When good writers do bad things

I’ve written many stories about good versus evil. My newest book is different. What happens when good becomes evil?

I turned traditional themes inside out in Anatomy Of Evil. It’s one of the few writing experiences where I actually felt guilty about what I had done after I completed the manuscript. I felt the urge to issue an apology.

I created four of the nicest characters you would ever hope to meet. Gentle, caring souls united by their passion to help others and make the world a better place.

During the course of the story, I invite you into their lives. I show you the purity of their hearts. I engage you in their acts of kindness. They become your friends.

Then I make you hate them.

For me, fear isn’t the monster under the bed. It’s the horror emerging from within. The shock of unspeakable evil coming from unexpected places...or persons.

I once heard someone say evil equals good plus time. Or maybe I made it up. But the theory was that humans are not born to be sadists, criminals and killers. Something happens that transforms innocence into wickedness during the life journey.

Are the sinful shaped by their environment?

Or do they become possessed from the inside?

How well do you really know your friends, neighbors and acquaintances? What’s beyond the façade? Can you really trust them?

Should you trust that nice smiling author who introduced you to a charming cast of characters in his new book: an upstanding neighborhood police officer, a heavenly Sunday School teacher, a sweet and selfless working mother, and a heroic football star with a heart of gold?

Or is that author going to do something bad to them?

Something very, very bad.

Perhaps he’ll write a blog about it to make it sound like he’s really sorry and didn’t mean to do any harm.

But do you believe him?

This blog post originally appeared on The Deep End.