Chasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent's Search for Hope and Justice

Robert Hilland, the narrator of Chasing Evil, is a former New Jersey police officer who became an FBI special agent in 1997. Portrayed as a quintessential “follow-the-facts guy” (10), Hilland grounds the book’s supernatural leanings in the tangible world of law enforcement. His career path, from a rookie patrolman to a seasoned agent on New York’s Cold Case Squad and later an international polygraph examiner, provides the framework for the narrative. His story is one of transformation, charting his journey from a hardened skeptic to someone who must reconcile his empirical training with a world of psychic phenomena to solve his most important case.

Growing up in a dysfunctional home, Hilland developed a fierce instinct to protect the vulnerable that defines his professional life and fuels his relentless, multi-decade pursuit of justice. Hilland’s specific motivation throughout much of the memoir is established when he first encounters John Smith in 1991. As a young patrolman, Hilland sees an evil in Smith’s eyes that ignites a personal obsession that lasts for decades. Hilland’s decision to reopen the cold case, despite jurisdictional roadblocks and supervisors’ warnings, establishes the book’s central conflict. This pursuit is not just a professional duty but a personal vow to find Smith’s missing wives, Janice Hartman and Fran Smith, and to confront the evil he recognized years earlier.