Panic kills
The Athenian philosopher Plato noted that there are two reasons preventing man from committing a crime: that he was afraid of being caught; or that his conscience induced him to be honest. What he overlooked was the numerous reasons crimes are committed.
It would take pages to list them. Psychologists and psychiatrists are studying them all. To an extent, so are crime thriller novelists. Felons are interviewed in prison to hear their explanations, more than a few of whom are insane. Conveying this to the untrained in neurology is no simple matter.
The human brain is complex, especially when it short-circuits. Psychopaths and sociopaths don’t realise this. To them the sight of blood and screams of pain are music to their ears. There’s no reasoning with them — indeed, no cure. Such books give readers a sickening feeling.
So why do we buy them? To see how the madmen are caught. First, authorities find out who they are, then proceed to track them down. Solitude Creek by American author Jeffery Deaver is case in point. Antioch March has a normal enough jog, yet carries heavy baggage — a family car accident ripping a girl to pieces.
The morbid sight fascinates him. So much so that he plans to stage something of the sort with more horrific results, which he does at a concert. Yelling “Fire” he blocks the exits. In their panic, members of the audience die in their stampede to leave the premises. There was no fire.
Enter Kathryn Dance of the California Bureau of Investigation. Long a Jeffery Deaver literary character, she is put in charge of the team to catch the quarry and ensure that he won’t do it again. Difficult because March has cronies with like minds. In time, they put her on their hit list.
Kathryn is a police expert in body language. And she finds time to have an affair.
The highly respected author has currently been tapped by the Ian Fleming group to pen James Bond stories. A lot of crazies there.
Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme, another standard Deaver sleuth, have been adapted to the big screen. His millions of fans span the globe.