Book Review: Detecting Deception

Detecting Deception: The Art & Science of Uncovering & Testifying to the Truth

by Paul S. McCormick

Looseleaf Law Publications (2013)

The Short Version: This highly accessible, entertaining guide for law enforcement professionals, exploring how to glean the truth when interrogating suspects, will also be of interest to many readers who are not in the law enforcement profession.

Despite what we've seen on television, obtaining a confession from a suspect isn't about bravado and heated confrontations in dingy, brightly lit rooms. Gleaning the truth while interviewing suspects, victims, and others involved in an alleged crime is a complex art, honed by years of training and experience. It's tricky. People lie. Some folks are especially good at it. Memories are imperfect reflections of truth, and they are continually reshaped by our feelings and experiences. Being a successful interviewer -- and managing to uncover the truth -- involves myriad skills, as well as empathy, integrity, and awareness.

In Detecting Deception, the author coaches readers on these skills and attributes. In addition to asking the right questions, an interviewer has to be mindful of how he* presents himself to a suspect in his demeanor, body language, and communication style. He has to deftly read the suspect's facial expressions and body language as well as subtle nuances in his choice of words.

McCormick's discussion of these skills is seamlessly blended with various aspects of human psychology. In addition to antisocial and psychopathic personalities, he explores "fight or flight" responses, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, cognitive dissonance, learning styles, and extroversion vs. introversion. In order to connect with a suspect and learn the truth, it's important to understand what motivates him and how to effectively relate to him.

While the author has a wealth of expertise on this subject, he writes in an engaging conversational style, laced with humor, and this book is completely accessible to typical readers. McCormick's keen intelligence and humility, as well as his broad experience, shine through. Details from actual criminal cases and personal anecdotes make Detecting Deception particularly interesting and entertaining.

I believe this book is a valuable resource for law enforcement professionals, counselors, educators, and anyone else who wants to become more adept at communicating, interviewing, and discerning whether someone is telling the truth. I also think it will be of interest to many people in the general population, especially those who have some interest in crime, law enforcement, or psychology. Writers will find this an especially valuable resource. If you're crafting mysteries or thrillers, you can gain insight into the process of criminal investigations. If you write any kind of fiction, McCormick's exploration of facial expressions and body language can help enrich your character development.

The Bottom Line: Despite being packed with information, this was a quick, entertaining read. While fascinating and richly informative, it's written in an accessible conversational style, and the author's personality and sense of humor shine through. Accounts of actual criminal cases and interviews with suspects make it particularly interesting and engaging.


*I'm following the old grammatical convention of using "he" in lieu of "he or she." I don't intend to be sexist -- obviously there are many seasoned law enforcement professionals of both genders. As a writer, I simply find the alternative -- "he or she" -- wordy and awkward.

About the Author: Paul McCormick is a criminal investigator and licensed polygraph examiner in Augusta County, Virginia. His investigative work focuses largely on sexual and violent crimes.

He is a child forensic interviewer, trained in cognitive interviewing, a member of the Crisis Negotiation Team, an active member of the multi-disciplinary sexual abuse task force, and a Master of Instructor for the Blue Ridge Crisis Intervention Team.

Tim Rowland's Creature Features Is Laugh Out Loud Funny

Yes, I mean that literally. As I was reading this on my Kindle, my family kept staring at me and demanding to know what was so dang funny.

Rowland is an award-winning columnist at the Herald-Mail Media in Hagerstown, Maryland. This book is a collection of his columns, which chronicle life on a small farm with his wife Beth and various critters.

I was on the fence about accepting Creature Features for review, but as you probably know, I can't resist a genuine animal lover. Plus my dad is also a newspaper columnist, and I figured people in this underappreciated profession -- and their relatives -- need to stick together. I was delighted to find out how much I loved Rowland's intelligent, articulate, and witty style of writing. A nice diversion from my own life with three feral dogs and the two-legged critters to whom I answer to "Mom."

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told through John G. Neihardt

Guest Post by Ernest Marshall 

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told through John G. Neihardt, University of Nebraska Press, 1961

Neihardt does a superb job of capturing Black Elk’s voice (his daughter served as stenographer and Neihardt was intimately acquainted with the culture of the Sioux).  One feels that Black Elk is speaking directly to the reader.  Part of this feeling probably comes from Black Elk’s simple and direct way of telling a story.

Book Review (Guest Post) The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith

 Guest Post by Ernest Marshall

The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith, by Irshad Manji, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003

Ms. Manji’s book is both a heartfelt defense and scathing criticism of Islam.  To understand this, a bit of her background is helpful.

Of South Asian descent, she immigrated to Canada from East Africa when four years old, and was raised in a Muslim family in the midst of modern Western cultural values. There are over a billion Muslims worldwide; they are not all living in Middle Eastern countries. Part of her message is that the monolithic view of Islam is not just a common misperception of the West, but a mistaken and harmful mindset of most of the Muslim world.

Thoreau: A Voice for All Things Wild

Guest Post by Ernest Marshall

An awareness of nature pervades the written word, whether poems, essays, short stories, novels, or newspaper and magazine articles.  Here is an example at hand.  I finished the gripping conclusion to Mary Higgins Clark’s A Cry In The Night , my latest mystery, at about 2 a.m. this morning.  The opening paragraph of the concluding chapter reads like this:

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks spent six years in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. As she traveled around the region, she talked to Muslim women about their lives, their struggles, and their faith. From the first page, I found it fascinating.

Brooks spent a great deal of time in Iran, which has seen a resurgence of Fundamentalism since 1979, when supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah's oppressive, secular government and seized control of the country. She explored Palestinian culture. She went to Jordan, where she chronicled the life and achievements of Queen Noor. She delved into life in Egypt. She studied life in Saudi Arabia, where women are forbidden to drive and have no role in public life, and United Arab Emirates, where women serve in the military. She also touched on Lebanon, Iraq, and other places.
She studied the varied, complex roles of women throughout the Islamic Middle East. She discussed hijab (traditional Muslim dress), marriage, including child marriage and polygamy, "honor killings" of women suspected of being unchaste, the role of women in politics and in the workforce, and other topics.

She also studied the history of the Prophet Mohammad, including God's revelations to him, his teachings, and his relationships with his many wives. She analyzed the way his teachings are reflected in -- or have been distorted to justify -- treatment of women.

Brooks is Australian, raised Catholic and a convert to Judaism. Her values are thoroughly Western, and she was shocked by the widespread oppression of women she saw. Nevertheless, although I have little knowledge of Islamic culture to draw on, I found her discussion to be respectful and balanced, trying to understand the faith and lives of Muslim women within the context of their own cultures.
I certainly found her work to be more balanced and complex than other things I have read or heard.

For example, after the revolution in Iran, Fundamentalist Muslims came out of hiding, establishing single-sex schools and workplaces designed to adhere to strict Islamic principles. Women were losing freedom at an alarming rate, facing violence and repression from their new government. They were discouraged from leaving their homes, severely punished for small transgressions in the strict dress code, and forbidden to travel without the permission of a male relative. For more insight into this, I recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

Yet ironically, women were also gaining freedom. Fundamentalist families who had never let their daughters leave the house began allowing them to attend school, since single sex, religious education was available, and some women were afforded the opportunity to leave their homes for the first time. Now in spite of oppressive rules they face, Iranian women have a vital role in public life.

I gleaned a wealth of knowledge from this book, and I felt I gained some insight into religious freedom and Fundamentalist Islam -- from both angles. As frightening as a Fundamentalist Theocracy is, I was also saddened by the way Fundamentalist Muslims were repressed and kept in hiding under the Shah's regime. Restricting religious freedom is a double edged sword, and those who are oppressed are predisposed to become oppressors.

One thing Brooks didn't explore, perhaps because it was simply beyond the scope of her book, was the role the other major monotheistic religions -- Christianity and Judiasm -- play in the lives of women. Christian and Jewish Fundamentalism also places strict rules of females. Exploring this might put her study of women and Fundamentalist Islam in perspective.

Another drawback, though this isn't a criticism of the book, is that all the works I've read on Islam, including Nine Parts of Desire and A History of God by Karen Armstrong have been written by Westerners. Even Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I mentioned earlier, is written largely from a Western perspective. Although she is Iranian, Azar Nafisi was raised in a family that had been heavily influenced by Western thought and has lived in the United States for many years. It would be interesting to look at these issues through the eyes of faithful Muslim women, many of whom have embraced a strictly observant religious life by choice. Geraldine Brooks addressed this by talking to religious Muslim women, including some American converts, but it still left me with questions.

I believe this book is unique, and it combines the author's work as an experienced journalist with the gorgeous writing that shines in her novels, including March and Year of Wonders. Any reader interested in this subject will find it thought provoking and richly rewarding.

Read More Reviews:
Islam for Today
Jannah.org Islam Peace
Invitation to Truth: Islam Explained
Daniel Pipes
Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'?


Rating: 4

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me