The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us (Hardcover)

by Gregg O. McCrary (Author), Katherine Ramsland (Author) "The descriptions were vague of a rapist who stalked women as they got off the bus at night to go home..." (more)
Key Phrases: investigative analysis, same offender, sexual sadist, New York, Sam Sheppard, Richard Eberling (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Many of us may think we know quite a lot about FBI profilers, but, says the former supervisor of the bureau's behavioral science unit, our knowledge comes almost entirely from fictionalized portrayals in films like Silence of the Lambs and television series like Profiler. The truth, he tells us, is rather different from fiction. This book, cowritten with forensic psychology professor Ramsland, puts profiling in the context of a more comprehensive program called Criminal Investigative Analysis. (Some readers may wonder why the FBI gives its behavioral-assessment program a name whose acronym is CIA.) Using actual cases in which he participated, McCrary demonstrates how profiling is but one part of this multifaceted crime-solving program. His explanation of the nuts and bolts of it all is surprisingly lively and will captivate true-crime fans with a yen to know more about profiling and related investigative practices. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

From one of the country's most preeminent criminal profilers comes this gripping, behind-the-scenes account of America's most disturbing and complex serial killer and murder investigations. A former Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, Gregg McCrary takes us deep into the minds of the nation's shrewdest and most sinister predators. In The Unknown Darkness, he digs beneath the crime scene to examine in raw first-person detail the lethal competition between the country's deviously dangerous killers and the dedicated professionals who are determined to get them off the streets.

In the basement offices of the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia -- now familiar from the books and films The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal -- McCrary served in one of the most elite forces for criminal investigation in the world, profiling criminals for over twenty-five years in more than a thousand cases involving homicide, serial murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. He takes us inside his process on some of his most fascinating cases, including:

The Sam Sheppard case -- In revisiting this classic case, what new material did McCrary's analysis discover?

The Poet's Shadow -- The strange story of Jack Unterweger and the hunt for an international serial killer that had a bizarre twist.

The Buddhist Temple Massacre -- What did the crime scene reveal about the shocking evil that resulted in the deaths of nine gentle people?

The Unknown Darkness also explores the strengths and pitfalls of modern criminal investigation and offers vivid details about what happens at a crime scene, what is actually involved in bringing a killer to justice, and finally what kind of a person is able to devote his or her life to grappling with the predators among us. Daring to relive the often harrowing experiences of his time with the FBI, McCrary has put together an eye-opening account of ten of America's most frightening and riveting manhunts. He has also written an engrossing narrative on our justice system -- from the perspective of someone who has lived it day to day.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (September 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060509570
• ISBN-13: 978-0060509576
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #575,367 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Once More Into the Abyss, September 28, 2003

By	William Holmes "semloh2287" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting enough insights, a bit tedious to read, January 2, 2005

By	Derrick Peterman (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars shedding light on the darkness, July 2, 2004

By	David Group (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

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). (...)