Customer Reviews

The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us

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Gregg McCrary's "The Unknown Darkness" is the latest in a series of books written by alumni of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. The book is a well-written page turner, and McCrary is refreshingly modest compared to some of his former colleagues.

McCrary reviews several cases, the most prominent of which are the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, the Buddhist Temple Massacre in Phoenix, Arizona, the search for the Scarborough Rapist (who eventually became a serial murderer), and the prosecution of Jack Unterweger (an international serial killer who committed murders in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Los Angeles). McCrary also re-visits the famous Sam Sheppard murder case, concluding that . . . well, just read the book for his solution to the case, which struck me as being fairly convincing.

If you have read books by other profilers, "The Unknown Darkness" will not offer you a great deal of new information about profiling techniques. However, McRary and his co-author, Katherine Ramsland, manage to tell a gripping story. McCrary's analysis of the Sam Sheppard murder case and the FBI's role in the show down with the Branch Davidians make for especially interesting reading--I can't recall having run across a "profile" of David Koresh or Sam Sheppard in other books of the genre.

The one significant criticism that I have of this book (and indeed of the books by all the other profilers) is that it has a certain "just so" quality to it. Not surprisingly, the book talks about the home runs, the profiles that either did help solve a case or would have helped had the profile been used properly. I'd be curious to know how many "misses" the FBI's BSU produces--in other words, how many profiles are way off the mark? My guess is that the answer is "not many" (these guys seem to know what they're doing), but I'd be curious to see the ratio of hits to misses just to get a better sense of how much of criminal profiling is art and how much is science.

The "pop literature" about criminal profiling is at this point fairly extensive. For further reading, try the following books by alums of the FBI's BSU (keeping in mind that this stuff is pretty grim and best taken in small doses): John Douglas ("Mindhunter," "Obsession," "Journey into Darkness," "The Cases that Haunt Us," and "The Anatomy of Motive"), Roy Hazelwood ("Dark Dreams" and "The Evil That Men Do"), Robert K. Ressler ("I Have Lived in the Monster" and "Whoever Fights Monsters"), and Russell Vorpagel ("Profiles in Murder"). For a British perspective, try Paul Britton's "The Jigsaw Man" and "Picking up the Pieces," both of which are available on Amazon's UK site.

I've read just about everything by John Douglas and other books on profiling, and am a bit of a Court TV junkie. This book provides new information and insights into criminal profiling and certain cases than previously available, and for that reason, I'd recommend it for a true crime fan. It provides new information on the Paul Bernardo / Karla Homolka husband and wife serial rape "team", the Buddhist Temple Massacre near Phoenix, and the Waco tragedy. The fact that McCary presents fairly convincing evidence that Karla Homolka was hardly the "battered wife" she's usually presented to be in this highly documented case was the most startling to me.

The problem is the writing is tedious to read at several points, and the chapter on the Waco stand-off seems to go on forever. The book could have used some more work by the editor, as some paragraphs don't really fit together and some of the narrative goes along in a herky jerky fashion. For this reason, I would not recommend this book for someone with just a passing interest in the subject.

McCrary and Ramsland recount several high-profile cases where psychological profiling has succeeded in solving the crime. All make fascinating reading, but what is probably the most interesting aspect of the book is his harsh assessment of the handling of the Waco standoff with Koresh and his followers. Like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, McCrary objectively analyzes the evidence and makes a conclusion. His analysis of the Sam Sheppard case has changed my opinion of who the real murderer was.

My only complaint, which at least one other reviewer has stated, is that this book (and all the others written by FBI profilers, for that matter) only focus on the successes, and don't deal with cases where profiling has failed miserably (such as the D.C. sniper case). (...)

This book talks about a formal process for detecting the criminal type and their activities. The proper designation is Criminal Investigative Analysis, but I like to consider it as an educational course in learning to be a Sherlock Holmes in real life. It is taught at the fBI Academy and is a 10 month program. Another contribution for the author was his practice of Shorinji Kempo, a marital arts discipline (this led me to an interesting inquiry into that subject). You should thoroughly enjoy every case written about in this book; your eyes will be opened in the latest information of how criminals are ascertained and caught.

Two of the cases Mr. McCrary worked on were near our home. I was intrigued by how these profilers operate and can figure out what kind of person the police should be looking for, What the bad guy wears, drives, will look like ,his age , what kind of work he does. what he will do and act like when apprehended. It is very exciting stuff.We owe a lot to the men and women in law enforcement and the men and women in law enforcement owe a lot to te profilers whe make their jobs much easier.

I have a fairly large section in my home library on true crime, which has always interested me. I enjoy the writings of John Douglas and Roy Hazelwood, and so, since this book's cover talked about McCrary's working relationship with Douglas, I picked it up at the library.

The writing is fine, but the problem I found is this: McCrary makes it sound as though he is called in or sent to a crime scene, where he expertly profiles the perpetrator. The problem is that he presents a profile, and then is suddenly called to another case, and then something along the lines of "two or three months later, someone else solved the case." In other words, it doesn't sound as though he ever solves anything, or sticks around a crime scene to see if his guesses pan out.

Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but I'd really have liked to see McCrary head up an investigation and work it through to the end. Seems to me that both Douglas and Hazelwood did that, and, knowing that, Douglas is prominently mentioned on the book's cover to get people to buy the book. I'm glad I picked it up at the library; while reasonably interesting, it's not going to end up at my library at home.

This book masterfully captures the minds of readers with untold tales of true crime that have defined our world. Gregg McCrary is the Sherlock Holmes of behavioral profiling. Smooth transitions between recounts of his most prolific assignments will keep you glued. A must read!

I found this book to be very interesting. I learned a great deal about profiling, and the author used various cases to explain the training one must go through in order to become a profiler. The cases were interesting; I recognized a few because they were "famous," but others were ones with which I was not familiar. He goes into detail about what is involved with giving a profile as well as other types of work that he has done as part of the Behavioral Science Unit in the FBI. All of it is quite fascinating and very clear--you will definitely know what you need to do in order to get close to having a chance at a job like this if you are interested. If not, and you are just interested in what goes on with profiling and how serial killers/rapists, etc. are caught, I think you will still find it to be a captivating read.

You can learn more in a one hour Discovery Channel special than you will in this book. The writing style is simplistic and tediously "Dragnet cute" which doesn't help. What the book needs is a real writer and someone to help organize the material better. Oh, yes, and an editor to cut out the many self-congratulatory asides that further weaken the project.

The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us
Having read a large number of true crime books and many in the area of criminal profiling this is one I would highly recommend on the subject. McCrary comes across as one of the more modest of his many colleagues. The books chapters follow a number of well known cases such as Waco, The Sam Sheppard Case, The 'Ken and Barbie' case following Paul Bernardo as the Scarborough Rapest and his later murders. The book is cleverly written as each story portrays different aspects of Criminal Investigative Analysis from personality profiling, interview techniques, hostage negotiations, crime scene analysis etc. It is a well written, easy to read book for first time crime readers through to the avid fans of the genre.I found it very hard to put down until I had gone 'cover to cover'. McCrary's narrative and obvious knowledge flows easily throughout.