Last night I went down a rabbit hole. I decided to watch the first few videos of Shane Dawson’s documentary about Jake Paul. In it, Shane touches on something that fascinates me, sociopaths. What it is. How many people have it. Some say 1 in 25. Some say 1 in 100. Really I should mention that there is a spectrum and 1 in 25 to 100 would fall somewhere on that spectrum.

The idea of someone who doesn’t know how to feel emotions. Who lives there life with different masks. Who are charismatic and enjoyable to be around. Master manipulators. That’s fascinating. However, I do need to point out that I don’t know much about this. It’s why I wish there were more ya that touched on this in a way that didn’t make them all out to be serial killers. Because most sociopaths aren’t serial killers. Apparently, they are often some of the world’s most successful people as well as the most liked.

The only ya book I found that has a sociopath main character that isn’t also a killer is ‘Don’t You Trust Me?’ By Patrice Kindl. Here is the link to the article I found this book on.

“Patrice Kindl, best known for her romantic historical novels, steps into a new genre in this tale of a conniving teenager. Fifteen-year-old Morgan is blonde, blue eyed, and possesses a winning smile that instantly wins her the trust of everyone in the room. Oh, and she’s most definitely a sociopath. Emotions like love and fear are foreign to her, and she can’t recall ever having a conscience. When her parents ship her off to a school for troubled teens, she’s confident she can weasel her way out of it. That’s when she meets Janelle, a sobbing mess of a girl being torn from her boyfriend and sent to live with relatives she hasn’t seen since childhood. Originally dismissive of the other girl, Morgan changes her tune once she hears Janelle’s story and proposes that they switch places. Janelle runs off with her boyfriend, and Morgan settles in with a wealthy family who doesn’t have a clue that she isn’t their niece. Let the games begin. Fans of unreliable narrators and bad girls will eat this up.”

Even still, the book above is a thriller in a sense. Just not one about a killer. If sociopaths are so common, why isn’t there more books written about them? I’m not talking thrillers and horror stories. I’m talking real world contemporary.. even historical, fantasy, etc. There has to be writers out there who are sociopaths. Who know what it’s like to live inside their own minds. Why not write a story more true to themselves?

I’m not trying to think of this as some sort of controversy. I’m just a fascinated person whose curiosity leads me to wanting to understand others who live lives totally unlike my own. Be it mentally, ethnically, of a different sexuality, or disability. I like to learn about these things, because not only does it make me more aware, but it makes it so I can be more compassionate and understanding. Realizing that sociopathic tendencies affect a ton more people then I ever realized was a huge eyeopener into a world that the majority of us cannot ever fully understand.

Thanks for reading! If you know any other books that are not thrillers that have a sociopathic main character let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this!

-Till next time!