Authors: Linda Mather

Gut Instinct (25 page)

Exploring your thoughts:

Did you develop any empathy for the killer?
– The killer had a horrific childhood did you feel sorry for him.

Do you think that his childhood had a huge impact on his behaviour now?
– Is this an excuse for what he did or do you feel it’s not surprising how he become as an
adult?

Do you think he was born this way or nurtured this way?
– Was he born to kill or did his nurturing or lack of it lead him to this.

Were you surprised at who the killer was given the profession that s/he was in?
– is
it
your
expectations
that people in high professions are not sociopaths
.

What do you feel about Stephen’s behaviour towards Paul?
– Was he jealous or just
irritated?

How do you feel Stephen
may have felt once he knew who the murder was?
– Shame, guilt, embarrassed, humiliated.

Do you think he deserved to feel like that?
– He had humiliated Paul and undermined his skills so did he get his comeuppance.

What did you think at the end?

Was the killer faking mental illness?
Think about what he said at the end about all the other murders he had committed and not been
found and his magical numbers that he told the psychiatrist about.

Did his or her
professional
skills enable her to fake her symptoms
?

And would an experienced psychiatrist fall for it if s
/
he was
faking it
?

I hope the book has given you a lot to think about it certainly
did
me as I was writing it.