Customer Reviews

Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Roy Hazelwood is a colleague of well-known FBI profilers Robert Ressler and John Douglas. Like those two men, Hazelwood spent much of his FBI career working in the subterranean Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI's National Academy in Quantico, VA. Now retired and working in private practice, Hazelwood has written his second book on the topic of sexually violent criminals. As always, these books are not for the faint of heart, but for those who are fascinated with the criminal mind, there are few people who can speak with more authority or knowledge than Roy Hazelwood. Hazelwood's first book, The Evil That Men Do, was partially a biography, but this book focuses almost exclusively on various cases that he has been involved with. Chapters are devoted to serial rapists, revenge murders, profiling and equivocal deaths, among others.

Hazelwood spent years instructing police and law enforcement professionals about sexual violence and those who commit such acts. Unsurprisingly, in this book he is as much a teacher as he is a storyteller, trying to bring the reader along down twisted, tortuous paths into the minds of sexual offenders. I feel that his approach is both a strength and a weakness. Sometimes this book reads like a PowerPoint presentation; the reader can literally see the bullet points. It can also be a very perfunctory book. I found myself often wanting more details or longer explanations. The truth is that most people read these kinds of books for entertainment rather than edification. While Hazelwood surely knows that, he decided to keep his approach free from sensationalism or extraneous detail. I respect him for that, but I honestly think the book suffers a bit from this sometimes dry and clinical approach. Say what you will about the big egos of Robert Ressler or John Douglas, but both of those men write gripping, almost conversational "off-the-record" accounts.

Stephen Michaud is Hazelwood's co-writer, but I question how much time he spent on this book. I've read some of Michaud's other works and I know him to be a good writer, so I was surprised that there aren't many traces of his hand in this book. A good editor would have been welcome here, too. But this is nitpicking. Readers turn to Hazelwood for expert information and discussion on the rarest of criminals and crimes, and Hazelwood delivers. One of the best chapters covers equivocal deaths, or situations where it is not immediately possible to determine whether death resulted from suicide, homicide, or accident. Here Hazelwood shines, looking under every stone and coming up with convincing answers. His discussion on linkage analysis - whether or not a set or series of crimes was committed by the same offender - is similarly riveting.

Even though Hazelwood's book often reads like a college textbook, the tales he tells are so interesting that most readers will easily overlook any flaws or oversights. Anyone wanting to understand sexual violence can hardly do better than to turn to Roy Hazelwood.

Eoy Hazelwood describes his experiences and shares his knowledge of sex criminals from his job in the FBI profiling unit (the 'behevioral science unit' of 'The Silence of the Lambs'). Roy does a terrific job of describing what the job really is, what are it's different aspects and what it takes (training nd the type of person who'd be good at the job). He also gives us many detailed descriptions of many cases he was involved in during his long career both as an FBI agent and as a private consultant.

My only advice is not to read this book before going to bed, especially if you're a woman...

This book is terrifyingly fascinating! It delves deep within the minds of those who commit the unspeakable and discusses it without sugar coating a thing. I have taken a lot of classes on crime and deviance and I went into this book thinking I wouldn't be scared or emotionally affected. Wrong! I was still shocked by what some people out there do- and perhaps more shocking- why they do it. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the field of criminal profiling, criminal law, or even a true crime buff looking for a new addition to their library.

The books written by Hazelwood and other former FBI profilers, such as John Douglas, are just wonderfully creepy. I can no longer read fiction mysteries after reading this book. The truth is so much more frightening than fiction!! I recommend this book
highly to true crime fans, whether they be law enforcement professionals or, like me, fans of the genre. This is a frightening book that looks sexual violence straight in the eye. It is filled with scary factual detail. I recommend you hunker down with this book with the doors and windows locked!!!

The information presented by Roy Hazelwood and Stephen Michaud is of a type obviously found only first-hand. The pathologies are explored and explained so detailedly, that these monsters almost seem to make sense after a while. Anyone interested in forensic psychology, especially those cases dealing with a sexually aberrant patholgy, will find this a must read!

I sent the following e-mail to Roy after reading his book. I'll share it with you to give you some idea how much I enjoyed his book. In addition to being a great learning tool, it was also a very entertaining book.

Roy, I just returned to work from vacation. While on vacation I read your new book, DARK DREAMS! GREAT BOOK!!! This really is a textbook for investigators! As you know, I supervise a group of sexual assault investigators for a mid-size Sheriff's Department in California. As I read your book, I highlighted specific points so I could return to them later and share them with my troops. I now own a book full of yellow highlights. What a great insight! As I think back on past cases, I see where having this information may have been a big help. My next step is to request my department buy a copy of your book and make it mandatory reading for all our sex and homicide investigators.

Thanks for a great book. I've recommended it to people in my department and other departments, as well as my retired law enforcement friends. I'm sure this book will be making the rounds. I'll have to keep careful track of it so I don't lose it. Any cop worth his salt will want this book in his/her library.

Bob

I love reading Non-fiction books, and this was my first on this subject. It was honest, and mystifying, and also horryifing. It was unreal to hear some of the sick things people do! Hazelwood went into the explainations of why some people do these things and certain charisitcs of them. It was a different view, taking you into the psychology of these sick minds. Eventhough I don't have other books to compare to, I can say that I reccomend this book to an interested reader, and that I will look forward to reading more of Hazlewood's work!

This is the first true crime book I ever read and it effectively hooked me on the genre. This book will especially appeal to readers with short attention spans who easily grow bored with true crime novels that focus on one particular killer.

There are a ton of different cases in this book, each one more bizarre and engrossing than the last, so the authors don't go on and on at length about each and every case. From the woman who let her husband kidnap a girl to keep as a sex slave (for a reason that left me gaping) to the rapist who would force his victims to read aloud pre-written scripts he wrote at specified intervals ("Honey, do we have enough money to get the kids' teeth fixed this year?"), this book is frightening, bizarre, and utterly engrossing. Highly recommended.

Dark Dreams is a book that is absolutely for mature readers its content is not child friendly. Roy Hazelwood spent sixteen years as a member of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. During this time he worked on many shocking cases but that's not all, he also did research on deviant behaviors this book shows some of what he discovered. Throughout the book Hazelwood gives many examples of horrifying real life crimes that he examined. The twenty-one year old woman with no history of arrest or psychiatric problems who while working at a funeral home developed a romantic interest with a corpse. Crime knows no age, thee boys of the ages seven, nine, and ten took a female playmate and forced her to perform oral on them and they took found objects and penetrated her vaginally and anally. The book went into some detail about the crimes and the explanation of some of the reasons for the crimes and what types of behaviors that lead a person to commit them. When I finish the book I still had some unanswered questions. Don't get me wrong the book was great and I would recommend it to anyone who is mature enough to handle its contents but I wish Hazelwood had gone into greater detail.

Awesome book! What more can I say...I couldn't put this one down!
Roy Hazelwood and Stephen Michaud did an excellent job with this one. I think its awesome how he walks you through some actual "true crime" incidents. Some parts of this book actually had me checking my windows and making sure my door was locked...Good Job Guys!