The Cases That Haunt Us: From Jack the Ripper to Jonbenet Ramsey, the FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Unravels the Mysteries That Won't Go Away by John E. DouglasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
In The Cases That Haunt Us, former FBI profiler John Douglas – along with his frequent collaborator writer-filmmaker Mark Olshaker - examines some of the prevailing mysteries of the last century and a half. In-depth chapters on Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, the Lindbergh Kidnapping, and the Zodiac intrigue and bring interesting facts to light – including the naming of a suspect in the Ripper case. Lesser sections, collected in a chapter called American Dreams/American Nightmares, bring the focus onto The Black Dahlia, the Boston Strangler, and Lawrencia Bembenek – the last of whom I had never heard of before. The better chapters – Jack the Ripper, Lindbergh, and the Boston Strangler section – are easily 5 star entries, while lesser chapters are still good – 3 or 4 star.
However, it is the crux of the book is the JonBenet Ramsey murder. The penultimate chapter of the work, the JonBenet Ramsey case seems to be the sole reason the book was written. In light of this chapter, all the rest seem but Douglas establishing his bona fides, setting himself up to justify his opinion on this, the only case in the book, he personally worked. A case he regularly references in the earlier chapters. The chapter remains interesting and his arguments seem sound. However, this chapter greatly bogs down the rest of the work as does Douglas’s sometimes cocky attitude – as seen in his assurance that he could have secured a confession from Lizzie Borden among other places.
Another oft mentioned case which would have fit into this volume is the OJ Simpson trial, brought up several times to illustrate points but never truly discussed. Also regularly mentioned is the Unibomber case, which was solved – and on which Douglas and Olshaker have already released a book. Still either of these or any of numerous other unsolved or dubiously solved cases would have fit better.
I first read the chapter on Jack the Ripper when the book first came out over a decade ago, and was glad to get a hold of a copy so I could finish reading the work. Despite the above mentioned issues, the book remains an interesting and compelling read. Given the opportunity I would gladly read Douglas and Olshaker’s other works, particularly Mindhunter which deals with Douglas’s time at the FBI and their novel Broken Wings.
Recommended especially for fans of True Crime and Police Procedurals, as well as interested readers in general. Probably a 4 star book, but as I said earlier, bogged down by the Ramsey chapter.
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