Capturing the enthralling, dark, and complex character of this psychological thriller, the copy piques the reader’s interest by posing questions about the crimes and the manic depressant suspect, while exploring the confounding nature of this mental illness.

This is a deep, melancholy novel that invites the reader into the mind of an individual who’s mental state of mind is spiralling out of control.

Whether caused by nature or nurture (or a mixture of both), it attempts to show that psychosis is hard to live with on a daily basis.

The book tells a story of one man, Sam, and his troubled life, starting with a deprived childhood into middle age.  He knows he has made mistakes – but are they really as bad as he thinks?  And will they continue to haunt him causing him to carry the guilt for the rest of his life on earth?

“If we take the bricks from past relationships with us – we end up building the same house!”

The book is narrated mainly by Sam although Detective Drew comes in midway and writes from his perspective.  The first part of the book is in the past tense until the middle of the novel where we are brought into the present.  It is narrated in the same style as a person such as Sam would tell the story; sometimes a little illogical, sometimes a little jumbled, always over-analysed.

We also see common themes throughout the storyline: Need & Greed & Ignorance.

A Need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Need can be objective and physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological.

Greed conversely is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one’s self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

Sam soon realises that it is a wise man indeed who can separate need from greed and is himself forced to differentiate between the two -and establish whether his needs are in reality – want!

The third theme Ignorance on the other hand, refers to the prejudice of people who hold preconceived opinions that are not based on reason or actual experience; a  prejudgment before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case. Ignorance is often born out of fear and lack of understanding or knowledge (although merely possessing information does not necessarily equate to knowledge!)

Real knowledge is to know
the extent of one’s ignorance

 

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Delving deeper into the background…  What is the novel really about?

“Need, Greed & Ignorance is the spellbinding psychological thriller that peers into one man’s fragile mental state as it unravels into utter chaos.  It casts an eye on the conditions of schizophrenia and provides a rare insight into the mind of an individual who endures this frequently misunderstood condition”.

This is a quote from the marketing essentials but what is this novel?

Well, it’s a whodunit style thriller but it differs in that it is not plot driven, nor is it intended to be.  Rather it is character driven, based on a man who suffers from what  experts these days would term “mental health issues” – often described as being a “disorder”,  and/or “an illness”.

It’s difficult for a person who doesn’t have this “disorder” to understand what it like to suffer from schizophrenia/be schizophrenic. The media tends to portray these sufferers as axe murderers of psychos but haven’t you heard?

“Not all axe murderers are schizophrenic – and not all schizophrenics are axe murderers!”

In Sam, the main character of the book, the most basic processes of perceiving and thinking are affected – these are common themes with psychosis.  Sam is typical in that he is (and becomes) disconnected from reality (whatever real or normality is!). He experiences sadness and depression and is trapped in a terrifying and isolating situation.

What’s with the delusions?

To have a delusion is to be totally obsessed with an idea, and to have absolute certainty that the idea is correct.  Sam has absolute conviction in his beliefs.

Delusional ideas take a hold of Sam and are very powerful – so powerful that they preoccupy his thoughts, night and day. But are they really delusional – or are they fanatical?

What the reader doesn’t know is – are the crimes committed by Sam – or are they a figment of his imagination.  Is he the perpretrator or a victim?

Why does Sam have nightmares and hallucinations?

Hallucinations and delusions can go hand-in-hand. For example, hearing voices speaking to you from say the television is an hallucination. Being totally convinced that the voices are real and believing the things they tell you is delusional.

Sam is delusional for sure but are the dreams real… are they based on real and/or past experiences or are they all in his head>  We know he is far from squeaky clean – but is he hiding behind the mask of his illness to get away with things?

In the novel we read that anyone who annoys him, rejects him or threatens him comes to a sticky end.  But is this mere coincidence?

Humans usually rely on our perceptions to tell us what’s real. We’re unaware that different people experience the same situation differently, because usually those small differences aren’t often discussed.

A person with schizophrenia, however, may actually hear people saying things that are critical or insulting, when those conversations aren’t actually taking place. That would be a type of auditory hallucination.

Visual hallucinations can take many forms as well. A person with schizophrenia may find their attention drawn to one particular person’s face, notice that the teeth are very white, and then perceive the mouth and teeth growing to fill the room. This perceptual distortion would feel just like a real visual perception, and the person may believe it actually to be occurring. If they’re frightened by the perception they might try to hide their fear, or they might cry out or run away.

The process that disrupts the normal operations of the brain also disrupts the process by which the brain monitors its own operation. . Unfortunately, a psychotic brain can’t fault find its own errors, because the fault finding tools are also malfunctioning! People experiencing disorganized speech are often aware that their thoughts and words aren’t saying the words they mean to and will become frustrated when others don’t understand.

Sam’s negative symptoms

People with schizophrenia do not always recognise their negative symptoms as being symptoms of an illness or even abnormal. In this way, the experience can be like that of certain kinds of depression The person doesn’t express emotions or expresses them only mildly, even when confronted angrily, or in a dangerous situation. The person may also fail to find pleasure in things they once liked.

A person experiencing negative symptoms has little energy or motivation, and the person’s mental energy and acuity is often also depressed. Because the mind itself feels fuzzy or dull, there’s little perception that it’s possible to feel differently, and little memory of a time when one felt differently.

Sam experiences these feelings of being in a mental fog.

So does this mental fog, this fuzziness cause a tendency towards violence?  Or is this born out of frustration – that those around aren’t listening -or don’t understand?

Whatever the answer – the novel explores the mind of a person living with schizophrenia and causes the reader to become engrossed in that mind themselves – looking for  those elusive answers.

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