Mindhunter

"I want you to study these words." The list, as I recall, contained such gems of Anglo-Saxon usage as shit, fuck, cunnilingus, fellatio, cunt, and dickhead. What we were supposed to do was commit these words to memory so that if they ever came up in field usage—such as during the interrogation of a suspect—we’d know what to do. And what we were supposed to do was to make sure any case report containing any of these words was given to the office’s "obscene steno"—I’m not kidding!—rather than the regular secretary. The obscene steno would traditionally be an older, more mature and seasoned woman, better able to handle the shock of seeing these words and phrases. Remember, this was all men in those days, and in 1970 the nation al sensibility was somewhat different from what it is today, at least within Hoover’s FBI. We were actually given a spelling test on these words, after which the papers were collected and—I presume—graded before being burned in the metal trash can.

This is kind of a sick version of the old joke about how many psychiatrists it takes to change a lightbulb—the answer being just one, but only if the lightbulb wants to change.

We’re all vulnerable. It doesn’t matter how much you know, how experienced you are, how many suspect interrogations you’ve handled successfully. It doesn’t matter if you understand the technique. Each of us can be gotten to—if you can just figure out where and how we’re vulnerable.

Monsters had to be supernatural creatures. They couldn’t be just like us.

In 1924, the author Richard Connell wrote a short story entitled "The Most Dangerous Game." It was about a big-game hunter named General Zaroff who had tired of pursuing animals and had begun hunting a much more challenging and intelligent prey: human beings. It’s still a popular story. My daughter Lauren read it recently in school.

Three years later, Wilkie Collins based his groundbreaking detective novel, The Moonstone, on the Kent case.

When reporters are cooperative with me, I’m cooperative with them. And in certain cases, when they’ve been particularly cooperative, I’ve given them exclusives when the inside story could finally be told.

I said that the campaign I had outlined could be used against both of them. In fact, since I thought whoever had done it felt periodic guilt and remorse, a bit of extra flair might involve having a woman portray Karla and call each of them in the middle of the night, sobbing and asking, "Why? Why? Why?

My heart went out to this guy. Nothing is sacred! He figures he’ll go off where he won’t bother anybody, mind his own business, and now even the president of the United States knows he was jacking off in the woods!

but eventually he wants more of a kick.