Available Formats
Paperback
Published: 10th September 2024
Hardback
Published: 5th October 2024
Paperback
Published: 5th August 2025
The Criminal Mind
By (Author) Dr Duncan Harding
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Books Ltd
5th August 2025
8th May 2025
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Forensic medicine
Autobiography: science, technology and medicine
Forensic science
Criminal or forensic psychology
Popular science
True crime
Medical profession
614.15092
Paperback
400
Width 130mm, Height 198mm, Spine 25mm
279g
Pre-order this edge-of-your-seat journey into the darkest depths of the human mind from forensic psychiatrist Dr Duncan Harding
"Grips you from the start like a bestselling novel then takes you on an extraordinary journey Riveting JOHN HUMPHRYS
Incisive, informative and occasionally shocking, The Criminal Mind is an engrossing book DR RICHARD SHEPHERD, bestselling author of Unnatural Causes
A penetrating insight into the darkest corners of the human mind. The most moving, surprising and compelling book youll read this year M.J. ARLIDGE, bestselling author of Eeny Meeny
- A likeable young girl whos burnt her family home to the ground
- A man with no memory of the night he killed his wife
- A teenager whose visions and voices have had murderous effect
One question binds these and others from the casebook of Britains leading forensic psychiatrist: Why
What drives a person to commit seemingly inexplicable crimes Dr Duncan Harding is the person the police and the courts turn to for answers.
An expert witness, he must try to establish a defendants mental state and motivation. And their fitness to stand trial.
Growing up in a broken, violent home, Harding became a doctor because he wanted to be good and kind. It led him on a journey that has brought him face to face with psychopaths, taken him to the limits of his compassion and to the darkest corners of his own troubled past.
But hes never turned away nor given up hope. Mesmerising, insightful and redemptive, The Criminal Mind is his unforgettable story.
'Not just another forensic psychiatrists casebook. . . . a moving account of how Harding became a child and adolescent forensic psychiatrist, caring for mentally disordered child and adolescent offenders' KEITH RIX professor of medical jurisprudence and forensic psychiatrist
Superbly written, as tense as a thriller, this is a book that will make you miss the bus so gripping are these cases * Daily Mail *
Hardings riveting memoir is often very moving it left me with a powerful respect for all the people in the health and justice systems who put their lives on the line to keep us safe * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
A combination of medical coming-of-age tale and true crime that is particularly gripping Harding writes with empathy and insight each patient a mystery to unpick * IRISH INDEPENDENT *
Insightful, informative and sometimes shocking, The Criminal Mind is an engrossing book -- DR RICHARD SHEPHERD, AUTHOR OF UNNATURAL CAUSES * - *
A penetrating insight into the darkest corners of the human mind. The most moving, surprising and compelling book youll read this year -- M.J. ARLIDGE, AUTHOR OF EENY MEENY * - *
Grips you from the start like a bestselling novel then takes you on an extraordinary journey that reveals, based on the authors own clinical experience, why some of us lead lives of love and some of hate. Riveting -- JOHN HUMPHRYS * - *
A fantastic read a very accessible window into the darker recesses of human behaviour hard to put down -- JUDGE DAVID WILLIAMS * - *
Not just another forensic psychiatrists casebook, but a moving account of how Duncan Harding became forensic psychiatrist -- KEITH RIX, PROFESSOR IN FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY * - *
Dr Duncan Harding is a consultant adolescent forensic psychiatrist, working with adults and children who commit serious crime. He is a specialist member of the Parole Board for England and Wales, and the college lead for expert witnesses at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Specialising in forensic mental health, he has provided expert testimony in many court cases involving homicide, serious violence and terrorism, and has conducted research into conduct disorder and criminal psychopathy. He lives in London.