5 Of The Best Books On Behavioural Science And Forensic Psychology

by Angelo Marcos
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5 books
Forensic psychology has exploded on television and in movies in recent years, and true crime documentaries dominate streaming services like Netflix. From Dexter to Hannibal to Making a Murderer, it seems as though we can't get enough of crime in one form or another. As a writer of psychological thrillers, I wanted to take things back to basics, and recommend five books on forensic psychology and behavioural science that I feel everyone with an interest in this area should read.
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The Gift of Fear

Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence
Gavin De Becker, 1999
The book is written by Gavin De Becker, who is a security specialist. One of the biggest lessons of the book is to trust your instinct and intuition, as often our subconscious minds pick up on small cues that haven't quite reached our conscious mind yet. I read this book over 20 years ago, and I still use a lot of the principles today.

Mindhunter

Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker, 2017
John Douglas was one of the first-ever FBI criminal profilers and has interviewed and studied serial killers and other violent offenders throughout his career. This book - now a Netflix show - fuses a history of the FBI's work in behavioural science with Douglas' own work and experiences. Interestingly, John Douglas was also the inspiration for Special Agent Jack Crawford in the Silence of the Lambs.

Without Conscience

The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us
Robert D. Hare, 2011
Robert Hare is pretty much royalty in the area of psychopathy, having developed the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, which is a psychological assessment tool used to assess the presence of psychopathy in individuals. In this book, Hare outlines what psychopathy is - and isn't - often coming back to the question as to whether people diagnosed as psychopaths should be considered 'mad' or 'bad'. Definitely a classic and fascinating to read.

Investigative Psychology

Offender Profiling and the Analysis of Criminal Action
David V. Canter, Donna Youngs, 2009
This is a heavy, academic book, written by another huge name in forensic psychology, David Canter (google him - trust me, he's impressive). The first part of the book looks at the history and development of 'investigative psychology', as well as looking at criminal profiling and forensic psychology in general. Canter is very honest about the difficulties and problems faced in this field, which is refreshing to read. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Jigsaw Man

Paul Britton, 2013
This one might be a bit controversial, as the author (in)famously worked with the police on Operation Edzell - a sting operation aimed at getting a confession from the main suspect in the Rachel Nickell case. The methods used were heavily criticised later on, with Britton himself coming under particular scrutiny for his part. It is very interesting reading Britton's take on this, as well as finding out about the other cases he has worked on.