In October of 2002, a series of sniper attacks paralyzed the Washington Beltway, turning normally placid gas stations, parking lots, restaurants, and school grounds into chaotic killing fields. After the spree, ten people were dead and several others wounded. The perpetrators were forty-one-year-old John Allen Muhammad and his seventeen-year-old protégé, Lee Boyd Malvo.

Called in by the judge to serve on Malvo's defense team, social worker Carmeta Albarus was instructed by the court to uncover any information that might help mitigate the death sentence the teen faced. Albarus met with Malvo numerous times and repeatedly traveled back to his homeland of Jamaica, as well as to Antigua, to interview his parents, family members, teachers, and friends. What she uncovered was the story of a once promising, intelligent young man, whose repeated abuse and abandonment left him detached from his biological parents and desperate for guidance and support. In search of a father figure, Malvo instead found John Muhammad, a veteran of the first Gulf War who intentionally shaped his protégé through a ruthlessly efficient campaign of brainwashing, sniper training, and race hatred, turning the susceptible teen into an angry, raging, and dissociated killer with no empathy for his victims.

In this intimate and carefully documented account, Albarus details the nature of Malvo's tragic attachment to his perceived "hero father," his indoctrination, and his subsequent dissociation. She recounts her role in helping to extricate Malvo from the psychological clutches of Muhammad, which led to a dramatic courtroom confrontation with the man who manipulated and exploited him. Psychologist Jonathan H. Mack identifies and analyzes the underlying clinical psychological and behavioral processes that led to Malvo's dissociation and turn toward serial violence. With this tragic tale, the authors emphasize the importance of parental attachment and the need for positive and loving relationships during the critical years of early childhood development. By closely examining the impact of Lee Boyd Malvo's childhood on his later development, they reach out to parents, social workers, and the community for greater awareness and prevention.

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Lee Boyd Malvo's chaotic life at the hands of 'caregivers' didn't make headlines until he pulled the trigger. Carmeta Albarus's detailed account―from extensive interviews with the boy who was groomed by a predator to murder―provides compelling insight into the mitigating circumstances of his story.

(Kathleen Carty, president of the National Organization of Forensic Social Work)

This is an extremely well written book that reads like a novel, but is based on true events. I strongly recommend every medical student, psychiatric resident, and fellow in forensic psychiatry read it to learn of the psychodynamics behind homicide and violent behavior and the details of developing a proper mental health defense.

(Robert L. Sadoff, clinical professor of forensic psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine)

The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo offers the unabashed truth about children who face emotional and psychological scars resulting from feelings of rejection, abandonment, and other trauma by being left home by parents who immigrated overseas.

(Geneive Brown Metzger, former Consul General Jamaica in New York)

fascinating

(Publishers Weekly)

A good book for readers interested in criminal justice, psychology, and social work.

(Library Journal)

helps explain how a good kid turned bad enough to coldly kill one person after another...fascinating

(Atlantic)

The book can be illuminating, especially when Albarus describes what it was like to pierce Malvo's shield and help wrest his psyche from Muhammad.

(Newark Star Ledger)

The book makes no effort to exculpate the Jamaican-born Mr. Malvo, but traces his life in detail.

(Paul Koring Toronto Globe and Mail)

One of the more interesting aspects of the book is its lengthy excerpts from Malvo's writings, poetry and artwork, which reveal an introspective youth trying to make sense of his crimes.

(Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post)

Named a Best 2012 Book About Justice - if you want a sense of the damage a broken life can create for innocent victims decades later, read this book.

(Andrew Cohen The Atlantic)

How does a child become a killer?