69. "The Sexual Criminal" by J. Paul de River

The Sexual Criminal by J. Paul de River was written as a textbook for police officers dealing with sexual crimes, and it isn't for the faint of heart or stomach; in fact, there's a "mature content" warning on the back cover. Despite being written in the late 1940s, the book contains the most graphic crime scene photos I've ever seen (and that's saying something). I skipped a couple of chapters that I knew would upset me too much (such as the one on sadistic, sexual abuse of animals).

De River might be familiar to aficionados of the Black Dahlia case, because he fixated on a suspect and illegally detained the man, keeping him handcuffed in a hotel room for several days. Prior to that disgrace, he'd headed up a sex crimes unit for the LAPD and apparently had forged a fairly successful career solving sexual crimes.

The book itself is interesting primarily for the interviews with an array of offenders. A common factor is their attempts to minimize or deny their own involvement in their crimes. De River's analyses seem forced at times; he uses terms like "will to power" in an attempt to explain and analyze why these offenders did what they did. This approach, which is semi-philosophical and sort of psychological, doesn't effectively explain the mindset or development of psychopathic criminals, however.