It began with the disappearance of little Suzie Jaeger. Only seven years old at the time, Suzie was abducted from the camping tent she shared with her sister and brothers. Then, nearly a year after little Suzie’s disappearance, nineteen year old Sandy Smallegan vanishes without a trace.

It would be at least 15 months before the grisly remains of Suzie and Sandy are found and the perpetrator apprehended and charged with murder. But that journey of discovery was arduous and painstaking. During the time of discovery, Special Agent Byron “Pete” Dunbar who was leading the investigation, enlisted the help of psychologist Patrick Mullany, and criminologist Howard Teten. Both Mullany and Teten created a specialized unit in the FBI known as the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU), and they would be instrumental in solving the murders of Suzie, Sandy and at least 4 other cases by the use of criminal profiling. A term used to describe the identification strategy of the pepetrator using personality and behavior characteristics.

Shadow Man is more than a historical account about the emergence of the BSU. It is also a behind the scenes look into the criminal mind and how seemingly innocuous people can be monsters in real time.

Author, Ron Franscell did an excellent job in composing a true crime novel that blends history and humanity into a cohesive narrative. Extensive reasearch is evident by the timelines, series of events, and bibliographical citations. And unlike some other true crime novels, Franscell aptly includes a look into the current status of those men and women that were involved in the crimes and investigations.

Shadow Man is certainly a must read for fans of the television series, Criminal Minds, Bones, as well as CSI. It is also a novel not to be missed by true crime afficionados. Five masterful stars.

I received a digital ARC from Berkley Publishing through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

3 for neutral. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t hold my attention enough for me to finish, tried on a couple occasions, but could never get into it properly. Will definitely update if able to finish at a later date, as I normally really enjoy this authors work!

In ShadowMan, we follow the case of Susie Jaeger. On June 25, 1973, Susie went missing from a Montana campground where her family was vacationing. Her tent had a slit in the back and Susie disappeared without a trace. This book also follows the creation of the BAU, and how they helped bring a culprit to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Susie.

Franscell does an excellent job of keeping his informative writing compelling. His grasp on writing creative nonfiction is very effective at keeping the reader engaged, a feat many nonfiction authors fail to accomplish. The pacing on this book was a little slow, mostly due to the absolute wealth of information provided, some of which served more to drag the pace down than to provide useful information, but overall an excellent experience

ShadownMan | Ron Franscell | Book Review | 304 Pages | True Crime | My Rating: 3 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC copy of this book!

True crime stories never fail to blow my mind. They really have a way of making me shudder. I can barely fathom how a person can commit these crimes against another person. ShadowMan is full of scenes to make you shudder. It is especially heinous because it involves children.

Ron Franscell’s descriptions are clear and graphic. The focus of ShadowMan is a serial killer in small town Montana in the 1970’s. A 7 year old girl goes missing without a trace. A 19 year old girl (I know at 19 you are technically an adult but she barely got to live and in my mind she was still a girl) disappears but leaves behind a few clues.

A new FBI behavioral science unit is trying to uncover the mind and psychological traits of the person behind these crimes. Local police, with the help of the FBI, begins to track down the criminal as well as the whereabouts of the victims. I can’t help but wonder how many serial killers may have gone free without the unorthodox work and thinking of this FBI team. The term “serial killer” didn’t even exist yet.

While the book highlights the evil of humanity and the cruelness a killer can inflict on victims and their families, it also brings to light some powerful moments between two mothers. One of the victim, and the other of the perpetrator.

The end was my favorite part. There were some surprising facts about the case and others, with explanations linking them to people involved. I also enjoyed the recap, with the where are they now perspective, keeping you up to date with present day.

This is a solid, informative read for true crime lovers to get their fix. Release date is March 1, 2022. Available for pre-order now on Amazon.

This excellently rendered nonfiction follows the case of David Meirhofer, a (perhaps) lesser known serial killer. It also traces the introduction of criminal profiling at the FBI. While the more details oriented individual might be disappointed by the overall level of details offered about the introduction of profiling, the average true crime fan will be pleased with this imminently readable book. A solid addition to any library collection.

People who know the history of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) might have heard of this case, but never before have the full details been collected and published. In ShadowMan, true crime author Ron Franscell has done his usual thorough research, giving us a real sense of time and place, as well as of the frustration and doubt from law enforcement about this new psychological approach to solving a crime. The investigation progressed slowly, due to minimal resources and little physical evidence, so much was at stake in doing things right. The victims’ families found desperate hope on every tiny development.

Franscell documents every move, every painstaking calculation, and every new revelation. A master of description and pace, he offers a highly accessible history of the FBI’s evolving technique, situated in a location he knows well. Each person involved in the investigation is a fully realized individual. The suspense grows from the need to reach across the divide between faith in a behavior-based interpretation and resistance to where it leads. We feel Dunbar’s aching frustration as well as his surrender to the method as he grasps the reality of a monster in the form of an ordinary young man.

Franscell discusses how the offender fails to fit the formulas that a glut of serial killer fiction has led us to accept. In addition, like embedded scenes in the credits of some movies, he adds a few surprises about the case that no one knew before. That’s for readers to find out. ShadowMan is an important contribution to the history of profiling as well as offering a layered and gripping true-crime narrative.

Really interesting peek at the very first attempt of the FBI to use profiling to identify a killer. The process they used and the theories behind it aren't covered in great detail but it was interesting to read what they came up with and the struggles they had getting their theories to be accepted by investigators and even the FBI itself. The case gets a lot of flack but when you consider that they were working off only two crimes and almost no physical evidence, their profile was surprisingly accurate. I also thought it was really interesting that one of the psychics mentioned as having contacted the police after the second murder told the police the killer was a carpenter. Nailed it! Definitely worth a read for anyone who's interested in true crime.

What a suspenseful and powerful novel. This story will keep your interest and you cannot put this one down! The drama of finding the killer and what the investigators went through to solve the case will surely hold your interest. A must read for the true crime enthusiast!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found "ShadowMan" to be completely captivating. Ron Franscell makes this case feel more like a novel than true crime. It easily falls into the category of a 'page turner'. I already new a bit about this particular serial killer but it was written in a way that made me doubt my knowledge and think more like the lead FBI agent Pete Dunbar. I loved that there was the confession transcript as a part of the conclusion. It was also nice that there was a where are they now section at the end. I usually look up the people involved and how they were doing and this gave me a head start. All in all, if you are a true crime fanatic like me, you will enjoy it. It's a worthwhile read.

This is another good true crime book by the author, this time about a twisted killer in Montana who triggered the very first criminal profile by the FBI. His crimes were particularly repulsive. When Special Agent Dunbar learns about the newest thing out of the Behavioral Science Unit, he asks them to use it to profile the person behind the crimes in Montana. This serial killer would be the first to be actively investigated using this method. Although Dunbar had some reservations, it worked so well, that criminal profiling became used much more in the future. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Ron Franscell, and the publisher.

ShadowMan by Ron Franscell is a riveting and fascinating book that will keep the attention of any fan of true crime and mystery. novels. It is a well-researched and thoughtful book about the beginnings of FBI profiling and the search for the perpetrator of the gruesome murders of Sandra Smallegan and Susie Jaeger. Both informative and emotional, it is surely to be one of your favorite nonfiction book reads this year.

This was absolutely a fascinating read, due to both the subject matter and the storytelling. The author lays out the story in a way that captivates like a novel. From the start, we get a strong sense of classic small town America, that is suddenly thrown off balance with a succession of disturbing kidnappings. The FBI is on the case, and two agents experimenting with psychological techniques to profile an unsub hone in on one man. His name is not a name as recognizable as Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer, but his case played a major role in the development of criminal profiling.

This is a book that both satisfies an interest in crime history and behavioral peculiarities of serial murderers. It’s truly remarkable how agents Teten and Mullany were able to conjure up a profile from virtually nothing, and have it be so spot on. Seeing the pieces of this investigation slowly but surely falling into place made this book impossible to put down, and once the full details of the unsub’s crimes were revealed, the depravity was more than I could have imagined. Overall, a very worthwhile read that I would recommend to any true crime fan.