Jeffrey Rinek’s In The Name of the Children is definitely not a read for everyone. It’s heavy subject matter: child murders and abductions that Rinek worked in his days as an FBI agent.

But for those who like this genre, this is one I recommend. Rinek recounts his cases in a matter of fact way. He’s not salacious in what he shares. But his absolute humanity comes through in each case he shares, and it is this humanity that really makes the book. You can tell how much he wants to help each victim and the victim’s family. He even manages to humanize the perpetrators in some instances, without letting them off the hook for their actions.

The most important thing I think Rinek does, though, is talk honestly the toll this line of work took on him emotionally and physically, and also that it took on his family.

It’s hard to say you enjoy a book like this, but this one is well-written and I’m not sorry I read it. As I said at the beginning, it’s not a read for everyone. When I was younger, I wanted to be an FBI agent, a profiler, really. I decided against it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I thought “It’s one thing to read a book about how terrible human beings can be to each other. It’s another to look it dead on and know it for a fact.” I was afraid I would get into a vey dark place and not be able to come out of. That very nearly happened to Rinek. I’m grateful he shared his story.