Today my guest is Stephen B. King, with his new release.
The Deadly Glimpses Trilogy.
Book 1: Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer.
Blurb:
In 1999 Australia, Sergeant Rick McCoy investigates the murder of a woman found packed inside a suitcase.
The Killer abducts another victim and threatens to dismember her slowly. His life is further complicated by a marriage in tatters. Frustrated at every turn, he is paired with glamorous Criminal Psychologist and profiler, Patricia Holmes.
While trying to rebuild his marriage, he finds himself in a desperate race against time to free the victim and fight his desire for his new partner.
Where did the idea come from?
The killer in this book, PPP says in one of his memoir entries: “who knows where random flashes of inspiration comes from?” The line sums up the essence of where this book originated. I was driving along one day, not thinking anything specific, certainly not what was my next book going to be about, because I was writing like crazy Thirty-Three Days. Suddenly into my head popped a random thought: ‘I was five years old when I first saw someone bleed out.’
I’ve never seen anyone ‘bleed out’ at any age, let alone at five years old. Furthermore, ‘bleed out’ is not an expression I’d ever use so my mind started racing…..who saw it, why did they see it, and why would they say it? Coincidently, I’d been thinking about writing a long story about four people whose lives become entwined: a cop who has had an affair who is paired with a glamorous, female criminal psychologist hunting a horrific serial murderer, and the effect of their desire for each other on their respective partners. I even knew the era it would be set in, because I had wanted to remind readers of something that happened years ago, which most have forgotten. There was a serious belief that life as we knew it, would come to an end, and there was even some panic among people as the year 2000 approached and brought with it the Y2K bug.
So, these three things permeated in my brain and I knew to tell the story I envisaged for these four characters, one book would not be enough, but three would be just about perfect. And so, the plan of a trilogy was born and I called it Three Deadly Glimpses. The idea was that in addition to my central theme I provide the reader with glimpses into the psyche of three people who become serial killers.
For me, writing is all about bringing to life characters, getting the reader to invest in them, and even care for them. And, if I achieve that, then I can put those ordinary characters into extraordinary situations. Glimpse, at its core is about desire. The effect that sexual desire can have on the marriages of the protagonists, it’s also about Pat’s desire to use her abilities on the front line of a major police investigation to catch a murderer. Also, of course it’s about the skewed desire that a serial killer has, to murder his victims.
A short except:
She curled her legs underneath her, which gave just a hint of her thighs, and sat back in her chair cat-like. She sipped from her glass, and licked her lips. “God I needed that, it’s been a tough day.”
Rick almost burst out laughing. In this luxury house, which he would never be able to afford, she seemed so damned normal.
“What?” She asked, taking another sip of wine. “You don’t think we psychologists can have tough days? I have a psychiatric degree as well, and have two long term patients in the high security wing of Graylands Mental Hospital. One cooked his wife and child before eating their organs, and the other murdered three random strangers because, he says, God told him to do it. Trust me digging around in their minds constitutes a tough day.” She shuddered.
“I’m sorry Pat, I meant no disrespect.”
“No, I don’t suppose you did. But, I’m guessing you feel like you’ve been press-ganged into coming here, haven’t you? You believe using psychology to try to understand why someone would do horrible things to another human being is a waste of your evening. You’ve a wife, and probably a couple of children at home you’d rather be with, don’t you?”
He blushed, knowing she would tell if he tried to lie, and he found himself, against his earlier intuition, liking her. “Just one child, Amy, she’s five years old. Pat if you could just jot down this killer’s address for me, I would think you were amazing. But it’s going to be long hours of painstaking, often boring police work that tracks this guy down. When we’ve caught him, you can analyse him to death, I just want him off the streets.”
“Fair enough, we know where we stand. But, did you know that a high percentage, and I do mean a very high percentage, of serial murderers had been previously interviewed by police, sometimes more than once, during an investigation? They are often let go, unsuspected, to kill again before they are eventually apprehended. Now I’m not saying great police work didn’t catch them eventually, but, had the cops had access to a good, insightful criminal psychologist, maybe, just maybe, they’d have him locked up earlier, and innocent lives saved.”
Rick nodded, thoughtfully, then raised his glass in a silent toast to her and took a sip.
You can find out more about Stephen:
Twitter: @StephenBKing1
Facebook: @stephenbkingauthor
