John Douglas and Mark Olshaker wrote Mindhunter, wanting to share the stories of John Douglas's life. John Douglas is a profiler working for the FBI. There is no specific plot line that this book follows or denouement because it is a memoir about his life's work. Each chapter recounts how different serial crime cases were solved, weaving in major events occuring in Douglas’s life at that time. He had a very successful career and with the help of many other FBI agents in the Elite Serial Crime Unit Douglas and his partner Ressler, he has caught criminals like Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper, and John Wayne Gacy. He has confronted, interviewed and researched dozens of serial killers and assassins.

Douglas has brought forth a new age of criminal science and criminal profiling. While the book isn’t a tutorial on “how to become a profiler” it breaks down what it's like to be a profiler and how they think. He explains how niche the unit of the FBI that he works for is. Only a select few actually want to go into that line of work and even fewer go through all the training that is necessary to become a profiler.

I am someone who is interested in crime cases like these. I am compelled by how these cases are solved and how a profiler thinks. If you are similarly interested in serial crime cases and who solves them this is definitely a book you would enjoy. If you do not like hearing about crime cases, I would not recommend reading this book because it can be very detailed and brutal. 

The only critique I have for this book is the way that Douglas talks about himself. When he is not talking about his work he can sound a lot different and talks with an egotistical tone that surprised me. It’s hard to keep turning the page while he is talking about how amazing he is. However, I read this book to learn about the cases he solved and not just for the story of John Douglas so I was able to slog through his self obsession. If you are a fan of Douglas and want to read Mindhunter in pursuit of learning more about him, you may be disappointed by this book. 

I have never read anything like this before so I liked getting out of my comfort zone and reading something new. I have done some research on serial crime cases and profiling before and   found it great to have a bunch of information on this topic compiled into one book.