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Review of Whoever Fights Monsters – Robert Ressler
An interesting and very complete book that tells the story of how the Behavioral Science Unit was started at the FBI. It’s very interesting because it relates the interviews they had with famous serial killers: for example, Ed Kemper, John Gacy, the Son of Sam. They also interviewed Charles Manson but he wasn’t a serial killer, in fact he never killed anyone with his bare hands.
The book, despite being interesting, becomes a little tiring, because the author repeats himself quite a bit.
But it’s to be appreciated that he reasons and tells us why he reaches his conclusions when he makes a profile. I mean, if the killer is a white male why is he white. If he’s an organized or disorganized killer, he also reasons why he is that way. If the killer is between 20 and 30 years old, he’ll reason why he’s that age. In general, he explains very well how he reaches certain conclusions.
The author was the true founder, along with John Douglas, of the behavioral analysis unit, pioneering criminal profiling. He used to be a hostage negotiator. He was a teacher at Quantico School and gave numerous lectures and courses throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
The book is a revised and expanded edition in Spanish. The author writes an introduction and a final chapter.