This is a true-crime book about the Vidocq society, which is a group of 82 forensic scientists and detectives and criminal profilers who host a get-together every now and again to attempt to solve some of the country's most heinous or most infamous (or both) crimes. The detectives take on a number of widely known cases including John List and the Boy in the Box and discuss the evidence and how they arrived at their decision of who the guilty party is. As someone who reads a lot of true-crime stories, this book is a treasure trove of stories and is not to be missed! The only thing about the book that I disliked is that there are a number of names mentioned and sometimes it's difficult to keep up with who is whom. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

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This is everything anyone could want in the true crime genre. I ordered it from my library and was the first one to get it. I haven't put it down since it arrived. The structure revolves around a group of retired crime fighters known as the Vidocq Society. The three who conceived of the idea of putting together 82 people, women and men, who were at the top of their field in the solving of crimes that had been deemed "unsolvable" by the police who had worked on them for at least two years, usually many more, are themselves geniuses in their own right. The Society takes on some of the most heinous murders ever known to police around the country. The case of "The Boy In the Box" is one that had gone unsolved since the child's body was found in a cardboard box in 1957. Another is the story of the psychopath John List, who had murdered his entire family, then just disappeared. After Frank Bender, the VSM's reknowned forensic sculpter's bust of List appeared on "America's Most Wanted" the calls started coming in. John List was found, 18 years after he had slipped from sight, living not 300 miles from his original home where the murders were committed.
Each case is handled in their own sometimes odd ways, and each time the mysteries are untangled by the amazing expertise, and at times eerie skills, of the members of the Vidocq Society. About the writing ... I would have preferred that the author hadn't rambled quite as much, and some of his references are repeated unnecessarily. On the other hand he does an amazing job of research and recording of all the facts in a very readable way. I intend to purchase this book because it's one I will want to refer back to frequently.

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If you're an aficionado of true crime, this book is for you! Dozens of top-in-their-field law men come together to form the Vicodq Society and solve cold cases. Great read!

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Hard to read. Numerous perspectives and protagonists. It's interesting, because it follows the development of the Vidocq Society and many of their successes. On the other hand, there is no clear thread to follow.

Interesting for people who want to get a glance of the Vidocq Society, but not very readable. Also: Do not read if you are squeamish!

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I was very excited to read this book but I was very disappointed once I finally got to sit down to read it. The book has great detail and although the subject matter is interesting and captivating, the way it was put together is disjointed and not compiled in an easy to read manner. I felt lost at times and found myself racking my brain trying to remember the people mentioned throughout the story. In the end, I found I couldn't get through the whole book. It really could have been edited better.

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This is a great series of vignettes about how a bunch of science and techies apply their knowledge, experiences, and time to work with both investigators and families on cold cases that stumped the police from 2 to 50+ years before. Each case involves at least one of our three founders of the invitation-only Vidocq Society. Some cases span many chapters, often interweaving between each other and a few cases that take only one chapter to present and solve. Due to the volunteer-nature of the Vidocq consultants (who only hear cases once a month over 15-years) there are lots of names that converge and mingle with our three main Vidocqians.

This book really skims over the actual forensics sciences we're used to from those TV and police procedurals. But what is present is the detailed explanation of the basis of criminal profiles, serial killer types and their evolutionary stages. This rang truer than the fluff found on the Law and Order and CSI franchises. Even the purportedly the psychological expert show - Perception - pales in comparison to the "logical" base laid out by forensics psycholiogist Richard Walter, one of the inventers of criminal profiling during the 1970-1980's.

FYI. The quarterly Vidocq Journal is available on-line for additional education on various subcategories of forensics tech.

--Kuzu

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Excellent book about the Vidocq Society (VS) and its extraordinary work on unsolved or "cold" cases. The author focuses on the three founding members of VS, all three of whom have fascinating personal histories and years of experience working some of the most horrible murder cases of our time. While this is a non-fiction work, it is an easy, interesting read.

Those of you who, like me, are fascinated by the psychology of serial killers or murderers in general, and who love a good unsolved crime story, will really enjoy this book. As each case was discussed I fed my need for more information by doing on-line research. The added detail made the book that much more intriguing since many times the information on-line omitted any mention of the VS's assistance in solving the crime - something that is discussed in the book.

I liked this book so much that I'll be keeping my copy. The author provides recommended readings and other reference resources that make this one a keeper. If you can get your hands on a good copy, do it! You won't be disappointed.

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An interesting group of people but the book just skimmed the surface of a lot of investigations. I would have preferred an in depth reading about a few investigations.

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Content moved a little slow for me - took me awhile to get into the book. It was interesting though.

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Really a slow read for me.

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