The concept behind Wanted! Dumb or Alive is promising enough: Ask cops about the stupidest criminals they've ever encountered, then collect their stories in an amusing book. Daniel Butler and Alan Ray manage to screw it up pretty badly. The book—the second in a series—is designed to appeal to fans of TV shows like Cops, and that gives it a clunky, oafish feel. The authors claim to have done a ton of research collecting these hundred anecdotes, but most seem to take place in Birmingham, Alabama. Savvy readers will spot at least two urban legends reported as fact. Even the most straightforward stories seem to involve criminals who were merely unlucky rather than dumb, giving the reader no insight into the police process. Wanted! isn't intelligent, funny, entertaining or even particularly readable, making it both a wasted premise and an inferior sequel.