Mystery writer Alex Matthews’s latest novel, Vendetta’s Victim, opens not with a crime but with an argument. Her protagonist is a thirtysomething psychotherapist named Cassidy McCabe, who wants her live-in boyfriend, reporter Zach Moran, to accompany her to a family function. “It’s not like I’m asking you to marry me or anything,” she snaps.
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What causes McCabe’s irritation, says Matthews, is a “fear of abandonment.” Like her protagonist, Matthews runs a psychotherapy practice out of her Oak Park home, and many of McCabe’s neuroses have been culled from Matthews’s clients.
“I’ve discovered that people have often got dis-torted motivations that lead them to do unbelievable things,” Matthews says. “They’re able to rationalize and come up with these really bizarre reasons why they should do what they’re doing. But the reason that people try to harm others is always anger.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Alex Matthews photo by Nathan Mandell.
