Whoever Fights Monsters: A Brillant FBI Detective's Career Long War Against Serial Killers

Former FBI agent Ressler ( Sexual Homicide ) coined the term ``serial killer'' in the 1970s. Writing with Schachtman ( Skyscraper Dreams ), he recounts in straightforward, fact-filled style his interviews with such infamous murderers as Edmund Kemper, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, William Heirens and Ted Bundy. Onetime head of the FBI's Criminal Personality Research Project, Ressler corrects the misleading, romanticized criminal profiles found in the novels of Thomas Harris and Mary Higgins Clark; recalls how he compiled his ground-breaking, close-to-the-mark profiles of actual criminals who were later apprehended; and tells how he worked with mental-health professionals to explore killers' personality traits. Before Ressler, the FBI knew surprisingly little about dangerous criminals. His quest--catching and understanding criminals--absorbs and unsettles the reader, placing true crime in the real world. Photos not seen by PW. (May)