“An irreverent sociopath... A secure mental health facility... A collection of dangerous minds...
WATCH THEM DIE is the story of a serial killer who finds himself in intriguing company within the walls of a modern-day lunatic asylum.
With a unique and unnervingly objective viewpoint, the protagonist challenges society’s perception of sanity with a bluntness that will chill your blood.”
WATCH THEM DIE is a standalone short story I wrote between THE ELZEVIR COLLECTIVE and TORUS; I wanted a brief gap before tackling another novel but was keen to carry on writing. The story is nothing like the novels and is completely unrelated; it’s a sort of confession written from the point of view of a sociopath.
The title is derived from a line in Johnny Cash’s FOLSOM PRISON BLUES: “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” The lyric is stark and dark and utterly compelling. I was drawn to the coldness of that line and wondered if I could come up with a story in which inflicting death was little more than a curious experiment.
The settings for this book – Rye and Romney Marsh – have great significance for me. My paternal grandparents and grandaunt lived in Rye. I have fond memories from those years. Brenzett is a real village in the heart of the marsh but the hospital in this story is fictitious. The tales of smugglers in centuries past are not.
I refer to WATCH THEM DIE as a short story but, at twelve chapters long, it would be more accurate to describe it as a novella. It’s sometimes said that writers spend most of their time dreaming up ways to send characters to untimely ends; I confess that I thoroughly enjoyed that indulgence with this book. Remember, it’s fiction!
I usually write a lot of dialogue; in this story I deliberately wrote none. The narration keeps the reader inside the character’s head for the entire book. You never get to see him actually engage with anyone; he just tells you everything from his unique perspective. You might pass him on the street and never realise who he is…
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