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  • Obsession

  • The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers
  • Written by: John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker
  • Narrated by: Danny Campbell
  • Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

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Obsession

Written by: John E. Douglas,Mark Olshaker
Narrated by: Danny Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

In Obsession, John Douglas once again takes us fascinatingly behind the scenes, focusing his expertise on predatory crimes, primarily against women. With a deep sense of compassion for the victims and an uncanny understanding of the perpetrators, Douglas looks at the obsessions that lead to rape, stalking, and sexual murder through such cases as Ronnie Shelton, the serial rapist who terrorized Cleveland; and New York's notorious "Preppie Murder".

But Douglas also looks at obsession on the other side of the moral spectrum: his own career-long obsession with hunting these predators. Douglas shows us how we can all fight back and protect ourselves, our families, and loved ones against the scourge of the violent predators in our midst.

The first step is insight and understanding, and no one is better qualified to penetrate Obsession than John Douglas. 

©1998 Mindhunters, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2019 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about Obsession

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not obsessed with OBSESSION

This is my third book from John Douglas. While I think it is well written, it wasn't as intriguing as the previous books I've listened to. Perhaps a little more detail about the victim's family lives after the fact than I needed to know. It felt like too much detail just to fill the book, although I'm sure that is not the case.
The reader did a good job and made it felt like it was the author speaking, though his voice seemed strained throughout the book. Still enjoyable and fascinating.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Repeat Stories, Iffy Narrator, but Compassionate

This is the fourth or fifth book I’ve read by Douglas and Olshaker. They have a tendency to repeat a lot of cases throughout their books. I think this is only their third or fourth published book, so perhaps it’s the wrong one on which to make this complaint, but it’s true nonetheless. I’m still always fascinated by Douglas’ take on each case, and he clearly knows what he’s talking about. And there are plenty of new cases in each book, it’s just that same ones tend to pop up throughout many of them (i.e. Suzanne Collins).
I am not a fan of this narrator. Danny Campbell also narrated Journey Into Darkness, and perhaps another that I can’t remember, and I think he’s my least favourite of the books I’ve listened to from Douglas (aside from the gentleman who narrated Inside the Mind of BTK). His voice has this gravelly texture to it, and he doesn’t really change his tone or inflections when speaking from someone who is not John Douglas, which at first makes it difficult to tell if there is a person opinion of Douglas, or if he’s quoting someone else.
All in all, the book itself was a fascinating look into the crimes of rape and stalking. And I found Douglas to be very compassionate towards to the victims and their families, as well as surprisingly forward-thinking in terms of how the public and the government should approach these kinds of crimes. For example, he states how important it is to NEVER blame a victim of rape for the crime perpetrated against her. No matter what she was wearing, what she was doing, whether or not she was a sex worker, whether she initially wanted it then changed her mind, NOTHING excuses or mitigates the actions of the offender. He also uses the following example: “If someone had been the victim of burglary, you would never blame them for not being home all day every day to watch over their things, so why is it okay to blame victims of stalking or rape for not spending all of their time considering every action they should take to avoid a violence they should never have had to suffer in the first place?” That’s not verbatim, but it was something along those lines. He also frequently makes suggestions such as allowing more government funding for social work programs, as opposed to hiring more police. He doesn’t argue we should get rid of police completely by any means, but they are there to help when a problem occurs. They do not prevent the problem in the first place. These may seem like obvious things now, but for the late 90’s I think it’s pretty impressive.
Overall, a fascinating read, but I’m really not a fan of this narrator (forgive me Danny Campbell).

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good, but not his best

What I like about John Douglas books are his insights into the criminals and their behaviour. I like the description of motives, investigative techniques and, yes, the details of the crimes. This book lacks a lot of those elements. It is focus on victims rights advocacy - not on victimology, but on advocacy. It is interspersed with criminal behaviour profiles, but not enough to sustain the entire book.

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  • leelee8888
  • 2019-02-24

WARNING!!! Why am I reading /listening to

I have every audible book authored by John E Douglas. This is the second review where I'm literally asking the same questions and left unfulfilled and let down.

Why?! ....because here again , he is writing about the same ol cases he writes about in aEVERY OTHER BOOK he has written.Edward Kemper, David Berkowitz, Atlanta child murders, and 1/4 of the way through during his monologue (because he always uses the first quarter of ever book he writes , to talk about him being the reason the FBI birthed the criminal profiler unit ), he even states " just as I explained in my prior books ..."so he even admits there is nothing new here , sorry folks.

I'm so confused as to how this so called profiler seems to only have a hand full of cases to talk about. These cases have been told ,retold and told some more, as if no other cases are interesting enough to retell.

I’m frustrated because this was my complaint with his last book and that was a retelling of the other cases he wrote in his prior books.
Same cases, same crimes, so boring and I feel cheated.

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117 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Rebecca D. Bumgardner
  • 2020-02-06

John Douglas

I really disliked the narration and would suggest sampling it before buying or using your audible credits.

I’m not an avid true crime reader but I liked “Killer Across the Table” and since “Obsession” was mentioned in that book I thought I would give this one a shot. I gave “Mindhunter” a shot as well but if you have read one of John Douglas’ books you have read them all to be entirely honest, and reading multiple is redundant. I thought it was kind of interesting to hear BTK’s profile before he was actually apprehended but I suggest just reading “Killer Across the Table” since it’s most up-to-date and calling it good.

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26 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Moranda Haines
  • 2019-02-20

Been Waiting awhile for this one Unabridged

Love JD. This book slides in right behind BTK and Mindhunter as his 3rd best, so worth credits /cost, and narration is superb.

What's different about this one is Douglas' vulnerability about profiles on serial offenders that were not yet caught: BTK ( called search and destroy in the book), and The GRK.
Some profile points were correct, some not, and some ,that given hindsight , could have led investigators down the wrong path.

True Crime fans will love this, but don't be scared if you're just starting to dip your toe. you can never go wrong with s John Douglas book.

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9 people found this helpful

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  • Tamara Woods
  • 2019-03-05

Excellent for true crime fanatics.

This is a truly riveting book for those who cannot get enough of true crime. Great storytelling and leads right into MindHunter.

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7 people found this helpful

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  • Zildheam L. Dietrich
  • 2019-09-26

Excellent

Danny Campbell is the best narrator and John Douglas has written another excellent book here.

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  • Keith Hood
  • 2019-08-27

Not bad but not best

Liked his others better, but this wasn't terrible.
Had slow moments but all in all I would recommend

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  • Slinger
  • 2019-11-08

good insights

I always much information and thought provoking insights from Agent Douglas... I agree with his proposals on victims rights...

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Jessica
  • 2019-10-04

Amazing

I loved that this book not only discussed cases, but that it also spoke in great depth about victim advocacy, therapy and legal reform. Very insightful book!

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3 people found this helpful

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  • JIM ROD
  • 2019-09-25

Behind the FBI profiles

Good read. Gets into the minds of sickos.
Some of the crimes actually occurred nearby my current residence. Scary.

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  • Sarah St
  • 2019-10-18

horrible narration, sexist story

I usually love this writer's books, I own all of them. but I couldn't finish this one! every one of his examples focused on Male perpetrators and female victims but ignored crimes when things were reversed. he only talked about female victims and I couldn't take it! the narrator would have made William Shatner proud! all around horrible book.

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