In my new thriller ALL GOOD DEEDS, former Child Protective Services worker turned private investigator and vigilante killer of pedophiles Lucy Kendall states very clearly that pedophiles can’t be cured. She bases her opinion on 10 years with CPS and seeing countless repeat offenders, as well as national statistics.

Lucy, as so many of our characters do, gets this very hardline belief from her creator. I don’t think they can be cured, and I really don’t believe they should have a second chance. But let me clarify, for myself and for Lucy: I’m distinguishing between pedophiles and registered sex offenders. While many registered sex offenders are pedophiles, the term and the law encompasses a wide range of acts and ages. You can read more about it here.  Lucy is after child molesters.

Which brings me to the question: should our laws be tightened to ensure a child molester never gets out? I realize that brings up the massive budgetary issues our state and federal prisons face, but how many repeat offenders are there in this country? How many kids are molested by someone who was once incarcerated for the same crime but was released because time was served? I don’t believe these people can control their urges–even the few who actually want to.

Consider the case of Joe Ed Davis, a Texas man convicted of indecency with a child for the second time. Under Jessica’s Law, Texas sentenced him to an enhanced sentence of life in prison instead of the usual two to twenty year sentence for the Second Degree Felony. Jessica’s Law was signed into effect in 2007, the result of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford’s kidnapping, rape, and murder by John Couey. Couey was a registered offender. Jessica’s father Mark Lunsford fought for tougher sex offender laws throughout the United States. About 30 state legislatures have taken varied approaches, but the main component is a 25-year mandatory sentence and lifetime electronic monitoring.

Oklahoma is working to implement the death sentence for repeat child molesters.

But is that enough? Why do these monsters who go over children, get a second chance at all? Why must there be at least one more victim before they are permanently stopped? The answer is only simple if you look at it from an emotional standpoint, and unfortunately, lawmakers can’t do that. It’s a tangled mess that will likely never be solved. As a mother, all I know is that if someone did that to my child, I would be hard pressed to think of any law or have any sort of compassion to give someone a second chance.

And those questions led me to the creation of Lucy Kendall. She spent 10 years in our convoluted system trying to help kids and seeing the worst happen over and over again. One of her first cases involved eleven-year-old Justin Beckett, who raped and murder his neighbor and friend. Justin served his time and was released as an adult. Lucy snapped, and then started learning the benefits of cyanide. In ALL GOOD DEEDS, she’s confident she’s on the right path. But then a little girl goes missing, and she just happens to live across the street from Justin Beckett, the very man Lucy begged the courts not to release.

Loaded with guilt and a little self-righteous attitude, Lucy sets off to find the little girl herself and prove to the world she was right about Justin Beckett all along.

What do you think about repeat child molesters? Should it be one and done no matter the cost?

ALL GOOD DEEDS is available now.

A very dark and twisted serial killer is going to make an appearance in The Lucy Kendall Series, and I need your help naming them!

I’m looking for something chilling, something that would elicit fear as a front page headline. I’m talking The Nightstalker, Son of Sam, BTK, etc.

My killer is a true psychopath, with very few preferences for killing, meaning any murder weapon will do. The killer isn’t opposed to sexual sadism, but likes to play the game and to control others. This killer operates on the eastern side of the United States.

The contest is easy: the person who comes up with the best name by September 30 will receive a signed copy of ALL GOOD DEEDS (Lucy Kendall #1). The winning name will be used in the Lucy Kendall Series, and the winner will be given credit in the acknowledgments for coming up with the serial killer’s moniker.

Email me at stacygreenauthor@gmail.com with your entries. Contest ends September 30th. Winners will be announced within a week.

Good luck!

NO BAD DEED SHOULD GO UNPUNISHED.

Lucy Kendall lived her life in a strange mixture of carefully calculated moves and impulse decisions. Cracking the skull of the man who molested her sister and attacking her was impulse. Spending half her teenage years drinking and acting out were calculated cries for attention from her narcissistic mother followed by impulsive rages at her lack of concern.

The decade spent working in Child Protective Services before becoming a private investigator taught her two truths. One, CPS failed miserably in protecting children. Two, Lucy was more than willing to do it for them, meting out her brand of dark justice in spite of her own fear of death. But Lucy’s crusade is compromised when a self-proclaimed sociopath offers to help—and leaves her no choice but to accept it.

When eight-year old Kailey Richardson is abducted, it sets off a chain of events linked to Justin Beckett, a suspect in a life-changing case in Lucy’s past. The path she’s chosen since dealing with Beckett has been dark and terrifying—but she has no idea just how deep she will go or where the twisted road will take her.

She’s about to find out.

If you liked Dexter, you’ll love Lucy! The first book in my new thriller series will be available at all vendors on September 15th, but Kindle readers can PRE-ORDER NOW! This means the book will automatically load onto your device at 12:01 a.m. September 15th. How’s that for the early bird getting the worm?

CLICK HERE to PRE-ORDER

An excerpt from ALL GOOD DEEDS

“The Iceman.” Chris ignored the bait. “That’s your inspiration, right? The mob hit man who lost count at 200 murders. His method was easy and anonymous. He spilled the bad stuff, his mark got angry about it but didn’t do anything about the wet shirt or pants. The goods seeped through his the mark’s skin and twenty to thirty minutes later, into the bloodstream, and the Iceman was long gone. It’s brilliant, really. Great choice, for cold weather anyway, considering the health hazards. I just hope you’re more than a hit man. Woman, excuse me.”

My chest tightened into an iron cast, and my jaw ached from the hard set. If this guy knew the routine, he no doubt had proof. “Seriously, have you ever thought about seeking professional help?”

He ignored me and kept rambling. “Like I said, I’m a paramedic. And I’m observant. I saw you at a scene a few months back. You were standing to the side, in the middle of the onlookers. But something on your face gave you away–to me, at least. Guess I’m good at spotting my own kind.” He rested his chin on his hand and gazed at me with obvious admiration. To anyone else, we probably looked like we were on a first date and still stuck in the awkward getting-to-know-you stage.

“I’m not your kind.” He was nothing like me. I was just sick and tired of seeing a broken justice system routinely fail children who’ve already been treated like disposable playthings. So I did everything I could to balance the creaking scales of justice–the same scales many people want to believe are designed to protect the vulnerable in society. But those scales don’t shield anyone, even our most innocent victims. Their function is to balance the lines of bureaucracy.

Sometimes I have to fill the void.

He probably picked his victims at random and took them somewhere to torture them before finally killing them. If he was actually a serial killer.

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