Synthesizing research from multiple disciplines with carefully constructed case studies, this book once and for all puts to rest the prevailing mystique of the sudden rampaging assailant and reveals the predictable premeditative nature of the crime. With prose that is both lively and scholarly, the book traces the killer’s devolution from a vulnerable mindset through social disenfranchisement to preparations, assault, inevitable dissolution, and the eventual tragic resolution. Central to this psychological autopsy is analyses of the words and deeds of the murderers themselves before and after their massacres. The book concludes with a nod toward the necessity for intervening measures and so offers recommendations for additional resources for prevention and intervention.
