The Psychology of Notorious Serial Killers: The Intersection of Personality Theory and the Darkest Minds of Our Time (Notorious Series Book 1)

Wish I could pick no stars. I've been watching Todd Grade on YouTube as I am studying Criminal Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Boston College for my Masters Degree. I bought this book to help me shed some light on the psychological characteristics of serial murder. The book is bland and boring. My 13yr old daughter, could do a better job. Not impressed or interested in using any of his works for school. It's now found its way to the bottom of my book pile. If your interested in case studies or insite of the idiology and psychology of serial killers scroll past this book and find something useful and not so primary.

I've read hundreds of books about serial killers, including from those who are criminal profilers who delved into the lives and minds of these frightening individuals. I felt that many analyses of these criminals lacked something that didn't - or couldn't - explain all of their exhibited criminal, twisted and horrific behaviors. Dr. Todd Grande has the capability to see beyond the crimes into the darkest corners of the fantasies, delusions, hallucinations and thought processes that led these individuals to act out their unspeakable desires on innocent victims. This is not a book that skims through the heinous acts committed. Dr. Grande goes deeply into the upbringings and physical and psychological traumas endured by the perpetrators as only possible contributions to the realizations of their sick fantasies and revenge on people who the murderers believe have ruined or otherwise negatively affected their lives. His prose is fluid, intriguiging and compelling. One turns the pages faster, losing the sense of time as one becomes so focused on learning how these criminals were finally caught - often becoming more disorganized as their need to torture, dominate and kill their victims consumed their already evil and complicated minds. The author fills in the blanks that other true-crime writers have left behind. Concise, succinct and unnecessary filler words and inconsequential information having been left out makes this book a 5/5-star read!

A fantastic interesting book about serial killers. The writer explains and uses the Five Factor Model in describing the personalities of different serial killers. The difference between primary psychopathy and secondary psychopathy is well explained in this very structured book. The writer also explains why the statement; "all psychopaths are narcissists, but only some narcissists are psychopaths" isn't true.The writer has his own YouTube channel, named 'Dr. Todd Grande', with many interesting videos, not only about (serial-) killers, but also about personality disorders, all kinds of mental health issues (often scientifically proven), true crime, narcissism and many more. His channel has at this moment on June 9, 2021 about 740.000 subscribers and is growing very fast.If you're interested in serial killers, their personalities and more, I really recommend this book. You will not be disappointed!

I had such high hopes for this book based on the reviews. Unfortunately, it reads like a first draft of a PhD thesis. It is very poorly organized. The first section is not laid out well and jumps around. For instance, the facets of the Five Factor Model are not communicated clearly. I had to re-read and try to piece it together. The inconsistent formatting throughout contributes to this confusion. So much time is spent laying out what WILL be talked about, but when when it comes to actually talking about those things, there is very little content. As above, formatting is not consistent and there are grammatical errors.I see this is volume 1, but to have a book on this subject and not include a section on Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy is a huge oversight.Overall, disappointed.

Serial killers are horrifying and fascinating. This book illuminates the personality traits of these killers using the Five Factor Model. The author uses background information and answers what drives these men (all the serial killers in this book are men). He also answers why we are compelled to know more about them. The book is useful in describing which personality traits help identify potentially dangerous people. I recommend this book.