That Beast Was Not Me: One Forensic Psychologist, Five Decades of Conversations with Killers

AN UP-CLOSE AND PERSONAL LOOK

AT THE MURDERING MIND ...

In 1975, after Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme's attempt to kill President Gerald Ford, the FBI found a cache of letters in the would-be assassin's Sacramento apartment. The return address belonged to future forensic psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon, then a young undergraduate.

A decade later, after the shocking murders of two co-workers, Smalldon's quest to understand the twisted minds and motivations of killers became personal in a way it never had been before.

THAT BEAST WAS NOT ME documents five decades of conversations with murderers like John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, serial sniper Thomas Lee Dillon, and Donald Harvey-then thought to be the most prolific serial killer in American history. Through letters, prison visits, and interviews, Smalldon gives readers a terrifying look into the darkest recesses of the human psyche.