Under International law, the infliction of any sort of physical or mental pain or suffering on captives in the jurisdiction of civil or military authorities is not permitted for any reason even in time of war. Robert Langston is keenly aware this.
Nevertheless, he knowingly inflicts pain and suffering on his “clients.” He does what most people would call a bad thing. He does it for what he believes to be a good reason. His actions are not without peril, both for his victims and for himself.
Human beings are programmed against cruelty to other humans. Sometimes we do it anyway.
Most Americans would be shocked to learn the number of plots and planned attacks derailed by analysis, covert operations and interrogation. Were they to know that number, they would be effectively terrorized.
From Instrument, 2016
“You ever hear of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?”
“No.”
“It’s one of our more fashionable mental illnesses. Very chic, a lot of neurotics wish they could have it. I’m not ready to hang that diagnosis on you just yet, but you do have some of the markers. NPDs think they’re the only ones capable of handling anything correctly. They always feel like things will go wrong if they don’t intervene. Sound familiar?”
“You’ve selected one of your little boxes to put me in.”
“Not yet. Maybe you’re just a common control freak. That’s the much less severe form. Not everyone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is NPD, but of course all NPDs start out as OCDs. Another medical term for your condition is PITA. That’s pain in the ass. I can’t make a definite determination on which one you are without further study.”
…“You psychiatrists don’t have enough syndromes. You need a whole lot more of them. You’ve got more pigeons than you do pigeonholes. There’s seven and a half billion unique individual human beings on the planet.”
“True, but we don’t get to see all of them. The sane ones don’t need us and a lot of the crazy ones don’t keep their appointments.”
“I’ve been called worse I guess.”
“There’re a lot of control freaks in the intelligence services, I’m seeing a few right now that are certifiable NPDs. I think the work attracts them. They make good analysts, operations directors, profilers. They tend to be successful, highly motivated people.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.”
“No, and they’re mostly likeable too …in small doses anyway. Some of history’s greatest leaders, designers, inventors… more than a few famous military generals were probably NPD. …The generals had very short careers. Most of them were killed in battle — not always by the other side.”
______________Two Reviews______________
“Dark, strange and disturbing… But also funny, touching and thought provoking. I can’t decide where to put this one. The one place I couldn’t put it was DOWN!” — Carolyn Lawless
‘This is the ‘I just couldn’t put it down’ book. Great plot and memorable characters.” — Linda Gray
