David, my proof reader, called me after he'd read the final draft of The Very Thought of Murder.
"Eric, I think you went too far with this one," he said.
"Well, it is a murder mystery. People are going to die," I responded a little defensively.
"I'm not talking about the murders," David said. "I'm talking about the back stories, the attempted rape, the voyerisom, especially the child abuse. People don't like that stuff. You've just gone too far with it."
I told David when I wrote this story, I was writing more about the dark side of human thinking than I was about murder. I wanted the book to reveal some of the sinister thinking going on in the minds of everyday people, people we are around constantly but would never be if we knew what they were thinking.
The murders that take place in The Very Thought of Murder are a fabrication of my mind, as are some of the lesser crimes. The interesting point that David was unaware of is that the attempted rape, the child abuse and all the other sexual perversions were not fabrications of a novelist looking for shock value. All of those events took place in real life, each one committed by someone I knew at one time or another.
Thoughts are powerful. Everything that we have ever done in our lives began as a simple thought. The thought is the seed we water and nurture until it grows into an act. According to James Allen, no act is ever spontaneous.
So I want to hear from you. Do you think I went too far or do you see my novel, The Very Thought of Murder, as an honest reflection of society?
I'd love to get your perspective on it!
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