This does not excuse what he did to the Barclay family.

The harm he caused — the false hope, the exploitation of grief, the legal and psychological consequences of his presence in their lives — was real and significant.

But understanding what drove him helps explain how he was able to do it with such sophistication and such persistence.

A person who has spent their entire life learning to read and manipulate the emotional dynamics of other people, driven by a deep unmet need for belonging, will develop capabilities in that direction that most people simply do not have.

Bourdin is extraordinarily perceptive about what people need and what they want to believe.