Equation for Evil

By Philip Caputo

Book Overview

"Written with Caputo's customary style and razor-sharp prose, Equation for Evil is the rarest of novels: one that makes the reader think profoundly at the same time that he is driven to devour pages. Unflinching, compelling and engaging, it stands beside books like Presumed Innocent or The Silence of the Lambs and is equally fascinating." -- John Banville

From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Book Award finalist Philip Caputo, a timely thriller that is sure to have you on the edge of your seat

On a quiet morning in California, a lone gunman opens fire on a busload of children headed for a field trip, then turns the gun on himself. Forensic psychiatrist Leander Heartwood and special agent Gabriel Chin team up to investigate the case, seeking at first only to solve this single disturbing crime but in time delving into issues of race, morality, and the complex forces at work in all horrifying acts of violence.

Part mystery, part psychological thriller, part piercing social commentary, Equation for Evil is a riveting and incisive meditation on violence and the nature of evil.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060984112
• ISBN13: 9780060984113
• Release Date: February 2014
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Rewarding Read

This one certainly doesn't deserve to be out of print. Loosely based on the story of Stockton, CA mass murderer Patrick Purdy, Equation for Evil is an excellent read. Caputo must have done some reading in neuroscience before writing the novel, but I got the feeling that he couldn't quite figure out where to go with the book's central theme -- whether the roots of evil are spiritual, biological, or both. Much is made of this issue in the first half of the novel, but it sort of fades out towards the end as the book takes on the shape of a conventional thriller. One of the book's major characters, psychiatrist Leander Heartwood, rather unconvincingly sheds his belief that the roots of violent behavior are in the brain and decides that evil is "a choice." Perhaps so, but the choice to open fire on a group of schoolchildren is not one that most of us would remotely contemplate, leaving the question of what makes people like Purdy tick hanging.Having done some reading and writing about neuroscience issues myself, I can empathize with Caputo's confusion, but research conducted in the years since this book was published has drawn even stronger connections between neurological abnormalities and violent behavior. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about the implications of all this and remain somewhat baffled. Seems like Mr. Caputo had a similar reaction.