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Douglas is a show-off
This is hands-down the most action-packed biography I have ever read! And it’s almost the most egotistical and narcissistic sounding biography I have ever read.

In his opening scene in the prologue, Douglas finds himself waking up from a coma in hospital expecting to be tortured by sick criminals, having (almost) single-handily run the FBI’s psychological profiling unit, handling hundreds of cases for several years.

I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the Netflix series based on this book, but I am quite a fan of the Criminal Minds series, so I had an idea of what to expect. However, you need to get 6 chapters in before Douglas starts talking about his work as an FBI profiler. He starts off talking about growing up, his love life, and getting into his career.

Douglas may call himself a profiler, but in my opinion, he is first and foremost a story-teller, with a talent for a drama-filled yarn. And rather than being put off by his constant bragging, I found myself hanging on his every word.

This light and long prelude to the criminal profiling section of the book made the crime details feel all the more gruesome. Some of the predictions made by Douglas about the murderers are barely believable. I mean, how can a crime scene really tell you the age of a murderer or what kind of car he drives?

Unfortunately, Douglas doesn’t offer much explanation into these kinds of things, and the leader is left assuming it’s all down to statistics. And if there’s anywhere the book is let down it would be here, because this would be why readers would pick the book up.

I once read a similar book called The Profiler, by Pat Brown. Brown, however, was a mere spectator to criminal goings on and had no influence whatever on getting criminals brought to justice. Douglas, however, would meet with local police and provide strategies on getting the bad guy, and getting him to confess.

To me, the most crucial chapter was Battle of the Shrinks. It looks at how criminals are dealt with once apprehended. Here Douglas meets with a psychiatrist whose job it was to assess whether criminals can have their sentences shortened and be let off early. This psychiatrist didn’t bother reading police reports to see from an outsider exactly what the criminal had done because he didn’t want to be made biased it and wanted to meet the criminal exactly as they presented himself to him. Douglas was appalled by this attitude and tried to get this over to the psychiatrist, but sadly, to no avail.

In short, this is a very entertaining book, and while it can teach you lot, reading it will never make you as good a profiler as John Douglas himself.
  
Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)
Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)
Lisa Gardner | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
8
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Includes Detective D.D. Warren, Flora Dane, and FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy (1 more)
Can stand alone
A stand-alone, multi POV novel and the 10th novel in the Detective D.D. Warren series.
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

I was not my parents' favorite child. I was not even the favorite daughter. Let me say my family has a strange sense of humor so my dad bought me Lisa Gardner's novel "The Other Daughter". I laughed and let the book sit for a few years. When I eventually read it, I knew I found an author I would definitely read again.

Never Tell by Lisa Gardner can stand alone. The multi POV thriller is the 10th novel in her Detective D.D. Warren series. It includes Flora Dane who was first introduced in Find Her, the 8th novel in her Detective D.D. Warren series.

In Find Her, Dane was kidnapped while on spring break and held for 472 days. Since then, she in now working as Warren's unpaid Confidential Informant). The agent who was instrumental in rescuing Dane was FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy, daughter of FBI Profiler Pierce Quincy, a main character in Gardner's FBI Profiler series. Kimberly Quincy also returns to assist with Warren's case.

It might be difficult to understand the connections I mentioned if you have not read prior books. The book does stand alone and will make you want to go read the others.


Review published on Philomathinphila.com on 3/27/19.
  
Nothing to Lose (Ziba MacKenzie, #2)
Nothing to Lose (Ziba MacKenzie, #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
He’s looking for his next victim. She looks just like his last.
Primrose Hill, London. Offender Profiler Ziba MacKenzie arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder with a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Nine days earlier, another woman’s body was found: same location, same MO, same physical appearance. For the police, it’s clear a new serial killer is on the loose. But for Ziba, it’s even more sinister—because the victims look just like her.
Ziba has been the focus of a killer’s interest before, and knows that if she gets too close again this case could be her last. Still, she’s not one to play by the rules—especially when her secret investigation into her husband’s murder begins to attract unwanted attention.
With someone watching her every step, can Ziba uncover what connects the two victims before she becomes one herself?

This the second novel of Ziba MacKenzie and a novel I highly recommend.
Ziba Mackenzie is a freelance profiler who is called in when a woman is murder who resemble her what shocking a early murder of a different woman resemble her to.
I thoroughly enjoyed Nothing to Lose which is an exciting thriller with two strong plot lines.
I found it a gripping read from start to finish.
The characters were believable and well developed, as well as the story.
The plot in this book was really good. It was very cleverly thought out and had me guessing right up to the end.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of Nothing to Lose.
  
Murder Girl (Lilah Love #2)
Murder Girl (Lilah Love #2)
Lisa Renee Jones | 2018 | Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Loving this series so far and can't wait to see where we end up next!
Second book in this series and I can't say enough how thrilled I am that we'll be in for more of Lilah Love! Her tough attitude and fierce independence make her one bad a$$ FBI Profiler and a character that I can't help but love and admire. This story is a perfect blend of suspense, action, and romance and Kane's patience and understanding of Lilah and her habits is heartwarming. As dark as his life and experiences may be, he goes out of his way to create a safe place for her, even when she feels like there is no else she can fully trust. Loving this series so far and can't wait to see where we end up next!
  
    Signal

    Signal

    9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

    TV Show

    Fifteen years ago, a female child was kidnapped on the way from school. At that time, Park Hae...

I really like how this was presented: Each case was described, evidence was provided as to who Brown believed was the likely suspect, and the status of the case where it sits now was noted (basically, dormant). I just received my Master's in Forensic Psychology, so reading how Brown became a profiler and how she uses her knowledge to work on "cold" cases was both intriguing and helpful for me. I especially liked her idea of creating a suspect bank through ViCAP that could be accessed across the nation, in the event that a suspect in one crime crosses jurisdictions and is interviewed in relation to another crime. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the Forensic Psychology or Criminology fields, or for those who like such TV shows as the "Law and Order," "Criminal Minds," or "CSI" franchises.