recaps this theory more than is necessary. Fortunately, he also illustrates it with a plethora of actual cases, assembling quite a rogues gallery: obscure serial arsonists, snipers, and spree killers, along with such media demons as Timothy McVeigh, Andrew Cunanan, and Theodore Kaczynski. Douglas is a good teller of gruesome tales, although he undermines his own insights by referring to his prey as pathetic and with sarcastic asides. The books strength is its arsenal of details and insider knowledge: we learn, for example, the profilers homicidal triad of early indicators for potential offenders; that the most violent crimes stem from a relatively small population of antisocial loners who are almost always straight white males under 50; and that such figures may be set off by a single dislocating event, often a workplace downsizing. Readers in such diverse fields as human resources and journalism may thus find this thriller to be quite useful. Indeed, Douglass advocacy of awareness and observation, combined with his chilling accounts of criminal motivation, offer a valuable lesson to all in staying abreast of the unlikely but most lethal dangers of our society. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
James Patterson author of Kiss the Girls and Cat & Mouse The Anatomy of Motive finds John Douglas at the top of his form -- as always. This is a terrific book for true crime and mystery lovers alike.


Book Description
From legendary FBI profiler John Douglas and Mark Olshaker -- authors of the nonfiction international bestsellers Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession -- comes an unprecedented, insightful look at the root of all crime. Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. With the brilliant insight he brought to his renowned work inside the FBI's elite serial-crime unit, John Douglas pieces together motives behind violent sociopathic behavior. He not only takes us into the darkest recesses of the minds of arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, assassins, serial killers, and mass murderers, but also the seemingly ordinary people who suddenly kill their families or go on a rampage in the workplace. Douglas identifies the antisocial personality, showing surprising similarities and differences among various types of deadly offenders. He also tracks the progressive escalation of those criminals' sociopathic behavior. His analysis of such diverse killers as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh is gripping, but more importantly, helps us learn how to anticipate potential violent behavior before it's too late.


Download Description
In this eagerly anticipated paperback release from the international bestselling authors of Mindhunter, legendary crime fighter John Douglas explores the root of all crime -- motive. Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. Understand the motive and you can solve the mystery. Here, Douglas offers a dramatic, insightful look at the development and evolution of the criminal mind.


About the Author
John Douglas (left) has become the leading expert on criminal-personality profiling and the pioneer of modern criminal investigative analysis during his remarkable twenty-five-year career with the FBI. A veteran of the Air Force, he is the author of numerous articles and presentations on criminology and the coauthor of the landmark books Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives and Crime Classification Manual. He has been called upon to analyze violent crimes from those of the Unabomber to the Nicole Brown Simpson-Ron Goldman and JonBenet Ramsey murders. John Douglas and Mark Olshaker coauthored Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit; Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer; Journey into Darkness; Obsession; and the novel Broken Wings, which is now available in hardcover from Pocket Books. Douglas lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. Understand the motive, and you can solve the mystery. In The Anatomy of Motive — the eagerly anticipated book from the international bestselling authors of Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession — legendary FBI agent John Douglas explores the development and evolution of the criminal mind.

From seemingly ordinary men who suddenly kill their families to dedicated murderers who embark on serial-killing sprees, Douglas helps readers understand what precipitates violent sociopathic behavior. He shows how criminals use and react to the media and how the motives behind hijacking and terrorism evolved through history.

Douglas identifies the common precursors to the violent antisocial personality, revealing the astonishing similarities and differences among various types of offenders, including arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, and serial and mass murderers. He also profiles notorious assassins — Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh — examining that select personality and how it applies to the particular type of crime.

As Douglas explained in an earlier chat on barnesandnoble.com regarding his grisly career, "I was always interested in why criminals particularly do the things that they do. In simple language, what was their motivation, how did they perpetrate the crime, and particularly, why did they perpetrate the crime? I found myself in prisons asking those questions of murderers, rapists, and child molesters. What was surprising tomewas that many people working in the mental-health profession never concern themselves or want to know the answers to those questions.... This has been my obsession and my mission, to try to change the way people look at and treat violent offenders." With The Anatomy of Motive, Douglas advances this mission, and the book's profiles and observations provide a framework to help us anticipate potential violent behavior before it's too late.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From legendary FBI profiler John Douglas and Mark Olshaker—authors of the nonfiction international bestsellers Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession—comes an unprecedented, insightful look at the root of all crime.

Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. With the brilliant insight he brought to his renowned work inside the FBI's elite serial-crime unit, John Douglas pieces together motives behind violent sociopathic behavior. He not only takes us into the darkest recesses of the midns of arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, assassins, serial killers, and mass murderers, but also the seemingly ordinary people who suddenly kill their families or go on a rampage in the workplace.

Douglas identifies the antisocial personality, showing surprising similarities and differences among various types of deadly offenders. He also tracks the progressive escalation of those criminals' sociopathic behavior. His analysis of such diverse killers as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theordore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh is gripping, but more importantly, helps us learn how to anticipate potential violent bahavior before it's too late.

FROM THE CRITICS

Liz Smith - New York Post

A marvelous, thrilling, chilling, and riveting read.

Publishers Weekly

A volume of case studies by Douglas, the former chief profiler at the FBI's legendary behavioral sciences unit, and Olshaker has become an annual event, from 1995's Mind Hunter to last year's Obsession. Here, the duo exhume the victims of Andrew Cunanan, Charles Whitman, Theodore Kaczynski and many others for insight into the killers' minds. Douglas's formula is deceptively simple: "WHY? + HOW? = WHO." But since serial killers are rarely caught through profiling, the formula is better expressed as "WHO + HOW = WHY." Douglas is tops in the field. He was among the first to suggest that the Atlanta child murderer was African-American, and he delivered a dead-on profile of Scottish mass-murderer Thomas Watt Hamilton on live TV based on preliminary news accounts. Still, most of what's here will be familiar to readers of other profiling books: the lonely white male with an obsessive sense of his own failure who tortured animals, wet his bed and played with matches as a child. Though Douglas promises to explain the differences among bombers, arsonists, shooters, cutters and stranglers, his profiles too often cleave to predictable, reductive formulations. Both Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby are characterized as "paranoid losers"; Timothy McVeigh is "a scrawny, pissed-off young hick." As always, Douglas and Olshaker deliver an entertaining read, but fewer case studies presented with more depth would better inform and educate the amateur profiler. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The team that brought you Mindhunter and other best sellers on tracking criminals is back with more.

Mary Grace Butler - The New York Times Book Review

This is not a book to read at home alone, but it offers interesting, if depressing, insights into the psychology of deadly behavior.

Biography

...[L]aced with compelling stories and detailed mini-portraits....Impeccably researched and brimming with information...Read all 6 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"The Anatomy of Motive finds John Douglas at the top of his form -- as always. This is a terrific book for true crime and mystery lovers alike." --James Patterson