Five rules for a sympathetic killer protagonist
These days many thrillers have protagonists who, if you stand back for a moment, are only marginally better than the people they are hunting down or trying to escape from. This is particularly the case when they are cold-blooded killers. Most of us as readers would never dream of killing anyone, and wouldn’t hang out with killers. As an example, if you were in a tight and dangerous spot, you’d be forgiven for wanting Jack Reacher on your side. But if things were going just fine, I’m not sure you’d want him to come babysit your kids every Thursday…
As a writer the trick is to make such characters ‘sympathetic’.…
Heroines aren’t born, they’re forged – Nadia’s story
Some prologues are worth reading. This is how Nadia begins…
Prologue
The only thing worth killing for is family.
Her father’s words to her, the day they’d come for him.
She’d been fourteen when two men in combat fatigues and balaclavas burst into the kitchen where she and her father were enjoying breakfast. The armed commandos hadn’t seen his pistol lying beneath a folded newspaper. While her father struggled with the men, his eyes flicked between her and the weapon.