This book looked interesting to me when I saw it at a used book store. It was written by John Douglas, an FBI profiler who, according to his narrative, was one of the founders of the FBI's famous profiling team, the same team that is highlighted on the hit TV series "Criminal Minds." The man obviously knows what he is talking about when it comes to psychotic killers. In this book, he also fills in the reader on the psychotic mind.Douglas takes the reader through some of the most famous unsolved or controversial murder cases in history. Beginning with Jack the Ripper, Douglas also looks at Lizzy Borden, the Lindbergh Murder case, the Zodiac killer and the JonBenet Ramsey case. He looks at the suspects in the cases from the point of view of their behavior, the language that they used in notes and communications, the circumstances of the murder and other indicators. He introduces the reader to concepts such as the organized versus disorganized mind, the propensity to follow patterns and other clues that profilers use to describe unidentified suspects. Through this lens, Douglas offers new perspectives on the cases. I wondered if these perspectives, if they had been available at the time of the crimes, would have resulted in a more satisfactory conclusion to the cases.I had only a few objections to this book. The first is the ego of the author. I read this book in order to understand the cases that he was discussing. But it seemed at times that Douglas was really concerned about self-promotion more than discussing the cases. He repeatedly discussed his qualifications and experiences even when they did not really pertain to the subject that he was talking about. That became tiresome after a while.The author's ego really took center stage at one particular place in the book. When he was discussing the JonBenet Ramsey case, he informed the reader that he was in fact hired by the Benet family as a consultant in the case. He had definite opinions on the case, and those opinions were everything that he talked about in that case. Now, I am by no means an expert on the JonBenet Ramsey case, but I could see from his narrative that he was not giving full shrift to all of the evidence. That was disturbing.However, for fans of true crime, this book is definitely worth reading, especially if you can find it at a used book store.
John E Douglas features the following cases in this book. These are the chapter titles, in American Dreams/American Nightmares he covers the three cases listed.Jack the RipperLizzie BordenThe Lindbergh KidnappingThe ZodiacAmerican Dreams/American Nightmares "The Black Dahlia" Elizabeth Short"Lawrencia Bembenek" 'Bambi''The "Boston Strangler" Albert Henry DeSalvoThe Jon Benet Ramsey MurderAlthough I 'know' all these cases, I have not done much reading on them. I prefer to read about less known cases. This made this a very interesting book for me. Also it is very informative book, John Douglas has 'done the research' on these cases and presents the facts as known.In some cases he also reports what was 'known' or published in the papers. He explains why these cases are still so well know even today, even though some of them were over a century ago. He details mistakes in the investigations and subjects them to modern profiling. He tells us what kind of man Jack the Ripper was. Did Lizzie Borden really kill her parents? Did Bruno act alone? All the questions that people ask about these cases. I found this book to be very informative, interesting and would recommend it to True Crime fans.
What do You think about The Cases That Haunt Us (2001)?
I'm really torn about what rating to give this book. I don't want to give it 4 stars, but I didn't find this near as interesting as his book "Mindhunter." I did like the idea of John Douglas giving his thoughts & the facts about some of most prolific cases, but there were several times I just wanted to give up on this book. I don't really know what I expected to find out, but "Mindhunter" was more about profiling & who the killers were & since this book was more about who might have done it I guess it just left me unfulfilled.
—Jennifer
From what I understand John Douglas is one of the first FBI behavior profilers for murderers. He is one of the reasons we have the TV shows like Criminal Minds, Psych, The Profiler etc. Like the rest of the world, I am fascinated with behavior and the accompany reasons of what it takes for "normal" people to get involved in tragic events such as murder. There but for the grace of God go most of us, pray hard that most of us never have to to be involved in something so ugly. This book analyzes some of the most puzzling unsolved cases in history: John Benet Ramsey, Jack the Ripper, Lindbergh Baby etc. Not only am I fascinated with the behavior, but I love the forensic science approach, too. My type of book, well written (not too geeky, compassionate on all sides.
—Aleisha Z Coleman
Candy to a true crime junkie like me, this book is written with authority by someone who knows his stuff and can lend insight to some of history's most famous murderers who were never brought to justice. The writing is descriptive and provides alluring details without bogging down the reader. Some quirks of Douglas' bothered me (faux humility, his use of "pathetic") but it is easy to filter with the fascinating topics at hand. The Zodiac case is my favourite so I enjoyed that chapter, but I find his writing about JonBenet Ramsey most compelling, especially in tandem with the Lizzie Borden chapter. This is an excellent primer with valuable opinions for anyone interested in sorting through decades of research and conjecture about haunting crimes.
—Jenn
