Customer Reviews

Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Author John Douglas, a veteran of the FBI and expert in personality profiling, demonstrates his years of experience and storytelling ability in this vivid investigative analysis of the first Internet serial killer, John Robinson. Douglas, and his co-author Stephen Singular, meticulously describe Robinson's journey from a seemingly harmless white collar criminal to an obvious psychopath, who exploited the Internet's world of single women seeking love and relationships, with deadly results. A married father of four, a seemingly good citizen, active in his church and community, Robinson was able to hide his evil nature and schemes from his wife, a woman who lived in a state of absolute denial, and from others who knew him best.

Fortunately, he was unable to fool Steve Haymes, a parole officer in Liberty, Missouri, who had been on Robinson's trail for fifteen years before his suspicions and persistent investigation panned out. Haymes was the only person who kept a record of Robinson's evolution through the criminal justice system. During a thirty-five year period, he examined his criminal patterns, his range of activities and attempted to penetrate the man's personality. Robinson had been arrested numerous times for fraud and theft, but was able to use his charm and cunning to elude more serious charges. It was during these early days in Robinson's criminal career that he appeared on Haymes' radar screen. In early 1985 Parole Officer Haymes imagined what the law enforcement community was confronting. In March 2000, he discovered that he had been correct in his initial assessment, with results much more disastrous than he had ever contemplated.

Chubby, balding, unattractive, Robinson, was intelligent, innovative and entrepreneurial enough to be in the forefront of the consumer vanguard, employing the new personal computer technology to his advantage. Cybercrime had yet to be defined when Robinson saw the possibilities in using the Internet to make easy money and gratify his particular needs and longings. Ultimately, he discovered the world of sadomasochistic Website chat rooms, where he was able to charm and reassure the vulnerable, lonely women who frequented them. It was on the Net that he was able to stalk his victims and lure them to meet him in person - never to be seen or heard from again.

I don't read much True Crime but was fascinated by this case of deadly cybercrime. I use the Internet frequently and know people who have met online and married - although they never frequented sadomasochistic chatrooms. Still, reading "Anyone You Want Me To Be" was an educational experience as well as a riveting read. Highly recommended!
JANA

As a big Douglas fan, I have to admit I wasn't thrilled with this title, and I'm really sorry about that. The story of Robinson is fascinating and truly makes you wonder how these women could be so easily led. The problem I have with the book is in the delivery.

Robinson managed to get away with being a successful criminal for several decades before his insatiable need to push boundaries became his ultimate downfall. You'll read how he scammed people from THOUSANDS of dollars and walked away from bilking legitimate companies, all with barely a slap. You'll be horrified that women would travel incredible distances to be with a complete stranger, a man they 'knew' only as an online persona. The actual story left me a mixed bag of anger, sadness, and frustration.

That said, I move to the delivery of the action. In several places, the author breaks in thought from the actual story with these pointless asides. In one part, he mentions the double murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. While this is mentioned in the context of outlining the 3 basic types of killers and how invesitgators can tell a scene is created by one perp or more, it's not necessary. The mention of that crime scene taints the one you're reading about, the sick world of Robinson.

There are other places where the author breaks from the story to include asides. While some of them are important to the overall theme that the internet can be a dangerous and strange place, I felt that some of his information would have been better in an appendix. The author includes 2 appendices, one that addresses safety in surfing and chatting.

A great story, but I gave it three stars because there are too many places that the story just breaks, like a book with commercials.

After being an avid fan of serial killer books for quite some time, I'd begun to think that I'd read everything that was ever written on the subject. However, soon after I picked up John Douglas' new non-fiction book, "Anyone You Want Me To Be," I quickly realized there was an entire world of crime I had yet to discover.
While I had previously heard of John Robinson, I knew very little about the details of his background and killing spree. In today's world, where the Internet is such an integral part of everyday life, it is frightening to know there are predators like John Robinson out there, preying on innocent trustworthy people.
Mr.Douglas, who created the FBI's profiling unit, effectively allows the reader to enter a place many authors have previously left untouched, a killer's mind. Tracing John Robinson's background from his childhood to his days as a killer, Douglas allows us to see Robinson as more than just a psychotic maniac.
For those who enjoyed Mr. Douglas' previous works, this haunting, bone chilling masterpiece is an absolute must read.

The title of this book is misleading because the internet is not even referred to until more than 1/2 way through it. It is a tale of a married man from an average family who from scamming business after business to luring young women away from their families to participate in sex slave rings, internet use to follow.
Readers may not like the fact that the book is not told with an ongoing story but rather a more documentary presentation. It does not contain a smooth running story with the :evildoer" as a focus in a continuing lifeline. Finally if you don't like that more straightforward style you may not like this book.

I thought this was an excellent book and it dismays me that Robinson beat the system for years before finally being accountable for his crimes. Robinson was able to manipulate women, men and the legal system long before the internet was accessible to everyone. From fraud, embezzlement, theft, and forgery, to murder - he covered the gamut in crime and adapted himself and his crimes to what suited his needs. It amazes me that someone with no soul can tune into people and find their vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, the internet gave him access to the world to exploit.

Two minor criticisms:

The authors' sermonizing on the use and dangers of the internet (isn't this story example enough??).

No pictures. I think pictures of the victims and lawyers humanize them; key locations help the reader visualize the story with the setting; and face it, we all want to know what the killer looks like. I found pictures of Robinson in an internet search - he has a bland face with no telltale character lines, which blows my theory that how you live and feel inside eventually shows up on your face. Apparently that's not the case for a sociopath.

In all, a fascinating story.

I have enjoyed other John Douglas titles such as Mindhunter, so I thought "Anyone You Want Me To Be" might be an interesting read. I was hoping for some insight from Douglas into the criminal mind, but instead found a dry narrative of a mediocre criminal and his career. I was actually relieved when I finished the book since I was contemplating abandoning it midway.

This book is a real horror story about serial killings, and cyber crime. John Douglas, a former FBI agent, who also worked several years as profiler for serial killers, is without doubt the best author anyone can be on this subject. The book is about the serial killer and internet criminal John Robinson. Douglas's story is well written, over documented and rings true with how criminal profiler works. However, sometimes the pace of the book gets too slow and looses the continuity and gives the feel of documentary, but then this happens with quiet a few non-fiction books.


A truly mesmerizing account of how a cyber criminal can use the World Wide Web to hide the identity of his deceitful mind. This is without any doubt, in my opinion, the best book ever written on crime. So, you should buy this book. It's the stuff your newspaper won't tell you. I bought this book from Barnes & Noble for only five bucks.

I have been a huge fan of John Douglas' career and books. In this latest book he focuses his attention and uses his professional profiling expereince to analyze one case. In Anyone You Want Me To Be, the reader doesn't just get the facts of the case but it is told from an entirely different perspective, that of a profiler. From the title of the book one may think the character is fictious, but this story is very true. Mr. Douglas takes us into the mind of John Robinson and explains how one man used the Internet to manipulate and control women for his own personal gain. He also tells us how we can protect ourselves from predators on the Internet. A true page turner.

John Douglas likes to toot his horn. Supposedly he had a character based on him in Silence of the Lambs. This ex-FBI agent criminal profiler sounds more like an arm chair criminolgist who read way too many True Crime books. This is my first problem with the book.
The second is that the Internet gets first billing when in fact it played very little in the life of John Robinson. This guy was a serial killer long before the Internet was what it is now. The Web was just a window of opportunity for him to slither through and carry out his crimes. He would have very easily have found other avenues if it weren't for the World Wide Web. Don't tell Mr. Douglas this. He wants you to think that the Internet is this evil entity that teamed up with Robinson to kill women. Douglas,an obvious newbie to the web,spends two whole chapters on the rise and success of the Internet. It was like reading a chapter from "The Internet for Dummies"! If I read one more time how the web enables people to pretend to be somebody else I was going to scream. Enough already with the redundant hyperbole! John Douglas also goes in depth about child porn in cyber space and how to combat it. This all well and good but it has no place in this book! John Robinson was into the BDS&M scene with adults. Child porn was not his schtick. I wonder if John douglas knew what book he was writing for?

Despite all this I have to admit the book gives a great glimpse into the mind of a serial killer. John Robinson wasn't the typical killer. He showed no signs,outside of his crimes,of his true evil nature. Most killers seem to leave clues in their "normal" lives. Robinson was a doting father,grandpop,soccer ref and church elder. Furthermore he started out as a con-artist and slowly and without explaination turned to the darker side later in life. Quite unique.

This is a fast paced true Crime novel about the murderer John Robinson, who started off his criminal career with fraud and embezzling money. Later as the Internet became more popular he would surf the net looking for his victims. Finding women who he could lure into his sadistic life.

This book has some really graphic parts and also deals with the world of S&M, getting into detail about his relationships with some of the girls and how he made them sign slave contracts.

Once again it is amazing to see what someone can accomplish and get away with for so many years just by being a smooth talker and knowing how to read other people. Compiling more and more information on them through casual conversations and then using that knowledge against them. Quite sick. Makes you really think about how much information you give out over the internet, do you really know who you have been talking too???

This book also contains 8 pages of photos of John Robinson and some of his victims.