What’s it like to look into the mind of a killer?

[Mary Eason]

What would you do if a killer were hunting you? What if you’re child was the target? What if the killer was someone you knew?

What’s it like to look into the mind of a killer?

Ask any author who writes dark, romantic suspense and they’ll tell you, it ain’t no walk in the park at times.

I think even for writers who create fictitious killers it’s still a little disturbing to consider that there are really such depraved people living in the world amongst us. To make a believable killer you have to do your homework.

To quote Friedrich Nietzsche:


He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

For me, I love to watch Forensic Files and 48 Hours Mystery on TV. You can gain a great deal of knowledge into the mind of a killer simply by studying old case files. I know it’s certainly been insightful for me.

So why do people kill? Well, most psychologists will tell you there are two fundamental reasons someone will take another life.

Love and money.

Both truly are the root of all things evil.



In SILENT WITNESS, my latest release from Cerridwen Press, the killer was someone who loved the story’s heroine, Faith McKenzie obsessively, and was willing to do anything to make her his, even if it meant killing her to keep her from belonging to anyone else.

But there is another type of killer that is far more evil and cunning than all others. He’s extremely intelligent. He can blend into society well enough to be your co-worker, your high school English teacher. Your neighbor next door. He lacks anything resembling a conscience. He’s a sociopath known as the serial killer.

The FBI estimates that today there are some 50 active serial killers working among us in the US alone. That’s a frightening statistic to consider.

In ROOT OF ALL EVIL, my upcoming release from Cerridwen Press, my heroine, Anna Sorenson comes face to face with a serial killer like none other. Anna tries to escape his deadly trap. She walks from everything to gain redemption. But she doesn’t quite leave the past behind and as Anna soon learns, even in paradise evil still exists.

For me, writing about the dark side of romance is both rewarding and challenging. The characters I create leave their mark on you and make it hard to move on to the next story.

And if they’re really chilling, like in ROOT OF ALL EVIL, they make it hard to sleep with the lights off at night.

All the best…

Mary Eason

www.maryeason.com

Root Of All Evil – Coming October 15th to Cerridwen Press

[Amy Gallow]

I think you've over simplified the reasons people kill. The thrill killer exists, as does the killer who simply has no empathy for others and the increasing desensitization of violent games and movies has their place in the spectrum, add to that the increasing number pf post traumatic stress victims returning from the combat areas of Iraq, Afghanistan and the like, where the shape of war has changed beyond the capacity of military training to compensate.
The hardest thing I find in entering the mind of evil is that they do not consider themselves evil.