This coming February, HarperCollins is going to re-issue my 1996 novel, Equation for Evil. It’s been my sole venture into the realm of crime fiction, although it transcends the limitations of genre.
In its examination of violence in today’s America, its satiric look at the numbing effects media coverage has on our collective sensibilities, and in its exploration of the biological roots of crime, Equation for Evil was very forward-looking. I believe it remains as relevant today as when it was first published. The story is set mostly in a dystopic California in the mid-1990s. It centers on a horrific school shooting, much like the one that took place last year in Newtown, Conn., and on the attempts of a forensic psychiatrist to determine the killer’s motives, which lead him and a Chinese-American detective to make a startling discovery. In fact, they make several discoveries that subvert their respective preconceptions and assumptions.
The Washington Post had this to say about it: “Caputo paints a very clear and lucid picture of the horrors we have come to in this country…A strong story, with fully realized, interesting characters, in a prose as controlled and direct as a stare, make Equation for Evil the fine novel it is.” And from Publisher’s Weekly: “Caputo’s characters are complex and compelling…His storytelling is first-rate.”
Truth in advertising: If you’re looking for a redemptive, life-affirming message, this probably isn’t the novel for you. One reader told me he and his wife couldn’t finish it “because it was just too dark.” To which I replied, “Sometimes darkness illuminates.” I’m writing this, by the way, a few hours after thirteen people were gunned down in the nation’s capital. It seems we’ve developed a culture in which the unhappy, the disgruntled, the marginalized, and the just plain crazy feel free to express themselves by pulling a trigger on their fellow human beings.
Times have always been terribly dark. In the most loving of homes grandparents recited prayers with little children, “there are four corners on my bed ~ and on each one an angel’s head!” Goblins beneath, heads on the corners, shadows flickering along the walls. What were they? Those were the safe places, “the good times,” for us who lived in comfort. History proves life has been scary and dark all through for humans. Today we expose all the crime that takes place, well more of the evil than ever before. I started out long time ago so I think I know a little something, maybe! So glad you make me think, and not just sit here! TY!
2013 versus 1996, this novel could have been penned yesterday.
The question is why do the innocents suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.?
If darkness is the illuminator, we are in very dark times.
I thought the 60’s were bad.