Casebook Of A Crime Psychiatrist

by James A. Brussel

From the cover:

The Mad Bomber
The Christmas Eve Killer
The Wylie Murders
The Boston Strangler
The Coppolino Case

and other adventures from the files of America's psychiatric Sherlock Holmes

Introduction by Gerold Frank

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Psychology

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.22
I want to cry I love this book. I want to have a conversation with the author but I would feel so intellectually below him I wouldn’t have a clue where to start……. THIS SOUNDS SAD/FANGIRLY BUT WOW. I was pleasantly surprised by the emphasis on rehabilitation instead of incarceration for schizophrenic patients. Either way the man would have been locked up for life, so it made more sense to the advancement of science to put him in a mental institution. That frustrated me the most. He WANTED help. He BEGGED for help. Yet the ward he was held at didn’t employ licensed psychiatrists…. What????????? He couldn’t help what he did because it wasn’t him. Do I condone his actions? Absolutely not, but boy oh boy the prison system is outrageous and this is only a fraction of an annoyance compared to the racial injustices, which I won’t get into because this book was not a social issue. But the mental health institutions of america seem nightmarish and I have heard from several accounts that is what they are. What am I saying wait one sec brainnnn

I was so entertained throughout. Is this the start to my true crime obsession? Possibly. Do I understand the sherlock appeal? Most definitely- except this man is a real person! So humble yet it must’ve been hard to be with that much talent.

Tw: rape
Only reason I was annoyed was a little bit of controversy I disagreed with. A man broke into this random woman’s home, strapped her down and her but said she was reacting… passionately. He admitted it was rape but dr Brussel here was like no it’s not don’t say “rape” I was like boi what no that’s most certainly what he did stop

Anyway amazing book besides that one sentence that should not repel you from the book, although uncomfy, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in crime or satisfying everything fitting into pieces etc

[MacKenzie Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic profiling book. Loved it!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Sherlock Holmes unter den Psychiatern hat mit einer verblüffenden neuen Methode einige der rätselhaftesten Verbrechen unserer Zeit gelöst. 

Der ehemalige FBI-Chefpsychiater lässt den Leser an der erregenden Jagd nach dem Täter teilnehmen. Und er eröffnet ihm damit auch faszinierende Einblicke in das Dunkelfeld der menschlichen Seele. 


Der Bericht ist in der Tat spannend und die Fälle interessant.  Das einzige, was mich bei dem Buch störte, war, dass der Autor sich selbst peinlich widerspricht, was einem "Mastermind" nicht passieren sollte. In der Einleitung betont er vehement und wiederholt, dass seine Erfolge nichts Geheimnisvolles an sich hätten und alles auf erlernten Fähigkeiten beruhe. So distanziert er sich zum Beispiel ausdrücklich von dem Ruf des "psychiatrischen Hellsehers". In seinen Fallbeschreibungen hingehen hagelt es aber selbstgefällig Sätze wie "Im Grunde entbehrte diese Annahme jeder wissenschaftlichen Grundlage. (...) Aber irgendwie konnte ich das (...)Bild nicht aus meinen Gedanken verdrängen - intuitiv sah ich ihn so." Trotzdem sind seine Profile schlüssig.

Wer darüber hinweg sehen kann und mag hat hier ein interessantes Buch von einem der ersten Profiler aus einer Zeit als es den Begriff "Profiler" noch gar nicht gab. 

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Fantastic - amazing insight. I read this book a long time ago and have been trying to hunt it down since.

[Imarie Oberholzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book by accident. It's nothing like the books I normally read, but I was intrigued and wanted to give something new a go. I really loved it. Despite being non-fiction it was written in such an engaging way that it really felt like fiction. I often researched the cases just to make sure that I was really reading a non-fiction casebook and not a fictional crime thriller. But it's so interesting and insightful and gripping to read, I could barely put it down. So if you're at all interested in crime or psychology or just looking for some interesting non-fiction, I would definitely recommend!

[Kate Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this compelling but dry in parts, and these type of professionals always sound like they have inflated egos (perhaps you have to, in order to succeed in this field). The more they try to sound humble, the more egotistical they appear! This guy isn’t nearly as bad as Christopher Berry-Dee, however, so we can breathe a sigh of relief at that.

The book denotes different murders, such as ‘The Mad Bomber’ and how the author profiled them at the time. It certainly is an intriguing art. For some, he gets it right, down to the very clothes the murderer will be wearing when caught. It’s hard not to be at least vaguely impressed by this.

There’s a case tagged on the end like a superfluous body part, perhaps an extra toe that just gets in the way. It becomes clear that the entire purpose of said extra toe is to appear humble to his readership. He says so much. Insert eye roll here.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a great read. The book provides an interesting and honest view into the process of profiling. Metesky's case is considered one of the first uses of modern profiling, and it really adds to the field to know its origins. Of course, a drawback of reading a book written in the 1960s means there are stereotypes and biases that mar otherwise poignant takes on the crimes and the person who was likely to have committed them. It's disappointing, but expected, to learn that Brussel was a man of his time, rather than ahead of it.

[B McCullagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in criminal profiling. James A Brussel is considered the founding father of criminal profiling. While a small section or 2 have extremely outdated views, this was written in the 60s, it is a fascinating read that I couldn't put down. I only wish he wrote me, he has an amazing talent for writing.

[Christopher Rodgman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly a bit of a letdown. Not worth the read.

[s leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

DNF. Don't have time to get it from the library. Might finish in the future. I enjoyed his insights and intelligence.

[Bebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had some good stories. He was a profiler before anyone had ever heard of the word.

[Cadie Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to get another perspective on cases that I have already read about.