Based on his extensive interviews with the shooter, a forensic psychologist shares “a powerful book that delves deep into a seriously deranged mind” (New York Review of Books).
On July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, James Holmes entered a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises wearing body armor and a gas mask. He carried with him a tactical shotgun, a high-capacity assault rifle, and a sidearm. After throwing a canister of tear gas into the crowd, he began firing. Soon twelve were dead and fifty-eight were wounded; young children and pregnant women among them. Holmes was later found calmly waiting at his car. Unlike the majority of mass shooters, he was detained without resistance.
In the court case that followed, only forensic psychologist Dr. William H. Reid would be allowed to record interviews with the defendant. Reid analyzed Holmes’ diary, phone calls and text messages. He interviewed his family and acquaintances, spoke to his victims, and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of evidence and court testimony in an attempt to understand how a happy, seemingly normal child could become a killer.
In A Dark Night in Aurora, Reid draws on his research and twenty-three hours of unredacted interview transcripts to bring the reader inside the mind of a mass murderer. This updated edition includes a new afterword by the author.
