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  • The Killer Across the Table

  • Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter
  • Written by: John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Groff
  • Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (330 ratings)

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The Killer Across the Table

Written by: John E. Douglas,Mark Olshaker
Narrated by: Jonathan Groff
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Publisher's Summary

Performed by Jonathan Groff, star of the hit Netflix show Mindhunter, and featuring an exclusive conversation between John E. Douglas and Jonathan Groff at the end of the audiobook

In The Killer Across the Table, John E. Douglas, the legendary FBI criminal profiler, number one New York Times best-selling author, and inspiration for Netflix’s Mindhunter, delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, offering never-before-revealed details about his profiling process and divulging the strategies used to help crack some of America’s most challenging cases. 

The Killer Across the Table is narrated by Jonathan Groff, who plays Holden Ford on Mindhunter, the character inspired by John E. Douglas. The FBI’s pioneer of criminal profiling, former special agent John Douglas has studied and interviewed many of America’s most notorious killers - including Charles Manson, ”Son of Sam Killer” David Berkowitz, and ”BTK Strangler” Dennis Rader - trained FBI agents and investigators around and the world, and helped educate the country about these deadly predators and how they operate, and has become a legend in popular culture, fictionalized in The Silence of the Lambs and the hit television shows Criminal Minds and Mindhunter.

Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical criminals he’s confronted, interviewed and learned from. Going deep into each man’s life and crimes, he outlines the factors that led them to murder and how he used his interrogation skills to expose their means, motives, and true evil. Like the hit Netflix show, The Killer Across the Table is centered around Douglas’ unique interrogation and profiling process. With his longtime collaborator Mark Olshaker, Douglas recounts the chilling encounters with these four killers as he experienced them - revealing for the first time his profile methods in detail. Going step by step through his interviews, Douglas explains how he connects each killer’s crimes to the specific conversation and contrasts these encounters with those of other deadly criminals to show what he learns from each one. In the process, he returns to other famous cases, killers, and interviews that have shaped his career, describing how the knowledge he gained from those exchanges helped prepare him for these.

A glimpse into the mind of a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, The Killer Across the Table unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.  

©2019 John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Killer Across the Table

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing! Couldn't stop listening

I got through this in 3 days, listening on my way to and from work, while making dinner, before bed. I couldn't get enough. It's amazing to learn about the mind of a killer and how they tick. Won't be the last book I read/listen to by John E. Douglas!

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!

Wow! The performance was outstanding. The story was at times hard to listen to but impossible to ignore. This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in this type of subject matter. The author's life work speaks for itself.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Same as Mindhunter

The book would be great if it wasn’t 90% the same story as Mindhunter. Performance is excellent.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely Gripping

Possible sequel to Mindhunter? This book was phenomenal. The narrator through to the content make for an amazing and spellbinding read - I highly recommend this novel.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • 2019-07-07

same old hat

A lot of rehash from prior books, kinda felt like he was capitalizing on the popularity of Mind Hunter TV show to dust off his B side material.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very Similar to Mindhunter, Merely Different Cases

Choose to read The Killer Across the Table or Mindhunter, but not both, as the behavioural process is the same; only the cases are different. My preference remains with Mindhunter, but this is a substantial read as well.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Listen

I listened to this while doing chores and housework, it was a great way to feel like I was learning something while mowing the lawn lol. This audiobook may not be for everybody as it is true crime and the cases examined are not for the soft of heart. Overall I found it insightful and very interesting well worth the money.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another Great Offering

Having Jonathan Groff narrate this was a stroke of genius. As a Mindhunter on Netflix fan, this is exactly the book I wanted.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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"Holden" Nails it

One of his best books, and really cool to have Groff, aka Holden, narrate everything. There's a great interview between the two at the end. Really enjoyed it.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

This book was a great listen, it held my attention and satisfied my curiosity in the criminal mind.

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  • T. Kennedy
  • 2019-05-17

Excellent narration, finally some new insight

I really do enjoy Douglas' books, I have just about all of them. But he will stop beating certain horses when they stop spitting out money. (You will hear about BTK, Kemper, Atlanta Child Murders, his near death experience, and some narcissism. But hey, he can prove his work, why not be proud.)
You will still win at John Douglas bingo with all of previous mentions.

BUT in this one he talks about killers I had never heard of. He goes in depth, explaining the methods and how they work. Really tries to do the victims justice, wants you to know how loved they were. How human they were before a monster took them away too soon. With an almost soothing narration by Johnathan Geoff, it's interesting new, and enjoyable. If you have been burnt out by John Douglas' previous books, this is a breath of fresh air.

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180 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jackie M
  • 2019-06-06

Fascinating

This book is absolutely fascinating. It is not a gruesome re-telling of interviews with serial killers but a fascinating psychological exploration by John Douglas into the motivations, behaviors and characteristics that serial murders display. Their crimes are truly horrific and inconceivable for most, but John Douglas is able to really illustrate how horribly damaged these people are and essentially how their persona was potentially created. It really is a excellent book and I found myself looking forward to my long commutes so I had time to listen. I would highly recommend this book.

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39 people found this helpful

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  • Laura
  • 2019-05-08

All Around Excellent

John Douglas is a living legend and expert storyteller. Fantastic. Jonathan Groff is the best narrator I have encountered.

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38 people found this helpful

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  • Thomas Denney
  • 2019-05-11

Home run!

This book was perfect. Im not just saying that either. The narration, concept, delivery, length, flow... Everything was great.

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  • Nick Bourdon
  • 2019-06-07

One of the better ones

I liked Obsession, but honestly it kind of drug on for me at some points. I don't know I just couldn't really get into it for some reason like I did with Mindhunter and this one here. Maybe the narrator? I don't know anyway moving on..

The narrator being Holden Ford from the show was actually nice it was a nice change and he has a nice voice, as for the stories and case studies themselves incredibly insightful and interesting as they typically are when it's written by John Douglas. Definitely recommend if you like John Douglas' work, in my opinion this is one of the better ones.

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24 people found this helpful

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  • Holly Scott Jones
  • 2019-07-17

Body of Knowledge We’ll-Represented in Examination of 4 Monsters

John Douglas is unquestionably an expert in his field, but the continual reassertion of that fact and the repeated examples reinforcing that point became a little distracting. It seems to me that the target audience for this book would largely be aware of who he is and the vast knowledge he amassed throughout his impressive career. There were many times in the presentation of the information contained in this book when unnecessary and self-aggrandizing details interrupted the flow of the narrative. Otherwise I found it interesting. Douglas’s empathy with Todd Kohlhepp was at times almost unlistenable for me, however. It bordered on apology. While Douglas didn’t find that Kohlhepp blamed others in his background for his actions, Douglas did that for him. The rapist is still a rapist, even if he was 15. No way to minimize that.

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21 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kelsey
  • 2019-06-01

Attention Grabbing!

From start to finish, this book was eye opening and fascinating. For those who have watched the Netflix show MINDHUNTER, this book expanded the characters and the job being done on screen. For those fascinated killers and criminals, you will enjoy the interviews with those people as described by an FBI agent. Highly recommend. You won't want to press pause.

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17 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2019-05-31

A Captivating and Chilling Read

In this fascinating book John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker walks you through why and how a serial killer decides to act. We get an uncomfortable intimate portrait of some of the most heinous killers in American criminal history excellently narrated by Mindhunter's very own Jonathan Groff. While the reading in general is truly excellent there are a few slight hiccups; the re-recording of some of the read material is a mastered differently than the rest of the audiobook making the corrections stand out quite a lot. Nevertheless Groff's reading of the book makes the book even more captivating and almost makes it feel like you're listening to an 11 hour long audio episode of Mindhunter. If you're a fan of the show you'll most certainly enjoy this book! All-in-all a very interesting read and I'm happy I picked it up.

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16 people found this helpful

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  • estee479
  • 2019-05-12

one of his best!

excellent insight on different approaches the FBI has perfected to tap into killers' psyches & share their secrets.

loved it!

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13 people found this helpful

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  • Night
  • 2019-10-12

Amazing book.

Jonathan Groff is fabulous in Mindhinter, and an awesome narrator for this book.
Since hearing this book, I'm getting everything John Douglass has published.
I give this a 10/10 easily.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-03-23

Very good narration

Jonathan Groff is an excellent narrator! A very in depth analysis of lesser known cases. Good book.

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