Nichole Severn | A Different Kind of Victim

I'd have to say my fascination with serial killers started around the time I entered college. I love everything about the brain; how it functions, what areas of the brain do what, how it can fail and the consequences of failing.

Someone is considered a serial killer after two or more kills in as little as a month. Sometimes this occurs because of emotional or financial reasons, but in a lot of cases, the taking of life gives the killer a thrill. That's where my serial killers come in; the thrill.

So why serial killers? I believe them to be the ultimate antagonist. The amount of fear that single title inflicts in a human being opens up a wide variety of situations in my works and feeds my muse like no other inspiration, but it's not the blood or loss of life that interests me. 

It's the aftermath.

How does one person's simple action of taking lives affect others? I wanted to answer this question so badly, I actually made it the key theme in my recent release, DIE FOR ME. However, not in the direction you might think.

Taigen Banvard, my protagonist, isn't so much a victim of a serial killer; he blames himself for her existence. Every time his sister kills, her urges and the voice in her head disappear, something she'll do anything to stop. By allowing his relationship with her to get in the way of finding the help she needed, he put hundreds of lives at stake. Desperation and guilt drive Taigen to the point he's forced to hunt down his own sister to stop the bloodshed, but all the while the love he has for her and the fear of turning into a serial killer himself cloud his judgment.

How often does this happen in reality? When reports of a serial killer on the loose hit the media, we hear mostly of the victims and their families. We feel for them, cry with them and support them as they rightfully deserve. But should we do the same with the killer's family?

How many of those family members blame themselves for what happened or worry they too might have "the gene" that could set them off? With Die For Me I was able to dig deeper into that very situation, perhaps even change your perception of who constitutes as a serial killer's victim.

To learn more about my serial killers and the havoc they cause, check out my recent release, DIE FOR ME! Thanks for stopping by!

About DIE FOR ME

Beyond the Page Publishing, April 2013

Former hit man Taigen Banvard is desperately tracking the most dangerous prey he's ever faced: his sister. Fighting demons from his past and lethal threats at every step, he follows the trail to Torrhent Lynd, an escaped convict and the stepdaughter of the man set on using his sister as a personal assassin. With time running out and his sister's body count rising, can Taigen trust Torrhent long enough to put an end to his nightmares?

Framed and convicted for a murder she didn't commit, Torrhent Lynd has broken out of prison and is dead-set on getting revenge on her stepfather, the man who set her up. Running from the law and driven to mete out justice of her own, she can't afford to trust anyone, including Taigen, the fierce and attractive man who might be the only chance she has to get out of this alive.

With the FBI on their trail, a serial killer on the loose, and hired guns looking to silence them both, the two are forced into an uneasy alliance. As they race to settle their scores and fight to stay alive, each drop of blood they shed brings them closer to their targets, and dangerously closer to each other

About Nichole Severn

As a thriller and romance writer, Nichole Severn fills her stories with edge-of-your-seat-suspense, psychological trauma and bad guys readers love to hate. She graduated with a degree in psychology from Utah Valley University, which stemmed from her obsession with serial killers, and is currently seeking her bachelors in English Literature. The obsession has toned down...a little.

She resides with her very supportive, albeit patient, husband in Las Vegas, NV, where she enjoys running, rock climbing, snowboarding, and action movies.

Nichole can be contacted through her website at www.nicholesevern.com, email at [email protected], Twitter at @nicholesevern or Facebook.