Review: The Sociopath Next Door
Not quite The Girl Next Door…
First, let me say that I bought this book with one thing in mind: writing research. Creating a hero is relatively easy, but making a good, believable villain is a little more challenging, so when I saw The Sociopath Next Door, it seemed like the perfect research material for me. I was not disappointed. While I find it hard to believe the author’s assertion that 4% of the population essentially have no conscience at all, the rest of the book was rather interesting and entertaining.
The book takes us through what a sociopath is, which is a great place to start, but quickly shows us what the mind of a sociopath might look like from the inside. A person with no remorse and few personal boundaries that keep them from doing anything they please to whoever they please, as long as it gets them what they want. It’s tempting to say that everyone who has done something nasty to us is a sociopath based on this book, but it’s just not so. Oh, to be sure, many of us rationalize some of our worst behavior and may seem guilt-free, but the mere fact that was have to rationalize anything is proof that we have that emotional connection that sociopaths lack. And, interestingly enough, that is what they lack. They feel nothing for their fellow human creatures at all, except in relation to their usefulness as tools for the sociopath to use.
The book does as good a job as possible to show us what that might seem like. Certainly the author does a good job of describing behaviors, both normal and pathological, that a sociopath might engage in. She also presents several composite “characters”, or example sociopaths, and how they might be found in the world. For my purposes, of course, this was very useful and well worth the price of the book. In fact, if you’re an author looking to create more believable, yet thoroughly nasty, villains, this book is a wonderful resource for you.
However, I do have a few criticisms. I’ve already mentioned the seemingly inflated percentage of the population the author speculates may be sociopathic. I think her sample was biased and based on her personal, anecdotal observation. At least, I saw no solid references for the figures that she put forth. I assume that it was mainly inflated to sell the book. Fear sells almost as well as sex.
Also, her suggestions that we need to all be watching for these sociopaths who might be out there, lying in wait, seem somewhat overdone as well. Though, certainly, if a reader already believed that they had gotten involved with a sociopath, or user of some other kind, her suggestions would be quite useful. They boil down to “have boundaries”, “maintain your boundaries”, “don’t ignore warning signs of bad behavior”, and “trust your instincts”. Pretty common-sense advice for anyone, as far as I’m concerned.
Over all, it was a decent book, but a little alarmist. Worth the money for me, but nothing I’d recommend to anyone who reads a lot of pop-psychology already.
Oh, and I started The Empress File by John Sandford as soon as I finished The Sociopath Next Door last week. It’s better, and I’ve already torn through most of it. At this rate, I might even finish it before I hit the plane on Thursday!
