Portrait of a Psychopath. A Profiler on Serial Killers

Profiling has become widely known to the public only relatively recently, and thanks to writers and filmmakers, many myths, speculations, and falsehoods are associated with it today. The book by professional profiler Anna Kulyk lets you step into this nerve-racking and imaginative world. It tells the history of profiling and how its methods are applied in modern conditions, including in business. You’ll learn how psychopaths differ from sociopaths and what factors influence the formation of a serial killer. In addition, Anna reveals details of the profiler’s work, illustrating the narrative with examples and interesting stories from her own practice. This isn’t just a gallery portrait of the most frightening maniacs and psychopaths, and not a dry criminology study—it’s an engaging psychological and documentary essay. At the same time, by deeply immersing herself in the biographies of well-known criminals—“The Butovo maniac” Pichushkin, “The Angarsk maniac” Popkov, Chikatilo, Mikhasevich, Spesivtsev, Tkach, Golovkin, Mokhov, Iskhakov, Kabanov, Sokolov, and others— the author never оправдовує them. On the contrary, in the book they appear neither as heroes nor as enigmatic villains with deep philosophy and great ideas. We’ll see them as they are in reality—weak, narcissistic, and incapable of compassion.