Whoever Fights Monsters

Face-to-face with some of America's most terrifying killers, FBI veteran and ex-Army CID colonel Robert Ressler learned from them how to identify the unknown monsters who walk among us—and put them behind bars. Now the man who coined the phrase "serial killer" shows how he is able to track down some of today's most brutal murderers.

Ressler used the evidence at a crime scene to put together a psychological profile of the killers. From the victims they choose, to the way they kill, to the often grotesque souvenirs they take with them—Ressler unlocks the identities of these vicious killers for the police to capture. And with his discovery that serial killers share certain violent behaviors, Ressler has gone behind prison walls to hear the bizarre first-hand stories of countless convicted murderers. Getting inside the mind of a killer to understand how and why he kills, is one of the FBI's most effective ways of helping police bring in killers who are still at large.

Praise

"[Whoever Fights Monsters] is an informative and insightful account of Ressler's 30-year FBI career and the development of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program."—Library Journal

"The real thing . . . Absolutely mesmerizing."—Ann Rule

"An invaluable book for anyone who wants to understand serial murder."—Joseph Wambaugh

About the Author(s)

By Robert K. Ressler and Thomas Schachtman

Robert K. Ressler retired as a supervisory special agent of the FBI as a reserve colonel in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He resides outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and is director of Forensic Behavioral Services, a business dedicated to training, learning, consulting, and expert witness testimony.

Tom Shachtman is also coauthor with Robert Ressler of Justice is Served. He lives in New York City.