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Rights: Ireland Only
978-1-903582-78-7
€12.99

Manhunters
Criminal Profilers & Their Search for the World's Most Wanted Serial Killers
Colin Wilson

What makes somebody a serial killer? Why do they feel the need to kill indiscriminately and without remorse? How can they be caught?

In Manhunters, Wilson delves into the 1977 foundation of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit which was set up to try to answer these questions. He talks to one of the pioneers of criminal profiling, FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler, the man who coined the term ‘serial killer’ and interviewed Ted Bundy and Charles Manson to try to discover what makes them tick.

Wilson tracks the unit’s development of psychological profiling and genetic fingerprinting techniques and reveals the forensic investigations that led to the capture of some of the most evil people in the world, including Peter Sutcliffe, Fred and Rosemary West, Jeffrey Dahmer, Andrei Chikatilo, William Heirens and Albert DeSalvo. He exposes the fantasy worlds the mass-murderers inhabit, their addictive, and often sadistic, urge to slaughter and their over-whelming need to feel powerful and notorious.

Featuring conversations with mass-murderers such as Ian Brady and correspondence with death row detainees, Wilson focuses on the techniques used to find the key to unlock the serial murderers’ twisted personalities.

Manhunters is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand how over 50 serial killers were hunted down and brought to justice.