Dark Dreams

A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind

By: Roy Hazelwood, Stephen G Michaud

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

The Evil That Men Do introduced listeners to the lifework and the techniques of FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood. Now, in Dark Dreams, Hazelwood - writing with best-selling author Stephen G. Michaud - brings us deep into the minds of his prey, the world's most dangerous sexual criminals, and reveals the extent to which these individuals permeate our society.

Profiler Roy Hazelwood is one of the world's leading experts on the strangest and most dangerous of all aberrant offenders - the sexual criminal. In Dark Dreams he reveals the twisted motives and thinking that go into the most reprehensible crimes. He also catalogs the innovative and remarkably effective techniques - investigative approaches that he helped pioneer at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit - that allow law enforcement agents to construct psychological profiles of the offenders who commit these crimes.

Hazelwood has helped track down some of the most violent and well-known criminals in modern history; in Dark Dreams he takes listeners into his world - a sinister world inhabited by scores of dangerous offenders for every Roy Hazelwood who would put them behind bars.

©2001 Roy Hazelwood and Stephen G. Michaud (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Hazelwood is a fascinating figure." ( New York Times)

Another Great Book

If you liked the other FBI Profiler books by Douglas, you'll like this one. Very informative.

Better than most

I’ve listened to a LOT of true-crime audiobooks, and this one is more interesting than average.
The narration is really good, except for his horrendous attempts at imitating the Southern accent, which he apparently learned by watching Gomer Pyle.

My review would be a five but-

The narrator sounds like an imitation of a comedy skit that makes fun of a robot’s voice. I found it distracting at times. This narrative is deeply-interesting as in my career I was a mental health professional. I also have a degree in history, so some of the assertions about serial and sexual murder being a “new” phenomenon is disturbing. I would like the author to consider some of the sociological aspects he discusses in his book- poverty, abuse, and pain seeking. While it is true body piercing has not long been a norm in western society it has been common for ages in other cultures. Ritualistic cutting, piercing, tattooing, and even being scarred by the bites of poisonous ants are things people do as rites of passage or for decorative purposes. I think the idea of this rather recent craze in our culture for such body modification is a good platform to rest your arguments. Also, the use and existence of dildoes is not new to humankind. They have been found in ritual burials, and other archeological digs across the world. I am not necessarily advocating such use, but i am always hesitant as a student of history when people label things as “new”. It’s not. I also want to suggest that in the past such violence was not as easy to detect. I sincerely doubt it is new. Communication was poor, people could maintain relative anonymity when traveling around, and there were barely and organized police forces until the nineteenth century.

very informational and keeps your attention

Worth the credit. some intriguing cases in this book. narrator is great. well written. I have listened twice already.

Loved it

This is the first book i’ve completed head to tail in about 15 years, riveting!

Disturbing

Although this book was at times disturbing, it was also informative. A lot of techniques that are used are explained and or mentioned along with examples. The year and how things were looked at, or treated is talked about to give better context to the crimes discussed. Some parts are quite explicit, so be ready for that. All in all I am glad I choose this book and I’m certain I will listen to it again sometime in the future. I would recommend it to anyone wanting more context about investigations, and more details of certain crimes.

Dark stories

Fascinating and creepy! Interesting details of various types of crimes and people who commit them.

Must Have

14 words is not enough for a review. Please return to old format for reviews.

The behavior of the unsub

I dislike the part about rapes, but do understand the importance of it for profiling.

Excellent but very creepy book

The book is very informative and the different types of killers. He uses examples of real cases. The book grabs your attention fast. It starts at full speed and maintains it through the entire book. When I read that Israel Keys studied this book to find out how to keep from being caught I had to read it. Warning though. You have to be interested in what makes the human mind do twisted sick things. It’s very descriptive.