Unabridged Audiobook
The author insists on projecting his thoughts into the heads of the victims when there’s no way to know what they were thinking. It’s presumptuous and disrespectful to the dead — they lost their life, they do not deserve to have their thoughts usurped. The author also cannot apparently bring himself to admit how utterly wrong he and his fellow profilers were in this case. He tries to handwave it once by saying his profiles were only as good as the information given, but that’s blaming other people for his own failed cold reading. He cannot take responsibility for his mistakes. Never does he admit that all profiling is somewhere between fortune telling and a guess, and that the only reason profilers look like they know what they’re doing is we never hear about their failures. We should be, especially in this case, because the profile was utterly useless, and probably actively harmful by misdirecting resources. The narrator consistently mispronounces words that should be simple, usually words that have silent syllables. His delivery is inconsistent. I’m glad I didn’t pay for this.
Not the first book I've listened to about BTK. This one, at first, appears to gloss over the details of the crime, telling everything from the investigation standpoint, but then later in the book, it comes back around and gives Rader's perspective. That was pretty interesting how the book returned to these cases like this. However, I would still recommend Hurst Laviana's "Bind, Torture, Kill" over this one. In fact, if you've already read or listened to that one (or any other BTK book), there's no point in the redundancy here, unless you just really need to hear it from the guy who investigated the case. I got this as a VIP selection and wouldn't have listened to it otherwise.
The fascinating subject matter is all that saves this. The writing is mediocre at best. Douglas often contradicts his own claims and assumptions - sometimes even in the next sentence. Purple prose is sprinkled throughout just to pull you out from really contemplating the horrendous crimes. I'm not sure if the narrator was trying to match Douglas's own speech, but it's flat and stilted. Sentences are often broken with no rhyme or reason as if they lost their place in the script.
good book to listen
The author spends more time talking about himself and trying to insert himself and his own life into this case than he does actually explaining the facts of this case. The narrator mispronounces tons of common words and proper nouns, such as the city where FBI training takes place. Did the author not even proof the narration? It makes no sense that any professional author wouldn’t at least listen to the narrator reading their story before hitting publish.
Okay true crime book; but the author seems to really rely on his own interpretations of what Rader says, rather than just taking any remorse from him as being genuine. Typical "nothing good about him" cop attitude. Plus the reader needs to learn some pronunciation before reading an audiobook. Not terrible for a VIP book.
John Douglas is very into himself and his expertise, and the narrator needs pronunciation training. Not a good combination.
First, being a John Douglas book, the book itself was excellent. Douglas always brings incredible insight into the minds of the most wretched of people.The narrator on the other hand...not exactly monotone but not really with much inflection. He could have been reading a recipe for all the heart he put into it. And he mispronounced words that the editors and producers really should have caught and made him fix...like Quantico and Dulles and even some more basic words. Since Quantico is used fairly often, the mispronunciation was really jarring.
um Audible Inc presents ??? hmmm kinda seems odd it would start that way, as for the story it's a documentary and the audio quality was meh. the narrator sounded like he was detached (which given its about a serial killer) but the sound was kinda echoish (?) or sounded like it was read in a box.
Although the information is interesting, the narration is flat and monotonous.
Excellent to listen to - well written and well read. Interesting and, at times, gruesome read BUT great if you're into this sort of thing like I am. Would highly recommend especially to any criminology buffs/students
Interesting
The story was great to read, but the authors narcissistic need to self promote was nauseating. The narrator was weird. Still I am glad I read it.
The narrator kept mispronouncing Quantico. He would pronounce it Kwan Tee Coe lol
The number of mispronouncations was embarrassing.
Interesting subject, but very long and repetitive. If it had been condensed, it would be great.
Great summary of this terrible person.
A great book.
Great book
Very interesting book!
totally breathtaking I loved every damn minute of this book! a great read!
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