Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet | 
| Authors: John Douglas, Stephen Singular
Publisher: Pocket Star
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 166463
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0743448804
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15
EAN: 9780743448802
ASIN: 0743448804
Publication Date: May 25, 2004
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Amazon.com Review
The Internet has made many enterprises easier since its rise to popularity in the mid-90s: book sales, personal correspondence, and, in the case of John Robinson, serial murder. Even before he ever went online, Robinson had forged a life consistent with a killer's profile. Despite being fired and arrested numerous times for fraud and theft, he wriggled out of serious trouble thanks to a smooth charm and cunning intelligence. For decades, Robinson's more sinister activities escaped the notice of nearly everyone, including law enforcement and, incredibly, his own wife. But what makes Robinson's story, as told here by John Douglas and Stephen Singular, uniquely disturbing is the presence of the World Wide Web and the ease with which a murderer can use it. Online, Robinson frequented chat rooms and sites dedicated to the lurid underground world of bondage and sadomasochism. In this anonymous space, he was free to assume honey-tongued new identities that he used to lure women, especially those in vulnerable situations, to Kansas with promises of employment, protection, or sex. Their subsequent disappearances were explained away with letters that appeared to be written by the victims but were actually typed by the killer on pieces of paper the women had previously signed. Ultimately, dogged law enforcement officials were able to catch up with Robinson and put him on trial after finding gruesome evidence of his deeds. While they are skilled true-crime writers, Douglas and Singular occasionally stray into hyperbole, which is far from necessary given the elements already present in Robinsons horrifying story. It is likely that any reader will walk a little more warily by their computer after reading this book and getting an idea of who might be hiding behind a given nickname. --John Moe
Product Description
Legendary FBI profiler and #1 New York Times bestselling author John Douglas explores the shocking case of John Robinson, a harmless, unassuming family man whose criminal history began with embezzlement and fraud -- and ended with his arrest for the savage murders of six women and his suspected involvement in at least five disappearances. Most disturbing was the hunting ground in which Robinson seduced his prey: the world of cyberspace. Haunting chat rooms, targeting vulnerable women, and exploiting the anonymity of the Internet, his bloody spree was finally halted by a relentless parole officer who spent ten years trying to nail Robinson as a cold-blooded killer.A cautionary tale set in a virtual world where relationships are established without the benefit of physical contact, and where mainstream Americans can be drawn down a dark path of temptation and death, Anyone You Want Me To Be is a contemporary real-life drama of high-tech crime and punishment.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
 Too Involved October 7, 2008
So many names, so many places, I couldn't keep up with it. I didn't read much as I don't waste my time reading books for pleasure that I don't like.
alienface
A chameleon killer. March 2, 2008
This book drives home the point that we live in a world of technology that reaches into our homes and brings with it dangers and difficult challenges for law enforcement. John Robinson is the prime example of what can go terribly wrong when people trust strangers.
What made Robinson so dangerous was his skill in adapting his criminal activity while lacking a conscience. He was charming and brazen.
The progression of John Robinson from con-man to serial killer was uncommon.
"Serial killers often have pasts that involve other violent crimes,but Robinson had seemingly evolved toward violence over decades.He'd graduated from one type of criminal to the next.He was always a work in progree."-page 212.
Mr.Douglas described the three different types of serial killers.
The prosecutions' difficulties presented by multiple jurisdictions was explained. The authors detailed some of the highlights of the death penalty trial in Kansas.
This book is hard to put down! The authors have written a fast-paced book with few boring pages. John Douglas is an author that I have come to appreciate for his insights as a profiler.
 Was John Robinson a true serial killer? September 18, 2007
After all, it has been said (by Mr. Douglas or someone else - I can't remember which) that 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez wasn't. In Mr. Robinson's case the same elements are present -- and the same elements are missing.
Both of these guys were nasty SOB's. But Ramirez's killings weren't sexually based. He didn't go around killing people for the gratification it got him, nor did he have a need to go out and kill again when the gratification from the last killing dissipated. He was fundamentally a burglar. If he picked the wrong house and someone walked in, he'd kill out of sheer spite -- or he'd run away. Or if a woman was home, he'd commit a rape of opportunity -- or he'd just slap her around and let her go. All serial killers are sociopaths, but not all sociopaths are serial killers.
John Robinson's contribution to us was a dandy of a demonstration as to how the internet could be used by a serial killer to lure his victims to him, rather than make him have to roam about looking for them. Mr. Robinson's winning formula is that he's a con artist, a scammer, a swindler. He's also into BDSM sex -- probably another way his desire to manipulate/dominate/control shows up. But his killings don't follow naturally as a result as they would with a true serial killer.
Linkage blindness alert: old wives tales about sexual minorities. Remember the one about how 'all homosexuals (gay men specifically) molest children'? Or how a lesbian can be easy -- and indeed, a wild woman in bed who'd challenge your sexual prowess -- if just the right guy makes just the right advance? These came about because of the sort of thinking that equates other-than-strictly-hetero sexual practices with a fulfillment issue -- 'any guy who'd use another man for gratification (or allow another man to use him as one would a woman) will do anything to get off . . .', or 'any woman who'd use another woman just needs a guy to satisfy her: the problem is, not every guy has what it takes . . .'. Not necessarily true. Nor is it true that BDSM has to culminate in sexually-based homicide, or even accidental death or serious injury from playing risky games with those whips and chains and spiked dog collars. (If BDSM is indeed as popular as this very book would have us believe -- and I don't doubt that -- then you'd see a lot more bodies turning up if more than a very, very small minority of its practitioners engaged in practices that resulted in death or high risk of death or serious injury). I point this out, however, because a) those in behavioral science agree that linkage blindness is sometimes a problem and b) I've indeed seen investigators reach bad conclusions by linking things that had no correlation, or by missing significant links that were indeed there. That they know to watch for the error doesn't make them immune from making it.
Evidence that Mr. Robinson't killings weren't sexually based?
First, the number of women that he lured into his web that he let go, that he didn't kill. Barbara Sandre. Alecia Cox. Vickie Neufeld. Jeanna Milliorn. (In Neufeld's and Milliron's case, even late in the series). Others.
Second, the missing pieces in Robinson himself. We see no elements of the 'homicidal trial' in his early life. We see a long record of fraud schemes and con games, but no nuisance sex offenses other than the occasional risque crack to a woman neighbor.
Third, there is no indication of ritual elements in the way the killings were carried out, nor in Robinson's postoffense behavior. True, it's odd that he kept the bodies in 55-gallon barrells on his properties, but for souvenir value? Or perhaps because he'd given no thought as to a better way to dispose of them. Or because they were so heavy that moving them would require an accomplice -- and a potential witness against him if things went wrong later.
Finally, all of the killings were disorganized. A hammer blow, or the use of some other blunt instrument to the head in each case? There are less messy ways of doing the job of intentional, premeditated murder.
More likely, one by one, these women got out of control somehow, caught on to the fact they were being used, caught on to who was picking up the alimony checks and disability checks at the Mail Room and cashing them. Or maybe they just wanted out, but knew too much to be let go without putting Robinson at risk. A confrontation occurred. And each of the killings in turn was Robinson's response to just that thing going wrong, his need to cover up his activities and his frauds (the discovery of which would no doubt lead to an investigation and the discovery of his double life).
Indeed, if the killings were done to cover up other crimes, that's a different classification of murder; not the sexually-based killings that are the mark of true serial killers.
The killings followed in sequence, and were related to, someone's need for kinky sexual gratification. But they weren't part of that need. They didn't happen as even a result, never mind a necessary result, of Robinson's sick kinky sex games. They didn't necessarily follow.
This one is like the Susan Smith tragedy in South Carolina, which I reinvestigated in more detail. The pieces go together if you hook them together one by one, as in the old 'Barrel of Monkeys' game that was popular in the '60's. But just because someone did that doesn't mean that one thing follows the next naturally, that the next thing that occurred had to occur because the last thing that happened happened. They only follow in sequence because someone hooked them together in a way that made sense at the time.
Here, we have a string of related killings that follow sexual exploitation. Accordingly, we naturally assume a serial killer. But it doesn't add up to how we define a serial killer.
Unlike Susan Smith's story, the moral of the story is still the same. If Robinson had indeed been a true serial killer, his ability to lure his victims via the Internet would be exactly what you would see happening. As for Robinson himself (again, unlike Susan Smith), he still did it (and quite intentionally), he still got exactly what he had coming to him for what he did, and he doesn't have my shoulder to cry on. He may escape execution, but he belongs in prison, forever, finally, keep him there, lock him up and weld the door shut. Period. For the victims and their families, it's still not a happy ending, but justice prevails.
And when criminal behavioral science experts make a mistake, it's easy for someone, somewhere to catch if they don't simply accept his work without question. It's going to happen once in awhile. We all have our bad days on the job.
John Douglas has done some great stuff, and I admire his work, but this isn't one of his better pieces.
 A horrific tail....I can't believe this really happened September 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a fast paced true Crime novel about the murderer John Robinson, who started off his criminal career with fraud and embezzling money. Later as the Internet became more popular he would surf the net looking for his victims. Finding women who he could lure into his sadistic life.
This book has some really graphic parts and also deals with the world of S&M, getting into detail about his relationships with some of the girls and how he made them sign slave contracts.
Once again it is amazing to see what someone can accomplish and get away with for so many years just by being a smooth talker and knowing how to read other people. Compiling more and more information on them through casual conversations and then using that knowledge against them. Quite sick. Makes you really think about how much information you give out over the internet, do you really know who you have been talking too???
This book also contains 8 pages of photos of John Robinson and some of his victims.
Cyberspace: The Hunting Ground! August 17, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is sickening to think that a family man as Robinson was able to sustained a family--a household-- and at the same time committed hideous crimes. Robinson used cyberspace as his hunting ground alluring vulnerable young women and take them into his world of sadomasochistic and sex-slavery, financially robbed them and ultimately killed them. In cyberspace, he portrayed himself as a charming, successful businessman, "claiming whoever he wanted to be." It was unfortunate that many fell for it. The story was engrossing at the same time horrific and plain gross. While this type of crime is less likely to occur in this generation, we are now facing another revolution of crime such as identity theft, phishing, bank fraud, cyberterror and child pornography. Hopefully, the Robinson's case is a cybercrime history that will never repeat itself, for it involved many precious lives. As a writer, this book is very helpful. It allowed me to take a peek at the mind of a psychopath and how he eluded the authorities. Cold Eyes
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