Author- Roy Hazelwood & Stephen G. Michaud
Published- 2001- St. Martin's Press
ISBN- 0-312-25342-7
Genre- Non-fiction - Crime - Forensics
Pages- 275 pages
Rating- 5 of 5
My Review:
Dark Dreams offers an in-depth and often troubling look into the minds of some of the most dangerous sexual predators and serial killers of our time. Criminal profiler Roy Hazelwood has dedicated his career to perfect criminal profiling in an effort to create the most accurate picture of potential offenders. Profiling has been used to both discover the warning signs of violent behavior before they become a real threat and to point investigators towards likely suspects in murder cases. Leaving out none of the gruesome details, the authors paint a truly vivid image of these crimes, the extents the killers go to in the throes of passion - whether sexual or rage, or even just for the rush of adrenaline.
Readers of forensics or psychology and fans of true crime novels should definitely put Dark Dreams on their reading list. I found every chapter captivating, many times anxious myself to discover the killer's identity, in awe of the crimes they've committed. The information provided about the human brain and psyche shows the experience and dedication Hazelwood puts into his work as a criminal profiler, as the descriptions he provides in many of his cases turn out to be very true-to-life once the offender is finally identified. The author's credentials in this field of study are quite numerous, with many advances in profiling to his name, along with a natural propensity to understand and isolate factors that may trigger these violent criminals to act out.
I highly recommed this book and give it a full five stars. The authors provide a healthy balance of what makes a work of non-fiction successful: information, entertainment, and readability.
