The Murder Gene, by Karen Spears Zacharias.

This true crime story is written by one of my oldest friends, so I’m not exactly objective. Fortunately I don’t have to be, it’s an interesting story, well told. In 2012, a man murdered a young woman in Pendleton, Oregon, a victim selected at random. A year later, he attempted the murder of a second woman, and was caught on video, tried and convicted.

But Karen weaves a more complex story than that — the story of a son of missionaries who loses his way and a story of the eerie link to his grandfather’s similar murder spree 40 years before. Is there a case to be made for a murder gene? Can genetics give us an insight into why men kill?

So Karen talked to me about the story as she researched. It made me uncomfortable, actually, because humans have frequently sought to label certain groups of people as more likely to be criminals — eugenics. Right-wing racists. Self-righteous missionaries. The list is long, unfortunately. But the science that Karen explores in this book isn’t about groups of people, it’s about a genetic defect that some individuals carry, that makes them prone to violence — just as a person might have inherited a defect that makes them more prone to diabetes or hemophilia. And apparently scientific studies show that many of those convicted of violence have such a genetic defect.

Karen is a phenomenal storyteller. She weaves the two narratives of grandfather and grandson with the cutting edge science. She’s a former journalist and it shows. She has never been afraid to ask people questions. (Trust me, we go back to age 20, and she’s not shy about asking a question. Any question.) She tracked down the people who knew the murderer and his family, as well as those who knew the victims, knew the police involved in both men’s sprees. And she asked questions. Not everyone answered, but more did than you might think.

She and I might disagree about the role religion played in the grandson’s life. She describes the events that followed as happening in spite of his Christian upbringing. I might argue it was because of the extreme narrowness of his upbringing. But she makes a compelling argument for the genetic component of violence. Highly recommend. Available at Amazon.

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