Thriller Thursday Guest — Author John Walker

I just love Thursdays! Today I’m so thrilled to have friend and fellow thriller author John Walker with his Dark Retribution Quartet, featuring Wrath and Remembrance.  He’s an amazing writer and I’ve been so inspired by his works.  I give 5 stars to his entire quartet.  If you love rooting for the good guys and have a secret desire for revenge, then check out his books.

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BOOK SYNOPSIS:

Wrath and Remembrance
Book 1 of the Dark Retribution Quartet
 

 As Jack Parrish struggles to survive and hold onto his sanity in an ever-changing world, someone from his forgotten past is hunting him.

The car crash he survived as a child has left him without parents and struck by amnesia for the next 18 years.

What do his nightmares mean?

Are they distorted flashes from his past or premonitions of what will be?

Why is someone out to kill him?

Just when life seems to be going right for Jack those close to him are being murdered and Jack is forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Purchase Wrath and Remembrance

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Jennifer Chase: If Jack Parrish was trapped in an elevator with three other people, how would he devise a plan to escape? Would he take any of the people with them?

John Walker: Jack is a survivor and has made it through harder scrapes than this. It’s in his nature to be the first through the door, to assess the potential for danger on the other side, so he would be the first to climb up onto the roof of the elevator to see if it was possible to climb out on the nearest floor.

In this instance, if it was just a matter of the elevator being stuck through a mechanical fault, no one was answering the alarm buzzer, and no one inside the elevator was having a sudden attack of hysteria, Jack would climb out alone so he could move with speed and get help to resolve the situation. Although his heart is in the right place and he’d definitely make sure the others made it out of there safe, he’d have an ulterior motive: he’d want to get out of there in case the cops showed up. He’s a wanted man, living and moving under the radar, so he wouldn’t want to risk his cover being blown.

Jennifer Chase: Jack is definitely under the radar and so intriguing.  How do you get inside Jack’s head when writing?

John Walker: With Jack it was an easy task. We’re both intense and share many of the same character traits, so it was fun to get into the zone of his world. I also share his stubborn principles and strong sense of personal justice.

Jennifer Chase: I was really taken back by your books and instantly loved being in Jack’s world.  What’s your specific genre? If you could write in any other genre, what would it be and why?

John Walker: My specific genre is revenge-thriller. I’ve always had a passion for vigilante stories and it’s been a pleasure to explore that area with my own work.

With Hank Shank VIII, I made an excursion into historical fiction, as that story is my fictional retelling of the life of Henry Tudor (King Henry VIII), basing him in the 20th Century.

My latest book is Blood and Water, a chase thriller that ties in various sub-plots: the central character Vincent Birch’s alienation and pressure to leave a town because of the reputation of his criminally insane brother, his failing marriage, and danger from an imminent flood set to destroy the town. All of which takes place as Vincent becomes embroiled in the aftermath of a robbery and has to outrun the criminal gang, led by his brother.

I will always write in the thriller genre, but I would also love to write an original and intelligent science fiction story. As a kid, The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells, was the book that got me hooked into reading. In later years, I would discover the works of Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Greg Bear, among others. The best science fiction writers have come up with ideas that have since been realized and that’s something to be admired and commended. I give special mention to author Stanislaw Lem, for his novel, Solaris. It’s an intricate and intelligent sci-fi story about loss, regret and redemption. I’ve read it several times, enjoy the movie adaptations, and it’s an all-time favorite of mine that became part of the story in the Dark Retribution Quartet.

Jennifer Chase: So why should readers pick up your books?

John Walker: I generally do 3 – 4 edits on each book project before I let anyone else read it. Before I settle on a final draft, I always ask myself one important question: would I want to read this book? With every book project I do, I have researched my subject thoroughly and worked until I’m happy in my own heart that I have given the book everything I have. So many times over the years, I’ve been disappointed when I’ve read a novel and it just lacks in some capacity. It makes me feel that the author has short-changed me. With that in mind, it doesn’t matter to me how long I have to spend researching, or how long it takes to write the book. Just so long as I feel I’ve done the best work I can on the project, then I’m content with the knowledge that the book I have completed is one I’d also buy to read.

Jennifer Chase: That’s great insight – thanks for sharing.  What types of emotions will readers experience when they read your books?

John Walker: I get a lot of feedback from readers and it always thrills me when they tell me about the roller coaster ride they had with their imagination and emotions as they followed the story through each of the books, particularly with the Dark Retribution Quartet, the attention to detail and scope of the story over all four books in the series. Some readers don’t make it to the end of the series because the intensity and level of violence in the stories unsettles them. I can understand and accept that. My stories are not for everyone. Those that do like them have told me that they have come to know the characters, particularly Jack Parrish, on a deeper level than many of the others they’ve read about, saw and experienced the world as he did, got to know his thoughts and feelings along the way. Years ago, a reader told me she got a good insight into the way a man thinks just by reading my books, and remembering that always makes me smile.

Jennifer Chase: Now, please bear with me, it’s time to play word association with Jack Parrish. Please respond with one word that comes to mind (in Jack’s voice) to the words listed below.

John Walker:

Plot – Strategy
2012 – Calendar
Predator – Enemy
Giggles – Laughter
Rural – Natural
Omnipresence – God

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Author Bio:

Since I was just 12 years old, I have known that a writer is all I have ever wanted to be.

I was born in 1968 and raised in England. These days I’m a globe-trotting ex-pat Brit.

I love books, movies, music, yoga, Tai Chi, German Shepherd dogs and wolves. I enjoy meeting other authors; discussing the writing process and helping other writers get their own projects off the ground.

I also enjoy cooking, black coffee, red wine, and Guinness with a good meal, and I have a devilish, sometimes zany, sense of humor. I can’t resist a practical joke so be warned: if you are ever walking through a door and a bucket of water tips over you … it was most likely me that put it there.

My novels are mainly revenge-thrillers, some with a supernatural twist.

I have several books planned for the future. 

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Connect with John Walker and find out more about his books:

 
No rest for the wicked.
 
My books are:
 
Wrath and Remembrance
Comparing Scars
Hitting Back
God’s Soldiers
Hank Shank VIII
Blood and Water
Backlash
 
 
Blog:
 
 
Twitter:
 
@JW_Sanctuary
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Onion Field Killer Dies in Prison

When a police officer is killed in the line of duty, his fellow officers never forget.  Even decades later, and among men and women who never served with the slain individual, a member of the police force is discussed with the honor he richly deserves.  I imagine with the death of convicted murderer Gregory Powell this week from terminal cancer, the members of the Los Angeles Police Department took a minute to remember their fallen friend.

Powell and his cohort, Jimmy Lee Smith, abducted two police officers at gunpoint back in March 1963.  The criminal duo took the officers to an isolated onion field and shot them.  Officer Ian Campbell died.  His partner, Karl Hettinger, did not get hit and found his way to help once their assailants left.  An intersection in Hollywood is now named for Campbell in honor of the sacrifice he made in defending the safety of others.

Powell and Smith became known as the Onion Field cop killers.  They were sentenced to death, but this was changed to life in prison once the death penalty was suspended in California in the 1970s.  Despite his pleas to be released from prison as his final days drew near, Powell’s life ended in the same place where he had spent almost half a century.

While in the back of our minds we may acknowledge the daily threats faced by police officers, it is stories like this that really drive the notion of potential violence home.  These officers were making a traffic stop and one of them ended up dead.  Not many of us can say our chosen profession presents the same risks.  That’s a good thing to remember the next time we see a cop pulling someone over for speeding on our favorite path to work and just groan.  An officer never knows what is waiting inside that car.

What officer involved shooting stays firmly in your mind from history?

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Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
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Mass Shootings and the Complexity of Crime — Profiler, Forensic Scientist Brent Turvey

“Crime is complex; evidence is complex; and people are complex.”

“…the less one knows about something, the simpler and more certain things seem. While illusions are convenient, allowing us to pretend that we have achieved some level of understanding so that we can go back about our day without having to change the way we think or behave, it puts us nowhere nearer to any kind of informed understanding of crime and criminals.”

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This is one blog post you won’t want to miss.

I’ve been fortunate to have met many individuals that work within the criminal justice system and in the private sector from detectives, forensic scientists to criminal profilers.  I’ve received many questions about the recent mass shootings and I have seen many articles and topics about it.  I wanted to dig a little deeper into this topic.

My guest blog post today is from renowned forensic scientist and criminal profiler Brent Turvey.  He graciously accommodated my request to talk about the recent mass shootings and what it really means in the world of crime today.

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 Mass Shootings and the Complexity of Crime

As the whole world knows by now, a midnight showing of the “Dark Knight Rises” on July 20 in Aurora, Colorado was interrupted by a gunman who opened fire and left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. Immediately, there were extreme reactions and opinions about who the gunman was, why he did it, and how this tragedy could have been prevented – all without the benefit of facts or even an investigation.  Mostly, this came from predisposed advocates or uninformed pundits who, for lack of actual casework, could easily make themselves available for comment and fill airtime.

Now that we have distance from the tragedy, and some actual information, it is clear that there are some lessons to be learned.

First, the 24-hour news cycle has created the illusion that every detail about every crime, and those persons involved, can be immediately learned and understood with either a Google search or a stop at Wikipedia. This is not the case. Crime is complex; evidence is complex; and people are complex. Viewing any of these through tools that rely on simplistic constructs or stereotypes results in a blurred lens that mimics clarity. In other words, the less one knows about something, the simpler and more certain things seem. While illusions are convenient, allowing us to pretend that we have achieved some level of understanding so that we can go back about our day without having to change the way we think or behave, it puts us nowhere nearer to any kind of informed understanding of crime and criminals.

Second, it needs to point out that the mass shooting phenomenon is not unique to the United States, as many seem to believe. This is something that happens everywhere. It happens across the United States and it happens around the world.  However, international news is poorly reported within the United States, unless we are trying to demonize our Mexican cousins or report on the atrocities committed in the Middle East. What’s worse, shootings that occur within the United States, in high crime areas, often between or against minorities, receive little or no media attention at all. Consequently, U.S. citizens are terribly uninformed about the nature and extent of shooting violence occurs that occurs anywhere, let alone within their own borders. In fact, it’s worth noting that the best scientific research on the subject of mass shootings has come out of Scandinavia.

Third, it is not clear that this tragedy could have been prevented, but we won’t know the facts until the investigation is complete. We know that the shooter, despite being highly intelligent, has a history of mental instability; that his therapist was very concerned about his mental state to the point where she considered him a threat; and that he quit school before deciding to go on his rampage. What we do not know for certain is the nature of his therapist’s concern, how it was handled, whether it was missed by those who shouldn’t have missed it, and whether there was a specific precipitating event. Until we have more information, all we have is under-informed speculation.

Fourth, it can be argued that gun control laws facilitated this tragedy.  Criminals and other motivated individuals that do not care about the law are always going to be able to get their hands on guns. There are simply too many out there to pull back. What gun laws actually do is ensure that law-abiding citizens are unarmed and defenseless, while creating childish forbidden fruit logic around the possession and use of firearms. For example, in Colorado there were army veterans among the movie theater victims. These were individuals trained in combat and self-defense. Had they been armed, or anyone else among the victims, it is reasonable to think that they could have responded at the outset of the incursion and possibly reduced the number of victims significantly. Had the shooter believed that he was likely to encounter armed victims, he may have chosen another target.

And finally, a word on profiling. There is no reliable profile of any kind of mass killers, shooters or otherwise. The offenders that have emerged in the last 20 years don’t easily fit the molds suggested by criminology researchers, as my own research found in a study published a few years ago. What profiling can offer in this kind of case is a mechanism for studying and understanding the individual crime more completely – not predictions about who is going start shooting and when.

To summarize, the lessons to be learned from this tragedy include being patient and waiting for information before forming conclusions; accepting that this kind of tragedy is a feature of the world we live in that it has yet to be studied and understood with any degree of accuracy; and that until we gather the facts and do the research, no amount of gun control laws can protect us from motivated criminals who will not only ignore them, but count on them.

By Brent Turvey
Forensic Scientist & Criminal Profiler

Senior Partner, Forensic Solutions LLC

URL: http://www.corpus-delicti.com

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Psychological Terror and the Movie Villain

As we approach the end of the summer movie season, I’ve had some thoughts about what makes a classic on-screen villain.  I’ve often heard interviews with actors who say that the bad guy is the most fun to play, and I understand why.  They are fascinating!

There are the villains who make themselves physically obvious by wearing a hockey mask amongst a group of unsuspecting teenagers at camp or bear a resemblance to a snake while dispensing evil power and battling a young magician in wire glasses who attends boarding school.

Then, there are the men and women who may not give the appearance of stereotypical evil, but who perhaps are even more terrifying due to the psychological power they hold.  These are the villains I find the most fascinating.  Maybe he is a brilliant therapist who likes to eat people as a hobby.  Or, she could be a mother who insists that no wire hangers are to be used in her home.  He could be a small, unassuming man who leads a police officer to his wife’s head in a box.

As a student of criminal psychology, I believe the mind can be a much more powerful weapon of terror and violence than a person who is physically imposing.  The villains who play with our emotions, who taunt us with their words, and who can offer up a single glance that is more chilling than seeing a gun pointed straight at our movie’s hero are the ones who haunt dreams.

Who is the one movie villain that, above all others, has stuck with you long after you’ve walked out of the movie theater? 

What made that character so effective in captivating and horrifying you? 

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Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in Criminology, Dark Mind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Plunge Right into the Action!

You caught me.  I admit it.  I’m a huge Die Hard movie fan (see photo above of Bruce Willis as John McClane from Die Hard).

I love to write action and fight scenes in my novels.  I’m not quite sure what that actually stems from, but I thrive on ways to figure out interesting and sometimes very physical ways to get my main character Emily Stone out of trouble.  And if she has to fight, then she’ll fight her way out of the situation especially if a child’s life is at stake.  Characters are not always going to have a gun or armed backup at their disposal, so Emily Stone gets creative, savvy, and at times a little physical.  It’s my favorite kind of writing challenge!

When I first began writing thrillers, I hesitated a bit when it came to writing action scenes.  I think I was under the impression that women don’t write fight scenes about women fighting.  Maybe it was one of those unwritten “no nos”?  Well, I threw caution to the wind and decided to take the plunge right into the action.  I’ve never looked back!

I strategically figure out in my mind and on paper all the different ways for my heroine to get herself out of the situation and all of the dangerous things that could happen to her.  I see the scene unfold like a play and the players (characters) are like chess pieces that I can move around in different ways.

My background in writing screenplays definitely has played a big part in my ability to write action comfortably.  Writing a screenplay is all about action and dialogue.  I highly recommend for a novelist to learn how to write screenplays because it’ll pump up your storytelling action skills.

For my efforts and enjoyment of writing action, Dark Mind is a 2012 finalist at Readers Favorite for Fiction/Action.  I’m very excited that the action category has taken notice of Emily Stone.  On September 1st, it will be announced if Dark Mind will receive a medal.

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Here’s an action excerpt of Dark Mind taken from Chapter 3:

Emily’s odds for escape now doubled with two people in the house, instead of just one man with a shotgun.

Her uncertainties now realized.

Trapped.

Small steps forward, left foot, right foot, then pivoting to the left and spinning around to face her attacker, Emily pounced on the man, pressed against him close enough to smell his sickly sweat, and shoved the shotgun upward blasting off a shot through the ceiling.  Splinters and chunks of drywall sprinkled the living room like an early snow dusting of winter in the mountains. 

The room echoed from the blast.  A couple of seconds passed before the world had normal audible sounds.

Emily knew she couldn’t over power the man, but she used her quick self-defense moves to her advantage. 

Momentarily stunned, the man blinked twice and before he could retaliate, Emily slammed the heel of her right hand into his face making direct contact with his nose.  Blood instantly spurted from his membranes and she felt the slippery, warm liquid on her hand spattering her face and white t-shirt. 

Rage and adrenaline pumped through her body and catapulted her forward as she landed a solid right hook on his jaw.  He didn’t stand a chance and dropped to the floor.  The shotgun flew, completing one full revolution, end over end, and rested next to the sagging couch. 

Fighting the urge to kick his face repeatedly for what he had done to the little girl in the basement, Emily took a set of plastic zip ties from her pocket, rolled the bleeding man on his side, and expertly looped his hands.  She pulled them tight – too tight.  She didn’t care.  He moaned, dazed by the blitz attack.

Just as Emily turned to find an entrance to the basement to find Cassie, a large, muscular man with dark tattoos that seemed to ooze around his grubby white tank top grabbed her by the neck and pushed her backwards onto the couch.  Her fall wasn’t cushioned and she could feel every sofa steel spring jab into her back.  Pain pierced her spine.  The hulk of a man pressed his body against Emily and squeezed the air from her lungs. 

Paralyzed

He groped at her sides and at her jeans in a frenzy of excitement. 

She couldn’t move her arms or wiggle her body loose from his enormous weight thrust against her one hundred-fifteen pound frame.  Slowly turning her head to the left, she saw the dark inked flesh of his right shoulder and sunk her teeth deep into the muscle.  The powerful human jaw cut through soft tissue and then sliced through the muscle.  He cried out in agony with an animal wail, retreating long enough for Emily to slide out from under him and hit the uneven wooden floor.  Emily crawled toward the shotgun and prayed that it had another bullet in the chamber.

Before she could reach the gun, she was tugged roughly by her hair, dragged a couple of feet backward, picked up like a rag doll, and thrown to the floor on the other side of the room.  The huge man sporting a long ponytail stood in front of the door blocking any means of escape for Emily. 

Bleeding from his shoulder, red ooze seeped further down his shirt as he stood staring at her with a wide, terrifying smile on his face, reminiscent of the inbred family member intent on wreaking havoc on any unsuspecting visitor who happened upon their place in the woods.  It piqued some type of sick, twisted game to him.  He was oblivious to his partner lying on the floor whimpering softly and didn’t care if he were alive or dead.  His focus was on Emily as his personal sadistic plaything until he killed her. 

Not clear if he was a brutal psychopath or merely a caged wild animal that acted as the muscle partner in crime, Emily knew she was out manned, out maneuvered, and out gunned. 

She stood up shakily and readied herself in a standoff against her opponent.  Her options were to hope that Rick would rescue her, probably not going to happen soon enough, or hand-to-hand combat with an overdriven testosterone, dominated Neanderthal, which was highly unlikely, or plan three… 

She tried to stand up straight to size up the fervent man as a sharp, searing pain exploded down the base of her neck to her lower back, like a lightening bolt, which caused her knees to quiver.  Light headed with difficulty breathing, Emily remembered her early training at the police academy, which seemed like another lifetime ago.  She kept her physical training updated even though she wasn’t a sworn police officer anymore. 

She pushed off with her left foot and took three well-placed steps, covered her face leading with her elbows, and crashed through the single paned, sash window.  She tucked and rolled at the perfect time, hit the catawampus porch, bounced once, and continued down the two stairs to the soft, reddish dirt of the island. 

***

 DARK MIND is vailable at these e-book and book retailers:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Sony

Powell’s Books

Smashwords

Booktopia

The Book Depository

Diesel e-books

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Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
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California Professor Planned to Burn Down School

Every now and again we hear of the discovery of an adolescent who was found to have been planning acts of mass violence at his school, and even more tragic are the occasional incidents in which such horrific mayhem actually is carried out.  We wonder what could have caused a young person to make this deadly decision.  Was it bullying?  Mental illness?  Is the media or computer games to blame?  There seems to be no sense in a young man or woman calculating the destruction of classmates.

What perhaps we never have heard before, though, is a story of a grown man who plotted violence against school kids for some of the same reasons we imagine the teenagers plan their murders.  In my state, an associate professor at the University of California at Irvine, Rainer Reinscheid, has been charged with planning to burn down his deceased son’s school, shoot both teachers and administrators, and commit acts of sexual assault.  From the emails discovered on his phone following an arrest on other arson charges, authorities believe that Reinscheid then intended to kill himself.

Mr. Reinscheid’s fourteen-year-old son committed suicide earlier this year, and some have assumed that the bullying he faced and his loner status at University High School may have played roles in his decision to take his own life.  It seems pretty apparent that Mr. Reinscheid is having difficulty dealing with unimaginable grief and hopefully will receive a psychiatric evaluation and appropriate counseling in addition to any prison time to which he is sentenced.

I don’t know how a parent moves forward after losing a child, no matter the cause.  I imagine that suicide comes with its own unique feelings of guilt and anger.  Mr. Reinscheid certainly needs to face justice for the five fires he allegedly set before being caught and the destruction he could have caused through his acts, but I also hope he someday finds peace in the wake of his personal tragedy.

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Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
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What Intrigues You about Psychopaths, Pathological Liars and Scam Artists?

We live in a world where there are all kinds of people and that’s what makes life exciting and interesting.  With all of the wonderful types of people out in the world that we’ve met throughout our own experiences, some individuals lay in wait for the next perfect victim.

Psychopaths aren’t always career criminals and serial killers, which we constantly see portrayed in fiction and on the news; but in fact, many times there are non-violent psychopaths that cannot help what they do as they exhibit distinct patterns of behavior.  A psychopath is an individual who views others as sources of gratification for their own gain and psychological need, and they act accordingly without remorse or conscience.

Individuals who con others are generally a psychopath to some degree.  For the most part, we as a society assume that most people are honest.  For a psychopath, they prey upon this trait and that’s why so many people hear only what they want them to hear.  Many times in relationships, the pathological liars or scam artists pace the relationship exactly how it will best suit their own needs.   For example, a romantic liar paces the relationship so that it becomes intense very quickly — to their advantage of motivation and psychological needs.

Pathological liars tend to know more about your personal details than you know about theirs.   Ask yourself, “What do I really know about this person and is there evidence to back up the information that I’ve been told?”  Be cautious about new relationships, there’s nothing wrong with that approach.

Scam artists have certain behavior patterns and tactics for their intended victims.  They often try to isolate a person from their family and friends to limit the people that might help with a reality check on their story.  Often, they constantly keep track of a person’s whereabouts and exhibit extreme control.

There are definite signs to look for with these types of psychopaths who mask their scams.  These people spend a lot of time talking about themselves, bragging about things that are larger than life, amused by cruelty, and many times have a constant need to borrow money by making excuses.

There’s no doubt that psychopaths, pathological liars, and scam artists make fun fictional characters for almost any book genre.  The next time you pick up a book, see if the author has incorporated some of these more colorful characters into the storyline.

Have you known or met someone who fits the description of a psychopath, pathological liar, or scam artist?

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Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in Criminology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments