100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Enjoy overnight NZ-wide delivery from our NZ-owned independent bookstore! 🎉

The Killer Across the Table

Inside the Minds of Psychopaths and Predators
4.15 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 23,138 ratings, 1,996 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Killer Across the Table by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker delves into the minds of four violent criminals. Through gripping accounts, Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler, provides insights into their motivations and discusses the psychological techniques used to understand and catch them. The book offers a fascinating look into criminal psychology and investigative strategies.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2600
Elsewhere:
$2999
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're fascinated by criminal profiling and real-life investigations into the minds of serial killers. It offers an in-depth look into interviews with some of the most notorious criminals, providing chilling insights and expert analysis from former FBI agents.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

‘John Douglas is the FBI's pioneer and master of investigative profiling’ Patricia Cornwell

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Killer Across the Table by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker takes readers on a gripping journey into the minds of some of the most dangerous criminals in history. This masterful work of true crime offers an unprecedented look at four complex predatory killers. As a legendary FBI criminal profiler and number one bestselling author, Douglas brings his unique insights and extensive experience to the forefront, unravelling the psychological webs woven by these perpetrators. Through candid interviews and meticulous analysis, Douglas reveals the intricate processes behind his profiling techniques and the methods used to crack some of his most challenging cases.

In The Killer Across the Table, Douglas examines four distinct murders and the killers responsible for them. Each case sheds light on different facets of criminal behaviour and the twisted motivations that drive these individuals to commit heinous acts. From cold-blooded serial killers to manipulative sociopaths, Douglas dissects their psyches, offering an unparalleled understanding of how these sinister minds operate.

Much of the book's allure lies in its realistic portrayal of the interrogation room. Readers are drawn into the tense and often chilling exchanges between Douglas and these killers, witnessing firsthand the psychological acrobatics involved in extracting confessions and understanding criminal behaviour. Douglas’s unique techniques and strategic approach illuminate the darkest corners of the human psyche, making The Killer Across the Table a captivating exploration of criminal profiling and behavioural science.

Douglas's expertise is further underscored by the gripping narrative style, which combines meticulous research with engaging storytelling. The book delves deep into the investigative process, showcasing the meticulous and often harrowing work that goes into solving these cases. Readers will find themselves on the edge of their seats as they follow the twists and turns of these real-life investigations.

As Douglas famously says, “If you want to understand the artist, look at his art.” In the same vein, if you want to understand what makes a murderer, start here. With The Killer Across the Table, John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker offer a masterclass in criminal profiling, blending intellectual rigour with chilling case studies for a truly unforgettable read.

Perfect for fans of true crime, psychology, and those fascinated by the complexities of human behaviour, this book is an unmissable addition to any bookshelf. Dive into the depths of the criminal mind with one of the foremost experts in the field and discover what it takes to uncover the truth behind the most dangerous predators.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Killer Across the Table is praised for John Douglas's expertise in investigative profiling and his profound knowledge of serial killers. Notable figures like Patricia Cornwell and Jonathan Demme highlight Douglas's significant contributions to law enforcement and criminal psychology. The book also illustrates Douglas's instrumental role in expanding the understanding of murderous psychopathy.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780008338152

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 August 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: William Collins

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 27.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 310g

Pages: 352

About the Author

John Douglas, the legendary FBI criminal profiler, special agent, and veteran author of true crime books, has spent more than three decades hunting, researching, analyzing, and confronting America's most disturbing criminals. A veteran of the United States Air Force, he has directly worked and/or had overall supervision in over 5,000 violent crime cases over the past 48 years. He is currently chairman of the board of the "Cold Case Foundation." One of the foremost experts and investigators of criminal minds and motivations, he currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area. Mark Olshaker is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author of eleven nonfiction books and five novels, including Einstein's Brain and The Edge. His books with former FBI Special Agent and criminal profiling pioneer John Douglas, beginning with Mindhunter and, most recently, Law & Disorder, have sold millions of copies and have been translated into many languages. Mindhunter is now a dramatic series on Netflix, directed by David Fincher. He and his wife Carolyn, an attorney, live in Washington, D.C.

Also by John E. Douglas

View all
  • When a Killer Calls
    From John Douglas—the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix show Mindhunter—comes a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him. On May 31, 1985, two days before her high school...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Inside the Mind of BTK
    A dramatic and compelling true-crime psychological thriller This incredible story shows how John Douglas tracked and participated in the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history. For 31 years, a man who called himself BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) terrorised the city of Wichita, Kansas, sexually assaulting and strangling a series of women, taunting the police...
    Paperback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Crime Classification Manual
    Praise for Crime Classification Manual "The very first book by and for criminal justice professionals in the major case fields. The skills, techniques, and proactive approaches offered are creatively concrete and worthy of replication across the country. Heartily recommended for those working in the 'front line' of major case investigation." —John B. Rabun Jr., ACSW, Executive Vice President and Chief...
    Paperback
    $14699
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Mindhunter
    Now a Netflix original series. Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas' twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country's most notorious serial killers and criminals. In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and...
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks

Also by Mark Olshaker

View all
  • Mindhunter
    Mindhunter delves deep into the life of an FBI Special Agent and takes readers on a gripping journey into the minds of some of the most psychologically disturbed serial killers. This real-life account provides a fascinating and chilling insight into the complex and often harrowing work of criminal profiling and behavioural science. The book tells the true story that inspired...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Journey Into Darkness
    The chilling sequel to the book that inspired the smash-hit Netflix drama, MINDHUNTER. The shocking follow-up to Mindhunter, now a smash-hit Netflix drama John Douglas is the world's top pioneer and expert on criminal profiling. His lifelong work to understand and combat serial killers is legendary among law enforcement circles. Now, following up on his first book, Mindhunter, Journey Into...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Deadliest Enemy
    We are facing an overwhelming army of deadly, invisible enemies. We need a plan -- before it's too late. Unlike natural disasters, whose destruction is concentrated in a limited area over a period of days, and illnesses, which have devastating effects but are limited to individuals and their families, infectious disease has the terrifying power to disrupt everyday life on...
    Paperback
    $4200
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • When a Killer Calls
    From John Douglas—the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix show Mindhunter—comes a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him. On May 31, 1985, two days before her high school...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Big One
    An urgent, gripping, and prescient warning about the inevitable next worldwide pandemic—and what we must do to prepare ourselves—from the New York Times bestselling authors of Deadliest Enemy. The Covid-19 pandemic has been the most devastating natural event the world has experienced in the last century. Millions have been stricken, many with lasting debilitating effects; more than 7 million have...
    Hardback
    $7000
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Mindhunter
    Now a Netflix original series. Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas' twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country's most notorious serial killers and criminals. In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and...
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Dying Days
    Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Country Road Murders
    New Release
    The Country Road Murders
    From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Every Lake
    Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Nautilus
    New Release
    Nautilus
    The follow-up to the bestselling novel The Turing Protocol. Nautilus is a machine with the astonishing power to send messages eight weeks back in time. Its users must follow a set of protocols established by its inventor, Alan Turing, including that it can only be used by a descendant of his family, and only to avert global disasters. But what...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Cold River
    New Release
    Cold River
    The sensational new novel from the author of the bestselling thriller, The Creeper, winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2025. Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly... Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria's high country. But there's something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    It Could Have Been Her
    PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • 26 Beauties
    The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Secrets We Hide
    The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Parkwood Murders
    They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Hope Rises
    'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Slash
    A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators — while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son — a double-murder suspect last seen during the...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • A River Red With Blood
    The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.