The legendary FBI criminal profiler and international bestselling
author of Mindhunter and The Killer Across the Table returns with
this timely, relevant book that goes to the heart of extremism and
domestic terrorism, examining in-depth his chilling pursuit of, and
eventual prison confrontation with Joseph Paul Franklin, a White
Nationalist serial killer and one of the most disturbing psychopaths he
has ever encountered.
Worshippers stream out of an Midwestern synagogue after sabbath
services, unaware that only a hundred yards away, an expert marksman and
avowed racist, antisemite and member of the Ku Klux Klan, patiently
awaits, his hunting rifle at the ready.
The October 8, 1977 shooting was a forerunner to the tragedies and
divisiveness that plague us today. John Douglas, the FBI's pioneering,
first full-time criminal profiler, hunted the shooter--a white
supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin, whose Nazi-inspired beliefs
propelled a three-year reign of terror across the United States,
targeting African Americans, Jews, and interracial couples. In addition,
Franklin bombed the home of Jewish leader Morris Amitay, shot and
paralyzed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, and seriously wounded
civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. The fugitive supported his murderous
spree robbing banks in five states, from Georgia to Ohio.
Douglas and his writing partner Mark Olshaker return to this disturbing
case that reached the highest levels of the Bureau, which was fearful
Franklin would become a presidential assassin--and haunted him for years
to come as the threat of copycat domestic terrorist killers increasingly
became a reality. Detailing the dogged pursuit of Franklin that employed
profiling, psychology and meticulous detective work, Douglas and
Olshaker relate how the case was a make-or-break test for the
still-experimental behavioral science unit and revealed a new type of,
determined, mission-driven serial killer whose only motivation was hate.
A riveting, cautionary tale rooted in history that continues to echo
today, The Killer's Shadow is a terrifying and essential exploration
of the criminal personality in the vile grip of extremism and what
happens when rage-filled speech evolves into deadly action and hatred of
the "other" is allowed full reign.
The Killer's Shadow includes an 8-page color photo insert.
