Reviews

92

in 1976 a handsome and charming 30-year-old man by the name of Theodore Robert Bundy walked into

the offi ces of Utah-based psychologist Dr Al Carlisle. At the time, Bundy

had been arrested, charged and convicted of the aggravated kidnapping of a young woman in Salt Lake City by the name of Carol Da Ronch. It was during the run up to his sentencing that Dr Carlisle analysed Bundy as part of a 90-day assessment, aimed at establishing if Bundy “had the capacity for violence commensurate with the crime he had been convicted of” and whether sentencing passed should be a prison term or probation. Such was a time when the world was blithely unaware of Bundy’s murderous intentions, but the soon-to-be serial killer’s behaviour gave Dr Carlisle reason to believe something much more sinister lurked beneath the clean and serene exterior Bundy so easily imitated.

Whether you consider the cream of the crop of serial killers to be mad or bad, fi rst cast your eyes

over the pages of Dr Carlisle’s latest book. Readers will be privy to the inner workings of Bundy’s mind as Violent Mind publishes never before seen interviews with the killer himself and those who knew him, about his relationships, his feeling of inferiority and the personal experiences that shaped him. From his conversations with a man who one day would dominate the media with his shocking crimes, Dr Carlisle has put together a step-by-step evaluation on how he deemed Bundy to have the capacity to commit kidnap and – as would soon become public knowledge – much worse.

Those who met Bundy before his execution in 1989 have published books about their experiences, from queen of true crime Ann Rule, to Bundy’s lawyer John Henry Brown and even the victims who got away. All of them explore the emotional side of sharing space with a world-famous serial killer. However, Carlisle’s book and his experiences of Bundy are highly clinical, written in a way that gives readers more of an understanding of how a psychological assessment of someone like Bundy really works, from TWIST assessments to Thematic Apperception Tests and how they offer an insight into the human mind. We highly recommended it: anyone who delves into this short but insightful book will surface with a much better understanding of the mind of the killer.

Released ouT now

autHoR dR al caRlisle

PublisHeR genius Book puBlishing

available in papeRBack

violenT Mind: The 1976 psychological assessMenT oF Ted Bundy

so often has fi ction’s most iconic consulting detective had his assorted cases put under the

magnifying glass that the man himself has remained relatively enigmatic, snatched hints aside. Billy Wilder’s forgotten 1970 gem rectifi es this, delivering a warts-and-all take on Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson that nonetheless never quite allows parody to overtake the myth.

The creators of the 2010 Sherlock TV series, Steven Moff at and Mark Gatiss, have both cited this as an inspiration, and it’s clear to see how this functioned as a precursor. While Holmes’s (Robert Stephens) brilliance remains undimmed, Wilder draws a line early on between myth and ‘reality’ with an early scene seeing Holmes reprimanding Watson (Colin Blakely) for embellishing tales of his

deeds. Rather than a superman, he is merely extremely competent.

For once in his back catalogue of escapades, the case takes a back seat to character study, as his latest case involving the mysterious Gabrielle Valladon (Genevieve Page) searching for her missing husband only serves to shine a light on Holmes himself. He is a a man who turns to self-destruction when not distracted by a case worthy of his genius, and is so guarded about his private life and emotions that he’s happy for people to draw the conclusion that he possesses neither.

Wilder’s fi lms have always been imbued with some level of darkness, from Sunset Boulevard to Some Like It Hot, and it’s the same here, with Holmes proving a receptive subject to such a treatment.

Not everything works – the opening modern-day framing scene feels redundant in context, and the ending is slightly inconsequential in how little it actually delivers – but it’s still an intriguing take on the character and stands out as one of the more left-fi eld takes to date.

The pRivaTe liFe oF sheRlock holMesReleased 22 JanuaRy 2018

diRectoR Billy wildeR

distRibutoR euReka enTeRTainMenT lTd

available on Blu-Ray

RCR33.reviews.indd 92 12/18/17 9:57 AM