Read my review at Shelf Awareness here: https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers/2021-12-28/a_killer_by_design:_murderers_mindhunters_and_my_quest_to_decipher_the_criminal_mind.html

As a thriller author, A Killer by Design was a great book to read. It was interesting to find out more information about the FBI's criminal profiling process and how they use profiling to find serial killers. Parts of the book felt overexplained and unnecessary, but I was intrigued for most of it. One of the best parts was learning about several serial killers I hadn't heard of and how they were caught. I'll definitely be incorporating what I've learned into my next serial killer book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eBook ARC in exchange for writing an honest review.

I had high hopes for this one, but it fell short of them. There wasn't a lot of information I didn't already know, and maybe that's my fault because I read a lot of true crime. It also just didn't seem as detailed as I maybe would have liked it.

Thank you for the EArc NetGalley and Hachette. Wow, this book is not for the faint of heart. You dive deep deep into the minds of the worst of the worst. Thank goodness there are people like the author out there who want to make humanity better for us all. So intriguing, so frightening and so damn good!

For fans of John Douglas’ Mindhunter (1995) and Robert Ressler’s Whoever Fights Monsters (1992), foundational true crime texts on the history and genesis of FBI criminal profiling, Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess’s new book A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and my Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind (Hachette Books 2021) is the culmination of an essential trio of writing related to the “first generation of FBI profilers.”

With the success of the Netflix fictional series Mindhunter (2017-2019) and the continual popularity of true crime in the public imagination, it is fascinating to read books by the FBI experts who helped to formulate a set of investigative techniques and strategies to cope with the rise in serial murder in the 1970s and 80s. Books by Douglas and Ressler have taken up indelible spaces in the mind of any true crime reader, but in comparison, Burgess has remained silent in the popular context. A researcher and academic, Burgess’s career has had many twists and turns, from her work in psychiatric nursing in the 1970s to her work with the FBI Behavioural Sciences Unit throughout the 1980s and 90s. This book focuses on Burgess’s perspective on those years, her work alongside Ressler, Douglas, and other prominent profilers.

Dr. Burgess’s perspective is an important one. As one of the only women involved with the profiling project in the 1980s, her work on rape victims and the causes of rape as related to power and control put her on the radar of the FBI, who was searching for answers to similar questions and felt that her perspective would be beneficial to them. Indeed, Dr. Burgess’s perspective proved crucial to identifying productive strategies for thinking through methods of crime and violence. Burgess takes the reader on a memoir-style tour through her career and her primary focus throughout those critical years: the victims.

One of the best parts of A Killer by Design is Dr. Burgess’s very human focus on her work and its effect on her. Despite its enormous import, Burgess’s research is harrowing at times. She encounters the worst of humanity on a regular basis during her time with the FBI and that has an effect on her that she does not shy away from sharing. Because she has a foot in both worlds—as a researcher for the FBI and a female academic whose intellection focus coincides with the Bureau’s ambitions—she does not have any desire to reflect the image of the hardboiled detective chasing the elusive killer. Rather, she considers the murderers she encounters as products of a very human set of circumstances that result in behaviours that endanger others. Furthermore, Dr. Burgess brings a logical and very careful analytical perspective to her writing. While she explains some of the most famous serial killer cases, such as those of Edmund Kemper or Dennis Rader, her perspective is a fresh one that does not just focus on the masculinized mental struggle of a murderous mind, but instead examines the killer’s logic and framing that within a very specific set of psychological methods.

Furthermore, Burgess offers an insiders view of the famous profilers whose names are synonymous with the profession—Ressler and Douglas especially. Burgess considers these agents—also her friends—in relation to her work and theirs. She thinks about the ways in which they coped with the things they saw, how they attempted to help victims and families in whatever way possible, and their devotion to their work overall. In her important chapter, “Profiling the Profilers,” Burgess thinks through each expert’s skill set and interests and elaborates on what they brought to the team as a whole. This was a section I deeply appreciated because it both turned the focus onto some very interesting men and also applied some of the psychological concepts Burgess identifies as functional tools to the ‘normal’ men she interacted with daily.

Finally, Burgess is careful to train her focus on the victims throughout this text. In many respects, Burgess’s attention on the victims is what has allowed her to maintain her position in this field. By cutting away the horrible details of killers who popular culture have constructed as larger than life and simply turning toward the death and destruction they left in their wake, Burgess’s sympathy is her primary emotion throughout the text. She works hard in this book to not let us forget the victims at the center of these narratives.

A Killer by Design is a fascinating look at Dr. Burgess’s perspective during her years at the FBI and makes for thoughtful reading.

Please add A Killer by Design to your Goodreads shelf.

Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.

About the Writer:

Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

A digital copy of this book was graciously provided to True Crime Index from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so glad that Ann Burgess wrote this book! I know of her from reading and watching Mindhunter, but I never realized just how accomplished and amazing she is! Ann is a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist who in the 1970s pioneered assessing and treating trauma in rape victims. This caught the attention of the FBI, who hired her as the first woman to work in their Behavioral Science Unit. She helped structure interview questions for convicted serial killers, which in turn helped develop profiles to assist in catching other violent offenders.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is oftentimes dark and disturbing. Ann discusses many of the cases that she worked on during her time with the FBI and more than one of them had me in shock or in tears.

I enjoyed reading about how she and the other BSU agents came up with profiles for cases that they were called to assist with. It was interesting to read about their process and how they worked together. After reading some of John Douglas’s books, it was refreshing to read this from a female perspective.

Ann is very victim focused and determined to bring awareness to the misconceptions surrounding serial killers.

“What I’d learned was that serial killers had emotions, yes, but that these emotions lacked depth. They didn’t care about others. They didn’t want to make friends. They didn’t have empathy. They only wanted victims.”

If you are a true crime lover who is fascinated with psychological profiling, then you will want to read this book! I will be buying the hardcover copy for my bookshelf!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Dr. Ann Burgess is one of the people who helped to create the FBI Behavioral Science Unit and she was integral to developing criminal profiling. 'A Killer by Design' is a history of Dr. Burgess and her amazing work as a forensic nurse. Unlike other books on the early BSU, Dr. Burgess is so admirable and looks at crime through the prism of victims and trauma. She conducted data analysis and created profiles of 'famous' serial killers like BTK. The book is a wonderful window in to her world and the work she has done over many decades. Dr. Burgess is so amazing and this book should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in criminal profiling.

Burgess and Constantine describe the development of the Behavioral Science Unit within the FBI. Moreover, they emphasize the significance of criminal profiling.

At times, I felt like I was reading a psychology textbook. The information is exhaustive, almost to a fault. However, when the information was applied to cases, I was interested in how profiles were created according to each criminal. Additionally, Burgess’ perspective as one of the first few females in the FBI is refreshing. She addresses stigma not only within the workplace, but within the very gruesome world of true crime.

Overall, I give this book 3 stars.

If True Crime, My Favorite Murder, Mindhunter, and the ID channel are your yen? Pick up this book. This is like a wonderful companion to Mindhunter and discusses many infamous cases from a woman's perspective in the thick of a new frontier of crime and justice.

Burgess weaves a non-fiction tale with plenty of cases and gruesome stories that highlight and define the formation of the BSU through her criminal profiling. Instead of highlighting these cases from an FBI perspective, the author brings her understanding of the true crime world through the lens of being a forensic nurse, which makes the chapters all the more interesting for anyone wanting to dive into the psychological depths of serial killer profiling and psychology.

While being a study of how serial killers were tracked and understood in the 70's and 80's, Burgess also opens up the lens to readers who want to understand how and why criminal profiling became a part of our every day justice system. If you want Mindhunter, but from a far different perspective, with the struggles of being inside the group, but also outside of it, absolutely check out this book.

This book reminds me of my favorite show, Mindhunters. It is very interesting view of the predictors in our society and the job of FBI profilers. Their job is like a puzzle with so many pieces that need to be put together and then analyzed.

A Killer By Design is a great true crime. It was both educational and entertaining.

I liked how Ann used past cases to help explain the steps and processes that were used in creating the BSU. It made it interesting.

I also admire Ann for her role in reshaping how serial killers were caught and thought about.

Thanks to Hachette Books and Netgalley for the copy of A Killer By Design in return of an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this exclusive behind-the-scenes look into the creation of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit through the evolution of criminal profiling, written by the pioneering forensic nurse who transformed the way the FBI studies, profiles, and catches serial killers. Specifically spotlighting major cases, it was fascinating to delve into the mind of a killer through criminal profiling.

I'm a true crime addict so I was super excited to review Ann Wolbert Burgess's account of her time working at the FBI. I would recommend this book for fans of John Douglas and Robert Ressler, but her account is different from those written by other members of the behavioral science unit. Burgess brings a different perspective as a woman, and a forensic nurse instead of an FBI agent. Her book explains not just criminal psychology but also examines how the agents' minds worked. Burgess goes into detail explaining the profiling process and how it was applied to early case studies. I would recommend this book if you want to know how serial killers develop, how the science of criminal profiling was created, and/or how the FBI modernized in the 70's and 80's.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Dec. 7, 2021
In the 1970s and 1980s, serial killers in the United States were rampant. So much so, that the FBI decided to form their own team to help understand, investigate and eventually arrest these violent criminals. As one of the only females in the Behavioural Sciences Unit (BSU), Ann Burgess, a psychiatric nurse, teamed up with a handful of male FBI agents to compile a way to analyze and study what they knew of current serial killers- in hopes of using this information to help the FBI capture future serial killers before they got started.
John Douglas, the writer of “Mindhunters”, and one of the founders are the Behavioural Sciences Unit, was a part of Ann’s original team. Having read much of Douglas’ work, I found it interesting to read about the BSU from another perspective, and a female one at that. In an era when females even more stereotyped and pigeon-holed, Burgess brings an interesting take to the criminal mind, and adds a critical component to the developing team.
The book outlines various serial killers from this era, both highly known and less so (including BTK), but Burgess also goes into detail about how the BSU was formed, and the challenges and struggles she faced as a non-agent, and as a female, trying to make a difference in the criminal justice system. I really enjoyed the deep-dive into some of the most criminal minds in history, and these chapters kept me engaged and drawn in. I had less interest in the development of the BSU as a whole, and the science behind the formation of the collection of data. I wanted more serial killers (because, who doesn’t?) and I would’ve really appreciated a bit more of Burgess, especially from her days in psychiatric nursing.
Dark and creepy, “A Killer by Design” is gruesome and not for the faint of heart. Grisly crimes are documented, many are sexual in nature, so it definitely isn’t “light” reading. However, it is a well-told true crime story featuring many of the most prolific serial killers from the era when there was so many to choose from. Burgess’ viewpoints of being a female in a male dominated world were powerful and eye-opening and I immediately bonded with her. This is a must-read novel for fans of “Criminal Minds” or “Mindhunters”, and anyone who wants just a little bit more information on how the serial killer mind works, and how they become who they are.

Super interesting look at the BSU from a fresh perspective. Ann Burgess was a nurse before she joined this unit as one of the first female members What a fascinating career path she had!

"Behaviour reflects personality. The best indicator of future violence is past violence. To understand the "artist," you must study his "art." The crime must be evaluated in its totality." - John E. Douglas

A Killer By Design is a detailed behind-the-scenes look into the creation of FBI's Behavioural Science Unit and how criminal profiling has evolved throughout the years to what it is today. And it all begins with the psychiatric nurse, Ann Burgess.

Together with her sociologist friend Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, they published their findings on their interdisciplinary research project which focused on victim response to rape in the American Journal of Nursing. Their article titled "The Rape Victim in the Emergency Ward," caught the attention of Roy Hazelwood, who was a pioneer of profiling sexual predators. From then on, she has been working together with the FBI in researching, and refining the process of profiling to what it is today.

There are a lot of cases discussed in this book - Henry Wallace (Taco Bell Killer), Ed Kemper (Co-ed Killer), Jon Simonis (Ski Mask Rapist), Montie Rissell, and many more. These are violent criminals who committed very violent crimes. I truly admire Burgess' bravery and passion in advocating for the victims through her impeccable research that often means confronting these criminals.

The profiling part was incredibly spot on and it gives me chills reading the cases where criminals were caught because of how accurate the profiling was.

In a nutshell, this was one fantastic read but definitely not the for faint-of-heart as the crimes were dark and disturbing. But if you can stomach these, then I would definitely recommend this book. You will be amazed by the research done, the interviews, the process of profiling and the kind of work profilers do!

TW: violence, murder, sexual assault, domestic abuse (including children and animals)

Pub. Date: Dec 7th, 2021

***Thank you Hachette Books, author Ann Burgess and NetGalley for this gifted review copy to read. All opinions expressed are my own.***

Wow! Loved reading this in depth look into the fascinating world of profiling. I have been interested in this field as long as I can remember. The author does an amazing job of providing a female perspective on this crazy job. I very much enjoyed the breakdown of the steps and thought the chapters were carefully and thoughtfully laid out.

This book looks at a variety of cases and breaks down the process of profiling them. It can be challenging and upsetting content at times and definitely deserves a content warning, but anyone who loves CSI, Criminal Minds, true crime will love this dip into the world of solving crimes.

Pam, the psychologist that we follow, leads us through the darkest parts of the human mind. She is one of the founding members of BSU (or BAU in media), and helped create profiling as we know it. This was a super interesting insight into the minds of killers, and the agents who catch them.

Let me first say that I picked this book up entirely because I binge-watched every season of Mindhunter the day it was released—and I'm so sad that there don't seem to be future seasons in the works. While it was the tv show that made my request A Killer By Design by Ann Wolbert Burgess, I devoured it because the stories within are absolutely fascinating and added so many more layers to what is portrayed in the show. I'm so glad to have received this ARC. It was a completely immersive non-fiction book that read like fiction—in the very best way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for this ARC.
-----
Having read multiple books by John Douglas, and watching Mindhunter, I had no doubts that I'd love this book.

It was especially refreshing having a woman's perspective on a subject, and at a time, when it was so often swept under the rug or ignored completely.

This subject matter isn't light and fluffy, and Burgess does not skimp on the gory details, something to note if you're going to dive into this one.