The legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the hit Netflix series Mindhunter delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, showing in fascinating detail the interview process that led to the development of modern criminal profiling, and revealing the strategies used to crack some of America’s most challenging cases and convict their horrifying perpetrators.

Former Special Agent John Douglas has studied and interviewed many of America’s most notorious killers—including Charles Manson, ”Son of Sam Killer” David Berkowitz, ”BTK Strangler” Dennis Rader and “Coed Killer” Ed Kemper—trained FBI agents and investigators around and the world, and helped educate the country about these deadly predators and how they operate. In so doing, he has become a legend in popular culture, fictionalized in The Silence of the Lambs and such hit television shows as Criminal Minds and Mindhunter.

Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical criminals he’s confronted, interviewed and learned from. Going deep into each man’s life and crimes, he outlines the factors that led them to murder, how he used his interrogation skills to expose their means, motives, and true evil, and used that knowledge to advance criminal investigative analysis. Like the hit Netflix show, THE KILLER ACROSS THE TABLE: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter (Dey Street Books, On Sale May 7, 2019, ISBN: 9780062910639, $26.99) is centered around Douglas’ unique interrogation and profiling process. With his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, Douglas recounts the chilling encounters with these four killers, just as he experienced them.

Step by step through his interviews, Douglas explains how he connects what was going on in each killer’s mind before, during and after his heinous acts with the evidence left at the crime scenes, and contrasts these encounters with those of other deadly criminals to show what he learns from each one. In the process, he returns to other famous cases, killers and interviews that have shaped his career, describing how the knowledge he gained from those exchanges helped prepare him for these and shape his proactive approach.

A compelling glimpse into the mind of a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, THE KILLER ACROSS THE TABLE unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.