Author Description

For twenty-five years, John E. Douglas worked for the FBI, where he headed the elite Investigative Support Unit. The real-life model for FBI Agent Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, he's had a brilliant and terrifying career, getting inside the minds of notorious murderers and serial killers including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). Written with long-time collaborator Mark Olshaker, Law & Disorder is Douglas' most provocative and personal book to date. In it, he addresses every law enforcement professional's worst nightmare: those cases where, for one reason or another, justice was delayed... or even denied. Through a series of character-driven case histories--from the earliest trials in Salem, Massachusetts to the bungled trial of Amanda Knox--Douglas shows what happens when the system breaks down and bias, media coverage, and other influences get in the way of a dispassionate pursuit of the evidence. Here also are Douglas' personal reflections on his ongoing search for the truth--from painful lessons learned early in his career to his controversial findings in the West Memphis Three and Jon Benet Ramsey investigations. Brimming with procedural detail, Law & Disorder is an eye-opening insider's account of the exhilaration and frustration that attend the quest for justice.