"Man in the Empty Suit"

Sean Ferrell's novels include Numb (2010) and the newly released Man in the Empty Suit.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Man in the Empty Suit and reported the following:

I think that page 69 is representative of the book because it is filled with denial, deceit and questions of culpability, even though it only features one person.

From page 69:

Video was waiting for me. I marveled at dark circles beneath his eyes. He gestured, urgent, waved a hand in the direction of the door as if saying, Go on, go ahead.

I turned to Yellow. "Did you watch this?"

"Are you crazy? This place reeks of paradoxes. I never saw it before, so I shouldn't have seen it now. Seventy didn't even remember seeing any of this shit."

"He didn't?"

"Did I fucking slur my words?"

The protagonist is plagued by other versions of himself--those he used to be and those he'll become. And though there ought to be trust, or at least understanding, there is only paranoia and deceit. In the quote above, Yellow, Seventy and Video are all versions of the narrator, and each of them has an agenda. At this point the dominoes
are already falling (the narrator has been tasked with preventing an older version of himself from being murdered) and the narrator, already unhappy to be surrounded by these other selves, is beginning to actively distrust them. The events of page 69, the narrator viewing a video he'll make of himself in the future, is very much in the spirit of the whole book.

Learn more about the book and author at Sean Ferrell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Blunt Impact"

Lisa Black spent the five happiest years of her life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she’s a certified latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department. Her books have been translated into six languages. Evidence of Murder reached the New York Times mass market bestseller’s list.

Blunt Impact, Black's latest novel featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean, debuts on April 1st. The author applied the Page 69 Test to the new novel and reported the following:

Blunt Impact is the story of a series of murders at a skyscraper under construction, beginning as young, sexy concrete worker Samantha is thrown from the 23rd floor. The only witness is her 11-year old daughter Anna, nicknamed Ghost. Ghost is determined to find her mother’s killer, and forensic scientist Theresa MacLean is determined to keep Ghost safe.

However, page 69 doesn’t tell you about any of that. On page 69 none of my main characters appear, not Theresa, nor her first cousin, homicide detective Frank Patrick, nor the homely prosecutor Ian Bauer who develops more interest in Theresa than he does in the murder. No, page 69 belongs to low-level criminal Damon, who has, we believe, nothing to do with the murders of the construction workers. Damon has been assigned to the job site, along with his partner Boonie, for a much more practical reason: they are systematically stealing the expensive copper piping designed for use in the new building. On page 69 he is transporting another load to an abandoned motel pressed into service as a free you-store-it facility.

Damon and Boonie work, not for the construction foreman, but for the boss of their quadrant of the city of Cleveland, a portly, deceptively slow-talking man referred to simply as ‘the boss.’ In his very, very careful way Damon likes the man and hopes to learn from him. Also, though he knows better than to admit it to any of his friends or colleagues, he kind of likes the honest labor of construction work. After all his usual occupation, that of drug dealer, can be quite stressful.

But on page 69 they also touch on the controversy surrounding the new building—it is a jail with a radical new design. Believing that the biggest danger to prison inmates is other inmates, the designers have made each cell solitary, with a small outside area and built-in television and academic-themed computer system. The idea is that each inmate will have enough room for study and exercise without having to leave their cell and therefore encounter other, possibly hostile, inmates. Is this putting humans in a kennel? Or is it making them safe so that they can stop spending every minute guarding themselves and get on with the business of rehabilitation? The boss knows what he thinks. Damon isn’t so sure.

None of this, however, tell us who killed Sam—or who’s after Ghost.

Learn more about the book and author at Lisa Black's website.

Writers Read: Lisa Black.

My Book, The Movie: Blunt Impact.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Red Planet Blues"

Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers in history — and the only Canadian — to win all three of the world's top Science Fiction awards for best novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, Red Planet Blues, and reported the following:

Page 69 in its entirety:

I wondered if a transfer’s time sense ever slows down, or if it is always perfectly quartz-crystal timed. Certainly, time seemed to attenuate for me then. I swear I could actually see the bullet as it followed its trajectory from my gun, covering the three meters between the barrel and—

And not, of course, Cassandra’s torso.

Nor her head.

She was right; I probably couldn’t harm her that way.

No, instead, I’d aimed past her, at the table on which Pickover was lying on his back. Specifically, I’d aimed at the place where the thick nylon band that crossed over his torso, pinning his arms, was anchored on the right-hand side—the point where it made a taut diagonal line between where it was attached to the side of the table and the top of Pickover’s arm.

The bullet sliced through the band, cutting it in two. The long portion, freed of tension, flew up and over his torso like a snake that had just had 40,000 volts pumped through it.

Cassandra’s eyes went wide in astonishment that I’d missed her, and her head swung around. The report of the bullet was still ringing in my ears, but I swear I could also hear the zzzzinnnng! of the restraining band snapping free. To be hypersensitive to pain, I figured you’d have to have decent reaction times, and I hoped that Pickover had been smart enough to note in advance my slight deviation of aim before I fired.

And, indeed, no sooner were his arms free than he sat bolt upright—his legs were still restrained—and grabbed one of Cassandra’s arms, pulling her toward him. I leapt in the meager Martian gravity. Most of Cassandra’s body was made of lightweight composites and synthetic materials, but I was still good old flesh and blood: I outmassed her by at least thirty kilos. My impact propelled her backward, and she slammed against the table’s side. Pickover shot out his other arm, grabbing Cassandra’s second arm, pinning her backside against the edge of the table. I struggled to regain a sure footing, then brought my gun up to her right temple.

My goodness, this page does a perfect job of capturing the flavor of Red Planet Blues. It’s a hardboiled noir detective novel ... that happens to be set on Mars. Of course, I’m known as a science-fiction writer, and there’s no doubt that Red Planet Blues is indeed a science-fiction novel: there are spaceships, robots, prissy computers, and fossils of ancient Martian life.

Much of my previous science fiction has crossed over into mystery, too. My first novel, 1990’s Golden Fleece, was a murder mystery set aboard a starship. And Ace recently reissued my Nebula Award-winning The Terminal Experiment, which is a high-tech whodunit, and my Seiun Award-winning Illegal Alien, which is a courtroom drama with an extraterrestrial defendant. But Red Planet Blues is the first novel in which I’ve made a professional detective the main character.

And having a science-fictional detective does make sense. It’s become increasingly hard to tell traditional detective stories set in the present day. Everyone knows about CSI-style forensics: it’s almost impossible for a killer not to leave behind fingerprints or DNA. And our public and private spaces are increasingly covered by surveillance cameras; there’s almost no room left—on Earth anyway—for the traditional whodunit.

But Red Planet Blues is set on a lawless frontier Mars—where the security cameras have been smashed—and it involves a technology that lets people transfer their consciousnesses into gorgeous android bodies, which don’t have fingerprints and don’t shed DNA. But who is actually inside any given body is anyone’s guess, letting me tell a good-old fashioned mystery ... out on the final frontier.

Learn more about the book and author at Robert J. Sawyer's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Oleander Girl"

Chitra Divakaruni is the author of One Amazing Thing and the newly released novel, Oleander Girl, the story of Korobi, a young woman who leaves a riot-torn India to come to post 9/11 America on a search that will change her life and face her with her toughest decision yet. Divakaruni is the winner of several awards, including an American Book Award, and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston. Her books have been translated into 29 languages.

Divakaruni applied the Page 69 Test to Oleander Girl and reported the following:

Page 69 of Oleander Girl falls in the middle of chapter 3. Here, our protagonist Korobi, who has been told that she lost both her parents at birth, and who has always longed to know more about them, is finally handed a photo of her mother by her grandmother Sarojini.

"I knew her right away--those serious, straight eyebrows were the ones I saw whenever I looked in the mirror. But she was her own person, too, with her generous, strong-willed, beautiful mouth. She smiled with such vivacity into the camera that I was sure my father had been the photographer. Indeed, when I turned it over, a bold script stated, To lovely Anu. My heart raced. Halfway across the world, before I'd even been imagined, my father had handed this piece of paper to my mother. I ran my fingers across the badk, over where their fingers had rested. It was as close to touching the two of them as I had ever been."

This is a life changing moment for Korobi. It's the moment when she decides that she must put off her wedding to her beloved fiance Rajat, leave the safe Kolkata mansion in which she has always lived, and travel to America to find out who her mother really was. Only then, she believes, will she herself know who she really is.

It is the moment when she steps away from innocence into experience; from certainty into questioning; from girlhood into her uncomfortable adult existence.

Listen to an excerpt from Oleander Girl, and learn more about the book and author at Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Escape Theory"

Margaux Froley grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and attended not one, but two boarding schools during her high school years in California and Oxford, England. She studied film at University of Southern California, and has worked for such television networks as: TLC, CMT, Travel, MTV, and the CW. She currently lives in Los Angeles and still loves Nutter Butters.

Froley applied the Page 69 Test to Escape Theory, her first novel, and reported the following:

The Page 69 test. Uh oh...I'm looking right now to see if I pass.

"I'm sure there are jails with more edible food." is the first line on the page. Well, if that doesn't depict boarding school life in a nutshell, I'm not sure what does.

Some other lines "Hutch was one of the good guys... It just sucks what happened." Not a bad line...pretty indicative of where the story is heading. Plus, page 69 is where we hang out with the character of Maya, who is somewhat elusive, but comes more into play later. Devon notices Maya's differences here "Maya was the queen of Grace and Proper.", but she'll get to know more of Maya as the story continues.

"Lipstick blotting and sashaying were not things that came either easily or gracefully to Devon." That's the last line on the page. It's a pretty good description of Devon. I'm not sure how much of the page lends itself to the larger mystery at hand, but I'm pretty sure I pass the page 69 test.

Learn more about the book and author at Margaux Froley's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Scratchgravel Road"

Tricia Fields lives in a log cabin on a small farm with her husband and two daughters. She was born in Hawaii but has spent most of her life in small town Indiana, where her husband is an investigator with the state police. A lifelong love of Mexico and the desert southwest lead to her first book, The Territory, which won the Tony Hillerman Award for Best Mystery. She is currently working on the fourth book in the series, Fire Break, featuring border town Chief of Police, Josie Gray.

Fields applied the Page 69 Test to Scratchgravel Road, the follow-up to The Territory, and reported the following:

It turns out, I could only offer a partial excerpt of Page 69 because the mystery hinges on evidence that rests within this scene. Chief of Police, Josie Gray, is visiting Mitchel Cowan, the Arroyo County coroner. The dusty border town of Artemis, Texas is fortunate to have Cowan, a coroner with not only the knowledge to examine a corpse, but the determination to solve a crime.

Josie found the corpse lying next to a local woman who had passed out in the desert on a day forecast to hit 104 degrees. The woman couldn’t explain why she was passed out by the corpse, other than to say she had simply wanted to take a walk. This scene touches on the primary concern for the police throughout the book: the corpse is covered with unidentifiable open wounds on the exposed portions of his body. Perhaps more troubling, the murder is eventually connected to an environmental clean-up that the police suspect is actually a cover-up.

Following is a short excerpt from Page 69, with the spoiler removed…

Cowan pulled away from the body and rested his hands on the gurney, giving his full attention to the question. “In case you haven’t noticed, people skills are not my forte. I did not have the bedside manner people wanted. So, I found a way to practice without having to chitchat.”

“Smart move.”

“I am the primary care physician for the dead,” he said, and bent back over his microscope. “It is gratifying work.”

Josie nodded in admiration. Outwardly Cowan did not appear to be a happy man, but Josie suspected he led a very content life as a loner.

“Have his personal effects been cleared? I want to take them back with me to the evidence locker.”

He looked up and frowned. “Not until I get toxicology back. You’re welcome to pull everything out.” He pointed to a row of six lockers at the end of the wall cabinets. “His effects are in the top locker. Everything is stored in a plastic bag. Just keep your mask and gloves on as a precaution.”

Josie pulled the plastic bag out and laid it on a steel examination table to the right of the table Cowan was using. She pulled out a….

Learn more about the book and author at Tricia Fields's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Territory.

Writers Read: Tricia Fields (November 2011).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Crooked Branch"

Jeanine Cummins is the author of A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath, published in 2004 and a surprise bestseller. The Outside Boy, published in 2010, was her first novel.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Crooked Branch, and reported the following:

From page 69 of The Crooked Branch:

“How would you cook a fox? I wonder,” she said to herself out loud. She did a lot of talking to herself, with Ray gone. “A stew, I suppose.” She shuddered at the thought of eating fox meat, but she’d be glad of it all the same.

She crept forward and drew her breath in. She didn’t want to startle the beast, exactly. She wanted it to know she was coming. She didn’t want it flying at her face. They were fierce animals when they were cornered.

“I wish Ray was here,” she muttered.

She drew the hayfork back then, and up to her shoulder. Her hands were trembling, but she tightened her grip and took a deep breath. She could sense a presence there, in behind the oat bushels—maybe she could hear it breathing, or smell the alien musk of its pelt. She crept forward. She wanted to catch it, and she didn’t want to catch it. She lifted the hayfork with both hands, and yelled as she stormed forward, plunging the fork down through the air.

“Faith, don’t hurt me! Merciful God!”

She twisted the fork up just in time, and its tines clattered the wall. Her hand flew up to her heart, which was beating now like mad. She shook, from the legs up.

“Mary Reilly, I nearly had you for supper!” Ginny gasped.

I love this opportunity to share a specific little moment from my novel!

The Crooked Branch is half-set during the worst of the potato famine in Ireland, in 1847. This particular scene happens near the beginning of the book, when things for Ginny and her children are becoming difficult, but are not yet desperate. Ginny’s husband Ray has left for America, and Ginny and their children have stayed behind in the west of Ireland, with just enough provisions to last them until Ray lands work in New York, and begins sending money back. In this moment, we meet a neighbor of Ginny’s, Mary Reilly, whose family circumstances are more dire than Ginny’s. Mary has come to Ginny’s home to steal food, and this is the moment when Ginny discovers her.

In some ways, this passage is representative of the book – it certainly illustrates the growing despair of the hungry people in those waning months of 1847, as the full weight of catastrophe was just beginning to show itself to Ireland. But what this selection doesn’t represent is the other half of the novel.

The alternating chapters are set in contemporary Queens, in New York City, where we follow a modern-day descendent of Ginny’s – Majella, who has just become a mother for the first time. Majella has everything she wants in life – a fulfilling career, a nice home, a wonderful husband – all the ideal conditions for bringing a child into her life. But when that longed-for baby makes her appearance, Majella is thrown for a loop. With the new baby in tow, Majella struggles to regain the satisfied balance of her former life, and in the midst of those efforts, she finds the diary of her ancestor, Ginny Doyle.

So this story really becomes two parallel narratives about the universal difficulties and awesomeness of motherhood – in circumstances both conventional and calamitous. It’s a story about how a modern mama learns to accept herself by drawing strength from the ferocious tenderness of all the mamas who came before her.

Learn more about the book and author at Jeanine Cummins's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Grammarian"

Annapurna Potluri was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and moved to New York to attend New York University where she studied comparative literature and linguistics and went on to earn an MPhil in theoretical linguistics from Cambridge University. She has lived in Italy and India and is currently working at the South Asia Institute at Columbia University.

Potluri applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The Grammarian, and reported the following:

From Page 69:

As it happened, and to Alexandre’s slight annoyance, it seemed he and Anjali shared a habit of waking up early. Every morning she would say, “Mary, bring some coffee,” and Anjali’s voice was cold, her eyes not even lifting to the servant woman’s. Despite her handicap, Anjali was able to convey a profound degree of an icy sense of superiority. Though the color of her eyes was a rich, dark brown, they were set with a look of glacial calm, a masculine hardness that Alexandre found unnerving in a girl. And every morning Mary would reply, “Yes, Miss Anjali,” and scuttle back from her mistress, her plump, pleasant bovine face lowered in submission.

Mornings in the Adivi household started early. By daylight he could hear the sounds of the servants gathering water and readying the day’s food preparations and feeding the dogs. Occasionally, he would find Adivi up reading the paper in his white nightshirt and dhoti, but the women of the house never left their rooms without having bathed and dressed first. He had never seen Lalita look so much as slightly disheveled. When she made her entrance, she would head straight for the kitchen and oversee making breakfast. Kanakadurga performed her morning puja after a bath each morning and Alexandre would sometimes hear her repeated Sanskrit mantras or hear her ringing a prayer bell as he made his way out to the garden.

Page 69 of The Grammarian is the first page of the sixth chapter and is a perfect sample of the book in toto. This scene, like most of the book, is told through Alexandre’s eyes—he is the outsider here, and he’s a very observant person, so I wanted to write the scene through the viewpoint of someone to whom all of this is new, so even the minutiae are noteworthy. This scene also illustrates some of tensions of status and caste that are expressed through small actions, such as taking a cup of coffee.

It also a good example of the performative aspect of Indian “public” life, which includes being in a position to receive people in your own home. One of the things that I think French and Indian culture have in common is that sharply drawn line between public and private. You won’t see Indian college students coming to class in their pajamas—once you leave your bedroom, you have to be ready to engage fully with society, and being groomed and well-dressed is a mark of respect not just about self-regard, but a sign of respect to the people around you. It’s about propriety, and it’s particularly important with regards to women. Like everywhere, women bear the burden of maintaining a sense of national, communal, familial honor. Nary a hair can be out of place.

Learn more about the book and author at Annapurna Potluri's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Grammarian.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Rage Against the Dying"

Becky Masterman is the acquisitions editor for a press specializing in medical textbooks for forensic examiners and law enforcement. She grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and received her MA in creative writing from Florida Atlantic University. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband.

Masterman applied the Page 69 Test to Rage Against the Dying, her first thriller, and reported the following:

Would you look at that, it's true! On page 69 of Rage Against the Dying, my heroine is watching TV with her husband and a news report comes on that shows the hideous crime scene she was at that day where they found the mummies hidden in an abandoned car. She tries to distract the husband with sherbet because she doesn't want him to know about the kind of awful world she has lived in. That's the whole story. Except for the rapist in the dry riverbed. And the guy who confesses to serial murders he didn't commit. And the ears...

Learn more about Rage Against the Dying at the publisher's website.

My Book, The Movie: Rage Against the Dying.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Fever"

Mary Beth Keane is the author of The Walking People (2009) and the newly released novel, Fever, about the life of Typhoid Mary. She attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA in Fiction. In 2011, she was named one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35.

Keane applied the Page 69 Test to Fever and reported the following:

Page 69 of Fever is the opening of chapter 6, which has the main character, Mary Mallon – known to history as “Typhoid Mary” – entering a courtroom for her habeas corpus hearing. Put in quarantine on North Brother Island against her will in 1907 after being the first discovered typhoid fever carrier in America, the opening of Chapter 6 shows her in 1910, petitioning to be released:

Almost every chair was occupied when she walked down the narrow center aisle. She’d pictured benches, polished wood, the judge elevated above them on a kind of throne, but instead the cramped and musty room was filled with straight-backed chairs in uneven lines. Some reporters had turned their chairs to make a cluster with others they knew. Some people who had no involvement in the case but had been following it in the papers nudged their chairs out of line bit by bit with impatient shifting. She wanted to know if Alfred was there, but she kept her eyes fixed on the neat seams of Mr. O’Neill’s suit jacket. There was a momentary hush when those closest to the door spotted her, and a collective creak as several dozen spectators turned to see her for themselves.

This moment dramatizes one of the most important moments in Mary’s life, and is one of several places in the novel where I tried to keep some historical details intact – from the names of the judges, to the newspapers represented in the courtroom to the sweltering heat of the day. Mary’s case made medical history and her hearing was a place where doctors could weigh in with their thoughts on what should be done with her, while reporters observed her and turned her into the one-dimensional character she became in history books. The matter at stake at the hearing is also the central question of my novel: which is more important, an individual’s rights or the safety of the public as a whole? While it was likely true that Mary Mallon was indeed a carrier of typhoid fever, does having a disease make a person a criminal?

This section also mentions Alfred, Mary’s longtime partner, whom Mary has not seen since several weeks before her capture in 1907. Though I took many, many liberties with their relationship, Alfred was a real figure in Mary’s life, and though there is no real proof, I believe they was love between them. Mary’s life was so complicated and tragic that it felt inevitable that her love life also be those things.

Learn more about the book and author at Mary Beth Keane's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Blood, Ash, and Bone"

Tina Whittle is a mystery writer working in Statesboro, Georgia. Her short fiction has appeared in The Savannah Literary Journal, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Gulf Stream, which selected her story “Lost Causes and Other Reasons to Live” as the 2004 winner of their Mystery Fiction contest.

Whittle applied the Page 69 Test to Blood, Ash, and Bone, the third novel in the Tai Randolph series, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Chapter Twelve

The next morning dawned gray, with sodden dense clouds in a low sky. The weatherwoman said to blame the tropical storm hovering offshore east of the Gulf Stream, sending sunshine and thunderstorms in alternating bands of clear and foul weather.

I showed up at the driving range anyway, hopeful that the deluge would hold off long enough for at least nine holes. I gave my new driver a practice swing, then re-tucked the cell phone between my ear and shoulder.

John’s voice sounded frustrated. “Look, I didn’t have anything to do with Hope showing up at your hotel!”

“So you keep saying.”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Then how . . . hang on a second.”

I fished a tee out of my pocket and stuck it in the ground. Trey watched from behind the line, sticking out like an Armani-clad sore thumb. He’d agreed to go on the course, but refused to wear golf clothes, insisting that he wasn’t golfing.

I jammed the phone back against my ear. “So you have no idea who might have been following me? Or how Hope found out where we were staying?”

“No idea at all.”

“You’d better be telling the truth, or I swear—”

“Whole truth, Tai. Why would I lie?”

“Good question. I gotta go. But keep your mouth zipped, you hear me?”

Q: Is this sample typical of the entire book?

A: It’s more like the calm before the storm, both literally and figuratively. So there’s simmering going on that comes to a full boil later.

Q: This woman seems familiar. What’s her name again?

A: Tai Randolph. She’s the narrator of Blood, Ash and Bone. You might remember her from The Dangerous Edge of Things (where she first honed her amateur sleuth chops) and Darker Than Any Shadow (where she encountered not only a vicious killer but a reticulated python).

Q: She runs a Confederate-themed gunshop in Atlanta, right? What’s she doing on a golf course with a tropical storm brewing?

A: She’s in Savannah, her hometown, for a Civil War Expo and Gun Show. She’s pursuing a Civil War artifact that could be worth six figures ... and which may or may not have a string of corpses attached.

Q: Who’s she arguing with on the phone?

A: That would be John, her ex. He hired her to track down this artifact, which he swears belongs to him. His ex-wife Hope has different ideas, and is stalking Tai and Trey at their hotel.

Q: About that Trey guy, the one in the Armani, the one definitely not golfing — he’s ex-SWAT, right? And he knows Krav Maga and usually carries a nine millimeter?

A: Yes. Trey has very definite ideas about personal space, and woe to those who violate his boundaries.

Q: Does he shoot anybody in this scene?

A: It’s a golf course — what do you think?

Q: I think he might.

A: Well, he doesn’t. That comes later, at the ... never mind. Read the book.

Learn more about the book and author at Tina Whittle's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Darker Than Any Shadow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Dark Hour"

Robin Burcell, an FBI-trained forensic artist, has worked in law enforcement for over two decades as a police officer, detective and hostage negotiator.  The latest books in her series featuring Special Agent Sydney Fitzpatrick are The Dark Hour and The Black List.

Burcell applied the Page 69 Test to The Dark Hour and reported the following:

Page 69 is the opening of a chapter in which FBI Special Agent Tony Carillo is starting his investigation into the man who was arrested for killing a U.S. senator. The case seems pretty clear cut and there are plenty of witnesses. The suspect is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who went off his meds—at least according to the preliminary reports. A little digging opens up a bigger question:

December 7

Washington, D.C.

The first thing FBI Special Agent Tony Carillo did was order up a copy of the blood panel from the shooter’s arrest, and with that in hand, walked it to the FBI’s own lab. Aside from the PCP, there was one drug listed that Carillo didn’t recognize.

The doctor at the FBI lab read over the report. “Nothing outstanding. This drug is used to treat hypothyroidism.”

“The guy was schizophrenic. Went off his meds. So this would be normal?”

“Depends. Went off his meds for how long?”

“I’m not sure anyone said. Why?”

“Might help to know why and when he went off. Because he didn’t like the way he felt on them? Or was it because his symptoms weren’t under control and that fed into his delusional fears?”

Carillo finished his coffee, then tossed the cup in the trash, saying, “Mind you I don’t know jack about psychiatry, but if he was paranoid and went off his meds because of a delusional fear, why would he still be taking his hypothyroid medicine?”

Learn more about the book and author at Robin Burcell's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Black List.

--Marshal Zeringue