The Witchfinder thinks Amanda Preston is a cuddle-wuddle fluffy head.
Amanda Preston is a cute-wutie!
‘Eyes of a Sociopath’ could be chick-lit. It is about a beautiful young woman on the up and on the make. The difference with this book is that our heroine, Amanda Preston, as the name suggests, is about a clinically diagnosed High Functioning Sociopath. So what is a sociopath?
Well, a sociopath is a person who is on the psychopathic spectrum. Formally, the diagnosis is ‘Dissocial Personality Disorder’ or ‘Anti-Social Personality Disorder’. There is a variety of literature on the subject, some speculating that such people are born, others that they are made (e.g. by an abusive childhood) and still more that it is a mixture.
High Functioning Sociopaths are people, often with superior senses and intelligence, who are charming, capable and lacking in traditional amounts of conscience or remorse. They may succeed in employment, indeed they can be successful journalists or gifted lawyers. Sociopaths are notable for their deep perception and understanding of human emotions and behaviours despite the fact that they do not share the feelings of those around them.
Sociopaths can be extremely persuasive because they are simply skilfully mocking up emotions that other people actually feel. Amanda feels nothing towards those who think she is their friend. She hurts people without remorse and the book describes in detail how as a child she pretends to be friends with a kindly girl called Sara in order to appear more normal. In reality Amanda’s only real urges are to success and to extreme violence. As she grows she lies, cheats, injures and murders.
