An Analysis Of Forty Words For Sorrow And The Delicate Storm By Giles Blunt

Mind of a Psychopath Giles Blunt is a Canadian novelist born in Windsor, Ontario. Giles Blunt focuses his novels on psychological thrillers, which is a person suffering from a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviour (dictionary.com). He is the author of the John Cardinal novels which include Forty Words for Sorrow and the Delicate Storm. This mystery series refers to detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme who investigate the murders that have been committed in the small town of Algonquin Bay. Giles Blunt writes his novels to engage the reader’s attention by giving his scandalous characters a psychotic profile. This essay will prove that Giles Blunt incorporates psychotic behavior as a theme in the way his characters are presented in his mystery novels Forty Words for Sorrow and the Delicate Storm. This will be proven through poor behavioral controls, impulsivity, lack of empathy, manipulative behavior, and the lack of remorse or guilt by which the characters act upon. The theory of behavioral control is linked between attitudes and behaviors. Forty Words for Sorrow
Most times people are unaware that they are being manipulated, because the manipulators typically start out illusive. Manipulative behaviors have a tendency to make you feel guilty, useless, and fearful. In the novel the Delicate Storm the killer does not show manipulation tendencies; however Giles Blunt incorporated manipulation in the way the detectives seek for their safety in certain situations. During Cardinal`s talk with Kiki, outside of the police station, he manipulates Kiki by sharing with him that ``It`s not a good day for a drive. If you`re going to shoot me, you`ll have to shoot me here in the police station parking lot`` (335). Although this quote proves that psychopathic characteristics may be used in a positive way, studies show that all types of manipulation are early signs of a