Book Review: Mike German. Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books Inc., Pp. xii, 239

• Author: Salih Hakan Can
• Published date: 01 September 2009
• Date: 01 September 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1057567709335888
• publishedBy: Sage Publications, Inc.

discussed. In chapter 7, Deanna Cahill, Rachel Dickey, and Philip Shon synthesize the literature on

necrophilia and discuss several notorious serial murder cases in relation to necrophilic behavior.

The final part of this book focuses on the media influence on multiple murders. In chapter 8, John

Fuller offers insight into the world of media. This chapter explains how the media have instilled fear

and fascination in the public by elevating the image of a serial murderer into celebrity status through

sensational stories. Using details from several cases, Fuller presents three distinctive types of

extreme violent crimes that get maximum media attention: serial murder, mass murder, and lust mur-

der. In chapter 9, Christopher Kudlac reports findings from a 17-year study on the media reportage of

serial killing from 1977 to 1994. Kudlac discusses the newspaper coverage of several ‘‘celebrated’’

serial killers and distinguishes them from ‘‘unattractive’’ serial killers that get minimal media

attention.

The final chapter written by the editors focuses on the phenomenological and existential perspec-

tives of lust serial homicide. Unlike other mainstream criminological literature, this chapter offers a

rather different view on lust homicide by perceiving it as a mode of adaptation, subjectivization, and

ritualistic expression. The authors argue that lust murder is a form of creative expression of patho-

logical stress adjustment, which entails some ceremonial aspects such as sexual fantasy and

paraphilias.

In general, this book is a must read for those who are interested in learning more about lust homi-

cide. This compilation of readings stands out among other literature within this discipline by provid-

ing both theoretical framework and real-life practicality in studying and investigating lust murders.

A slight drawback of this book is the lack of empirically supported study being presented. The the-

oretical and practical issues are the emphases of this work. Nonetheless, this manuscript is an easily

read and understood text for practitioners dealing with this type of crime. On the whole, this book is

strongly recommended for those who are researching in the area of serial lust homicide.

Heng-Choon (Oliver) Chan

University of South Florida

Mike German. Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a

Former FBI Undercover Agent. Washington, D.C.:

Potomac Books Inc., Pp. xii, 239.

DOI: 10.1177/1057567709335888

Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, authored by Mike

German, confronts the reality ‘‘if you do not know the history, you may end up repeating it.’’

Historically, terrorists have always had a real plan, copied mostly from the past asymmetric warfare

victories, and they are trying to adopt it to their current goals in the modern days. Uniquely, this book

offers insights into why terrorism is such a persistent and difficult problem and why the U.S.

approach to counterterrorism is not working. Although working on the arguments, German focuses

on three major areas: (a) definitional problems with the pejorative meaning of terrorism, (b) concep-

tualizing and theorizing terrorism by assessing terrorism typologies around the globe, and (c) an

unorthodox approach to fix the problem without compromising any civil liberties. The author devel-

ops his arguments mostly in the frame of his ‘‘unusualeducation’’ while he was an undercover agent

with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and by using a unique ‘‘lessons learned’’ approach with

exemplifying the applications mostly used by FBI’s Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO).

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