Customer Reviews

Tracker: Hunting Down Serial Killers

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I've spent the last 5 years learning about serial killers and killers in general, I've read at least 50 books on the subject of 'profiling' and 'psycho-geographical profiling' and I've learned one thing, NOBODY knows how to do it right, the best ones to look at are the ones that say "It can't be done accuratly, everything you do is guess work becuase nobody can know the human mind, exspecially not someone elses" and this book is one of the worst..because this guy gets 'close' to finding something he says "I did it, I proved it" and demeans FBI profilers by saying "they're just guessing" then goes and says in his OWN profiles "In my OPINION"...I donated my copy to the local library, hopefully they'll find a use for it.

Early on in this book Dr. Maurice Godwin,the author(although apparently Fred Rosen ghost-wrote the actual text)makes it plain that he,and not the famed F.B.I. profiling unit,is THE expert at tracking and profiling serial killers.Such chuzpah deserves examination,and in this case examination of Godwin's claims tend to paint the doctor as egomaniacal,to say the very least.Claiming to have devised his own copyrighted tracking system called"predator"(which the doctor does not fail to hard sell throughout the book)Godwin makes a lot of windy claims that the F.B.I. is basicly incompetent but that if only all law enforcement agencies would consult with himself,and let him use"predator" then serial killing would more or less become a thing of the past..
Godwin suffers from what has been called Jeanne Dixon Syndrome..Dixon,a famous 20th century psychic,was famous for alledgedly foretelling the assassination of JFK before it actually took place..This and a few other equally spectacular predictions made her reputation..What was not incorporated into the Dixon hype was the many times that she failed in her predictions,or the many times that her claims to accurate prediction came only after the fact...
Godwin claims,throughout his book that,had he been given the necessary data and not the F.B.I.,then many of the cases that are mentioned in the book would have been solved long before they actually were,thus saving lives..We only have Godwin's word on this because these cases were solved,without Godwin's in-put,and without his copyrighted"predator" system,whatever it is,being employed..It is all well and good,after the fact,to take data,put in into a software program and develop conclusions..
It is also notable that despite Godwin's many television moments,on CNN and other news-oriented networks,few law enforcement agencies seem particularly interested in him or his self-proclaimed results.Nearly all of the cases described in"tracker" were solved without any real in-put from Godwin or his copyrighted program..And since it would seem that despite the author's claims that both he and his system are superior to any other his services are not really in demand,Godwin spends the bulk of the 232 page tome going on the offensive against the real pros,the F.B.I....
According to Godwin,the whole F.B.I. system is based on interviews done back in the 1980s..By inference then Godwin claims that the F.B.I. has just stopped trying to expand or improve thier methods since that time..And like anything else,the F.B.I. has made mistakes..Godwin spares no effort in pointing these out,while conspicuously abstaining from making reference to any of thier successes..By the same token,Godwin,in touting his own system,spares no expense in claiming it to be far superior to any other model,while conspicuously failing to make note of any of his failures,or those of his "predator" system..Surely the man's ego knows no bounds?
One more issue worth noting;According to Godwin,the whole F.B.I. profiling approach is patterned after the Thomas Harris novels which feature serial slayer Hannibal Lechter..Godwin cites the profiles that come out of the F.B.I. unit as reading more like fiction than fact,and states that such documents should not read like novels..While I have not,myself,read any F.B.I. profile report I have read Godwin's book,and it ought to read more like a novel and less like a book-length tour-de-force of shameless self-promotion.

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The thesis of this book is that FBI profiling is worthless.

Naturally, the author has an alternative system. What few details he provides about his program become scantier as the book progresses. (The self-aggrandizement, though, never lets up.)

He might have been more believable if his book was better written.

In the Robinson case, as trial was about to get underway, he says he reviewed 300,000 pages of case files. At one minute per page, that's almost 2 1/2 years working full time. Did the court wait for him?

At one point, he suddenly breaks into 5 pages in italics. Why?

(p. 181) "last confirmed sighting" 10:30 AM. (p. 183) "last known time ... seen alive" 3-4 PM. Let's flip a coin.

He writes he "will not report general case information" in his analysis for the police, then does so for page after page (pp. 180-193). He even gives his (apparently unqualified) opinion on the wounds.

One gets the feeling the author dumped large amounts of reports he'd done into this book to avoid new writing.

Although he takes digs at John Douglas, former FBI profiler, Douglas writes a much better book (for instance, "The Cases That Haunt Us. ")

I thought this might be more interesting than it is...Dr. Godwin never misses a chance to put the F.B.I. down...and that might be acceptable if he hadn't written such a pedantic book. I did not expect a new Ann Rule or Carlton Smith, but Godwin saps the life out of both killer and victim. Worse of all are the errors running throughtout - in one chapter he refers to the victims as sisters when in fact they were mother and daughter; in another (facing pages, yet!) he alludes to killings occurring in the 1990's when they occurred in the early 1970's - accotding to Godwin's book.

Tracker describes the intricacies of Dr. Godwin's style of geographic and psychological profiling, and then documents how it has been successfully used in various cases. Tracker is not redundant because it does not cover old territory; rather, it explodes the myths about profiling and introduces a new discussion on profiling from a scientific viewpoint--all in a reader-friendly tone. What makes Tracker unique is that it is the only profiling book that uses scientifically valid quantitative data for profiling, versus qualitative information; challenges the hallowed pronouncements of FBI profilers; and discusses the next quantum step in tracking criminals--geographic profiling. Finally, as a reader who found this book refreshing, I find it odd that the other reviewers failed mentioned the many cases that Dr. Godwin has assisted on (pro bono) to help bring some resolution to missing persons' families.

Tracker: Hunting Down Serial Killers was one of the best true crime books I have read in a long time. It presents a new way of tracking down serial killers, something called psychogeographic profiling, created by Dr. Maurice Godwin.

In real life case after case, including the BTK case prior to Dennis Rader's capture, Godwin shows how his profiles either helped capture or pinpointed the areas where active serial killers could be found.

Popular true crime author Fred Rosen is Godwin's co-author, to good effect. Without Rosen's deft hand, this stuff could be downright boring but Rosen takes Godwin's maps and uses them as the basis for one breathtaking serial killer narrative after another.

A terrific job!