Rogue

About the Book

Peace of mind doesn’t come easily for Victor Rooks.  Even after being orphaned at age 4 and released at age 18 from a lifetime of state care, he carries with him a terrible secret which will mark his newfound adulthood as clearly as the trademark scar on his forehead.  Though physically weak and unassuming in demeanor, he harbors a gifted mind, a twisted sense of mechanical ingenuity, and a belagured soul, all of which have a tendency to destroy everything and everyone he touches.

Though understandably devoid of any notions of hearth or home, Victor does have one passion in this world which warms his heart, and it is none other than the forced eviction of all the other occupants in the slum tenement where he now resides.  He uses a variety of homemade psychological, chemical, and biological weapons constructed from everyday household ingredients and forbidden underground knowledge.  Who will stop Victor’s unrelenting fight for a place to call his own?  Will it be the hard work of the kindly beat cop?  The indiscriminate passion of the landlord’s daughter?  Or perhaps the relentless cries of his own inner child?

Rogue is a 449 page saga of a young sociopath who searches for his own humanity, even as he struggles to complete his twisted fantasy of urban renewal.  Part psychological thriller, part social commentary, and part black comedy, it is a nihlistic sojourn not only into the heart of madness, but through the murkiest corners of the criminal mind.

This work of fiction was inspired by my own ill-starred youth spent in various state-run facilities and honed to literary quality with the English degree I received from the University of Iowa.

About the Author