Customer Reviews

Criminal Minds: Killer Profile (Thorndike Crime Scene)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A police procedural with a slightly different twist, the plot involves the efforts of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit's efforts to profile a serial killer in Chicago who is replicating famous serial murder committed by the likes of Ted Bundy, the Son of Sam, et al. They are brought into the picture by two Chicago detectives who believe that a few cases in disparate jurisdictions are related, despite their superiors' denials. The various police departments keep the cases separate and are not sharing information, making the task of linking them extremely difficult.

The BAU group heads to Chicago and begins trying to get the various departments to form a task force, and all but one join in the effort. Slowly, details emerge and a picture of the killer begins to form--but not before 11 victims are found. The killer sends copies of the various crime scene pictures to each police department in a wide geographic area, taunting the cops and the BAU. The job of anticipating the killer becomes crucial before another murder takes place and public panic occurs.

The novel is based on the CBS television series, and is well-constructed. While some of the writing is somewhat stilted, and there is dialogue that is hackneyed in an effort to give "cop talk" flavor, generally the writing is fluid and the story moves forward at a good pace. Recommended.

CRIMINAL MINDS: KILLER PROFILE is a big improvement over the first Max Allen Collins book based on the popular CBS television series, CRIMINAL MINDS: JUMP CUT. For a book based on another media be it movies, television, comic books or whatever to succeed it must capture the tone and pacing of the original source material but most of all it must get the characters right. That was the problem with Mr. Collins' first Criminal Minds novel but apparently he has learned his lesson as the greatest strength of KILLER PROFILE is how successfully the characters are brought to life..

The plot of this book is also stronger and much more compelling then that of the first book with a maniac recreating famous murders done by serial killers. There is some good work here lending insight into the criminal profiling process and into the mind of the killer and those pursuing him. And, like the best episodes of the series, this book has some really creepy moments, nothing too over the top but genuinely creepy nonetheless.

This is only the third Max Allen Collins book I've read (the third being a take off of the Fox series BONES) and is the only one of the three I can recommend but I do recommend CRIMINAL MINDS: KILLER PROFILE to both series fans and those who've never seen an episode. And it's also quite readable as a mystery novel

Killer Profile is similar to the first Criminal Minds novel in two ways:

1. The plot is as intriguing and well-thought out as the storylines on the show,

2. The writing style is so abysmally bad that I was literally cringing as I read it. Having said that, it could be ten times worse and I'd still read it, because it's Criminal Minds.

This is worth picking up if you're a fan of the show, which most readers probably are.

I read Killer Profile and IDK - to me it reads like an amateur Rossi fan fic first of all. He seems to be the main focus with the others seeming to be second fiddles to his smarts. Even Reid seems to be spouting his usual facts but without any insight. Plus the characters are slightly to very out of character. It seemed like the author had watched the show a few times, didn't have a good, deep grasp on all the characters and the way they would react to a situation or what they would say and just wrote a book that had the same title as the show.

I wouldn't say it was poorly written, the prose and actual writing was decent but it certainly did not capture the magic of the show and the dynamics of the characters and the family dynamic of the team. The dialogue was so out of character at times that it bordered on ridiculous. Aaron Hotchner especially was poorly written.

The crime and investigation is just OK and a bit draggy. And I figured out who the "Unsub" was after about 4 pages. The diversionary maybe-it-could-be-him side-story did nothing to make it a surprise. And the ending was very anti-climactic despite a feeble attempt by the author to have Rossi play a mind-trick on the suspect.

Frankly, I have read better fan fic on-line.

I started to give this a 2 star but if you really want more Criminal Minds, you might like it - just don't expect much and I hope you adore Rossi.

I wasn't sure how this book would be because I've never read anything based off a show before, but it was amazing.

Omg when i got the book i was worried that i had spent money on something i wouldn't like but that wasn't the case . . .i loved it and would be great for any criminal minds fan. if you get this book also get the others.

I picked this up as a way to bide the time till the Season 4 episodes of the TV series start to air; I enjoyed it's predecessor Criminal Minds: Jump Cut (Criminal Minds) immensely and I'm a huge fan of Max Allan Collins, whom I personally think is one of the strongest and most readable crime and media-related fiction writers today.

The plot is a little thin and we really don't get into the motives behind the UnSub's crimes, but the writing is strongly descriptive and the pace and timing are worthy of an actual episode of the show. For that matter, the UnSub eeriely reminded me of Harlen "The Reporter" Maguire, from the movie version of Collins's The Road to Perdition, who may not have been one of Collins's direct creations, but is no less a fascinating character.

Max Allan Collins continues to match the feel of a series with the "book episodes" he writes. Reading "Killer Profile" felt like I was watching an episode of "Criminal Minds", and one of the better episodes at that.

I've enjoyed MAC's CSI novels so I was pleased to see that he'd written a book for my second favorite investigation show. Sadly, this book doesn't live up to MAC's other works.

On the plus side the core idea is interesting and all the characters are in character. There are also some nice nods to the show's history and when we do get to spend some extended time with any of the characters they come across well. MAC has a very good grasp of Hotch especially.

Now with that said let's talk problems. The main one being that this case doesn't really seem to have presented a huge challenge. In fact, only an unlikely bit of deus ex machina stops the case from being solved several chapters before the end of the book. Even then the killer is IDed VERY easily so a rather weak subplot is tossed in to pad things. This book clocks in at 270 pages which is about 30 shorter than most novels. If you were to yank the weak bit of chance that slowed the team in IDing the killer it likely would have been just over 200.

Not really something you can honestly expect people to shell out $8 for, is it?


I'll be honest in that I felt let down by this book and MAC. While it does *feel* like an episode of CM, it doesn't feel like a GOOD episode of the show. It feels like one of the just okay episodes that pop up a few times each season that you forget the details of by the next day.

In short, save the money you might spend on this book and put towards DVDs of the show so you can enjoy CM at its best.

If you're a consistent watcher of the show, the book is a little over descriptive but it is an easy read; a great book to carry around with you and jump back into whenever you're waiting somewhere.