evil minds

I've been reading another book about crazy serial killers. Why some of us enjoy that stuff is another post, when I get it figured out. I thought I would mention this latest one: Head Games by Eileen Dreyer. Protag is a mature woman, unusual in itself, a forensic nurse with PTSD from service in Vietnam. Her "interest" is a man with many issues and limitations, though he is charming and handsome. What I like about Frank is that he is self-aware. He knows he's not good for much -- though actually he is. He's a good father to his three kids and a devoted and constant friend. Anyway -- the bad guys. As in so many of these gruesome stories, Dreyer's psychopaths are deranged as well as dangerous.

I studied up on psychopaths a couple of years ago. Fascinating topic. What I wanted to explore in my next novel was not the deranged, crazy psychos but those who are able to blend in fairly well. Not all psychopaths are killers, or even violent. Many of them are able to hold difficult jobs, like doctors, lawyers, senators. Lots of them have families, of a sort. They do lots of damage to other people, but they don't necessarily kill or maim. So I set out to write my first non-historical novel with two young women who share the bond of loving to inflict pain. But not physical pain -- mental, emotional pain. They don't do it all day, every day, but often enough. I will have to say this is a failed manuscript at this point. It has some good scenes of the bad gals, but the underlying structure is weak.

I'm still interested in psychopaths and love to read these novels. These authors like Dreyer and Robb and Koontz all do these crazies much better than I ever will. Maybe, though, my take on the less bloody psychopaths will eventually work its way through my brain to become a better manuscript than it is right now. Meanwhile, I'll stick with what I'm good at -- historicals.