Adrian writes in her bio:
I also believe in being prepared for zombie attacks and can’t stress enough the importance of having regular family drills so every member of the household is zombie-ready. One never knows. Make sure the sofa is ready to push in front of the door. Be clear that if a member of the family is on the wrong side of the door when the zombie action goes down. They remain on the wrong side of the door. The greater good, etc.
One thing is certain. In A Rush of Wings no one was left on the wrong side of the door when Heather Wallace was around. However, not every character in this story was concerned with the well-being of others.
Serial killers are fascinating creatures. The explanations for the why’s and how’s of their becoming involved in their extreme hobby are varied. Twin studies seem to indicate that psychopathy (blunted ability to empathise) is, to a large degree, inherited (Brogaard). Psychopathy seems to be one of the major traits of serial killers. But most psychopaths aren’t criminal. Another common trait seems to be a degree of psychosis (strange world view) (Brogaard). Again, most pscyhotics aren’t criminal. So, while inherited traits are important, they do need to be triggered into a killer zone somehow. Triggering the killer is certainly no problem for the true criminals of A Rush of Wings.
Heather Wallace is one of the FBI experts on serial murders and she is chasing the CCK-killer. The CCK-killer is a violent killer and the murders have a sexual element to them. After discovering the first victim of A Rush of Wings, Wallace slowly begins to suspect that Dante, lead singer of Inferno, seems to be the intended final victim. Figuring out who the killer is, has been impossible up to now. One of the problems with serial killers is that their murders do not necessarily reflect the person their not-victims see.
Why her supervisor Stearns has sent her to New Orleans in response to Detective Collins’ request becomes apparent in the latter half of the story. According to the rules this is highly irregular, but as things turn out the whole thing is highly irregular. Corruption, a Child Care system that does not work and pressures from above are part of a background story that we as readers get to see long before Wallace does. If history has taught me anything, it is that the above is rather common.
I haven’t made up my mind as to whether I think Heather trusted Dante and his people too soon. It sure wouldn’t be professional, but the paranormal element could be a factor in this.
With a background in mormonism I loved the Angel Moroni dialogue. Hilarious.
Definitely recommended.
A Rush of Wings available on
Ecampus.com (mass market paperback), Simon & Schuster (mass market paperback & e-book)
Reviews:
Brogaard, Berit (2012), The Making of a Serial Killer, Psychology Today
NCAVC & al (2005) Serial Murder, Federal Bureau of Investigations
humanitysdarkerside 
I’ve always wondered why serial killers do what they do. I think I read somewhere that it takes a lot to get them sexually aroused. I guess if you combine that with the other things you mentioned, like a complete inability to empathize, it could make some sense if they do it for sexual gratification.
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If you check out the two links at the bottom of my post you will find that there are quite a few myths regarding serial killers, but that there does seem to be that lack of empathy and possibly a high degree of something similar to narcissism.
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