CJ Lyons

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eighteen novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

Lyons has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).

Her new novel is Black Sheep.

Recently I asked Lyons about what she was reading.  Her reply:

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, by Kevin Dutton

In my 17 years of practicing pediatrics and pediatric ER medicine, I dealt with a lot of sociopaths (aka Psychopaths). Gangbangers, fellow physicians, parents on power trips, law enforcement officers, charge nurses…really no occupation or segment of society was immune.

This ubiquitous nature of a personality disorder that was supposed to have a prevalence of only 1-4% of the population outside of the ER, always bothered me. Especially the fact that these people at first glance seemed so damn normal.

As a thriller author I also write a lot of sociopath characters—most of whom are not the villains. Instead they reflect the spectrum of our society, just like the sociopaths I met in the ER. Including a fair number who are covert operatives, law enforcement officers, physicians, nurses, lawyers, and politicians.

So of course when I saw the title of Kevin Dutton's latest book and read an excerpt, I realized this was a must read for any thriller/suspense author.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths was a fascinating read. Especially as it confirmed my belief that a little sociopathy is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're a brain surgeon, CIA officer, SWAT sniper, or the like.

(It also explained why I fled several relationships with "great guys" and reaffirmed my natural instincts to run when things didn't feel right. Unfortunately I have friends who didn't listen to my intuitions and ended up in disastrous relationships of their own.)

If you want to know what a serial killer has in common with James Bond, grab The Wisdom of Psychopaths and check it out.

Visit CJ Lyons' website.

The Page 69 Test: Black Sheep.

--Marshal Zeringue