There is something dark and deep within the human psyche that makes us prone to all sorts of violence. The darkness I am alluding to can be described in many different ways. A tv show by the name of ‘dexter’ explores the darkness within through the main protagonist Dexter Morgan. The urges he has as defined by himself is the dark passenger that is always around, inside deep within. There are many real-life serial killers as well that have had a darkness within them, and it could stem from multiple places. For many, it was childhood trauma that manifested into something truly evil, for some it was something deeply wrong inside their minds. Killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer who look and talk normally are the most dangerous since you see people who look like him in your everyday life. The scary thing is this darkness is in us all, we either don’t let it take over or many simply don’t ever act upon these impulses but either way, it’s something that exists. A novel that explores this inner darkness among various other things is “A scandal of the particular” by me Steve Hamilton.
The world of Scandal of the particular is set in downtown Vancouver where Hyman Kazan is residing in. Hyman’s character is barely holding on as his life is not going the way he planned. He is a lawyer who is struggling with his demons, and the addictions that are trying to get the best of him. His character has lost faith in the system and is starting to show his dark side, his biggest challenge in a lot of ways is trying to not cross the line that might lead him to become someone he never imagined he could be. Hyman Kazan’s character is the one who is guiding the readers through the novel and his perspective is in a lot of ways three-dimensional and the readers kind of understand what and why is he thinking certain ways. The book explores the underbelly of Vancouver and the justice system that at many times fails not only the ones it has sworn to protect but also the ones trying to find justice.
Who we are as people is probably one bad day away from changing into monsters that we used to be scared off when we were kids? So, in saying all of that the answer to the question “when you stare into the abyss, what do you see?” The answer is the abyss stares back at you as the heart of darkness resides within all humans.
