Far removed from the light of the sun, in basement offices sixty feet below ground at the National Academy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Virginia, a small and elite group confronts one of our deepest and most primal fears: the fear of evil lurking among us. They are known as the Investigative Support Unit and their leader is John Douglas.
He has hunted some of the most notorious and sadistic criminals of our time: the Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta child murderer, the Tylenol poisoner, the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly ended his own life.
He has confronted, interviewed, and studied dozens of serial killers and assassins - including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Son of Sam (David Berkowitz), and James Earl Ray - for a landmark study, to understand their motives and motivation. To get inside their minds.
He is able to become both predator and prey. He examines a crime scene and creates profiles of the perpetrators, describing their habits and predicting their next moves. Ultimately, when his work has helped snare the criminals, he can help build strategy for interrogating and prosecuting them.
He is Special Agent John Douglas, a legendary figure in law enforcement and the model from which Jack Crawford was drawn for Thomas Harris's thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. As chief of the team that tackles the most baffling and senseless of unsolved violent crimes, John Douglas is the man who ushered in a new age in behavioral science and criminal profiling. Now, after twenty-five years of service, John Douglas has just retired and can finally tell his unique and compelling story.