Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Insanity #1

Insanity

Rate this book
Would you shed innocent blood to save the helpless?

Jeremy Heston is chasing the American dream. Balancing school, work and plans for the future, he learns that dreams are merely far-fetch fantasies.

After his college mentor emphasizes a major problem ignored by society—mental health—Jeremy grows obsessed with shedding light on this epidemic.

When the corporate world and pressures of life begin to spiral out of control, Jeremy decides to carry out an experiment to save the ill who have been shunned by society.

How far will Jeremy’s experiment lead him before reaching deadly conclusions?
Insanity is the first novel in the gripping Insanity Series. If you like fast-paced thrillers, exploring twisted minds, and dark truths, then you’ll love this high-octane series by Andre Gonzalez!

Buy Insanity to join Jeremy in his demented experiment!

260 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2017

81 people are currently reading
518 people want to read

About the author

Andre Gonzalez

58 books278 followers
Andre Gonzalez is the international bestselling author of the Wealth of Time Series, and co-owner of M4L Publishing.

After surviving the Aurora Theater Shooting in 2012, Andre was inspired to chase his lifelong dream of pursuing a career as an author. This tragedy gave him a new appreciation for life along with a drive to make the world a better place by publishing books readers all around the world can enjoy.

He has written over twenty time-travel, thriller, and horror books after spending many years reading and studying the works of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Keeping readers up late and their hearts pumping faster than normal is his ultimate goal. Andre was the recipient of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers 2021 Independent Writer of the Year award.

When he’s not writing, you can find Andre buried underneath a long to-do list or chasing around his three hyper children. He and his wife are raising their family in their hometown of Denver, CO.

Author Website: www.andregonzalez.net

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
62 (42%)
4 stars
50 (34%)
3 stars
26 (17%)
2 stars
7 (4%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
Profile Image for Zain.
1,889 reviews277 followers
July 22, 2024
A Normal Life.

Jeremy Heston is going to school and working. Living a normal life. But his mentor, Dr. Siva, is always complaining about mental illness and how much it is ignored in society.

So Jeremy decides to come to his aid and do something that helps him. It’s what he decides to do to help him out that throws the whole situation into chaos and confusion.

Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
Profile Image for Andre Gonzalez.
Author 58 books278 followers
November 13, 2018
Read it through for the first time and gotta say I'm pleased with the pace, the plot, and the characters. Looking forward to hearing everyone else's thoughts come November!!
Profile Image for Alicia Huxtable.
1,914 reviews60 followers
October 5, 2017
Holy hell!!!! Seriously this book is insane! That's the only word I can use to describe what I just read. While the writing, storyline and characters sucked me in, it was the subject matter that is insane and all that combined made me not want to put the book down. I needed to know if the insanity would dry up or continue.
12.7k reviews189 followers
September 2, 2018
Wow. What a book and subject. Jeremy is an amazing character that tries to help in the research of mental illness. Ready for more by this talented author. Listened to the audio as well. Just as magnificent. The narrator did a superb job.
Profile Image for Donna.
1,399 reviews9 followers
October 22, 2018
This has been the best book I've read in a while, and I could not put it down! It draws you in from the very beginning - when we see Jeremy in a police cell, covered in blood, with mention of bruising from a gun on his body, and planning what would happen at his trial - making you ask what's happened, why, and what will happen next? During the rest of the book we then find out the answers to those questions, and they're not exactly what you'd expect!
This was an excellent psychological thriller, well-written with characters that you can love and hate, bringing it to life and keeping you engaged. I'd definitely recommend it to all adult readers, but be prepared for a long reading session, as you'll find it hard to put it down once you start! And once you reach the end? Well, just be ready to be desperate for book 2, that's all I'll say!!
NB I received a complimentary copy of this book, but I always give an HONEST review based wholly on my own opinions

Update:
I listened to the audiobook of this story, excellently narrated by Zachary Liebenstein, and it really brought the story to life. I'd already read and enjoyed the book, but listening to the audiobook brought a whole new dimension to the story, bringing the characters to life and better letting the listener hear the nuances in the story. You also get more drawn into Jeremy's inner monologues and caught up in his emotions, and it makes you understand the reasoning behind his actions a bit more. I'd definitely recommend listening to the story, and I can't wait to hear the audiobooks for the rest of the series.
NB I received a complimentary copy of this book, but I always give an HONEST review based wholly on my own opinions
Profile Image for Tex.
159 reviews
November 14, 2017
Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of the book for an honest review. The protagonist, Jeremy Heston, you meet immediately. But it takes quite a while to fully understand, if at all, who he is. The secondary character, Jamie, is his girlfriend for most of the book. Her character, however, does not develop beyond girlfriend and where she works. Jeremy’s goal is to make the world aware of what “insanity” or an “insane person” appears to the public. Instead, what I saw, was a young man who was self-destructive and turned his anger into a plan for revenge. In the name of “insanity”, this allowed his conscience to approve of any and all collateral damage. In fact, the very actions of planning the act of appearing insane - killing his boss and co-workers, is contrary to being insane, even if he disposed of all the evidence as he argued. I found the primary character and his purpose sorely underdeveloped. Why was it so important for Jeremy to create an image of insanity? What triggered the importance of him to appear insane in a murderous way? The entire book reflected on a self-destructive young man, with the real focus on insanity introduced in the last 10% of the book - how is this plausible? Just too many questions versus substance. –Tex.
Profile Image for Sue Wallace .
7,405 reviews140 followers
September 23, 2017
Insanity by Andre Gonzales.
Jeremy Heston lives a typical American life. He works a part time job, attends college, and dreams for the future. When he graduates and is thrust into the workforce, he quickly learns that dreams are merely far-fetched fantasies.
A good read with good characters. He was sick but I had to read on. looking forward to next part. 5*.
Profile Image for Tiffany Townsend.
969 reviews2 followers
March 20, 2022
WOW

The best way to describe this book is AWESOME!
The writing was great.
Story has a beginning that makes readers gravitate to turn the pages- fast.
Books like these usually take me two -three days to read-this one took less than twenty four hours. Pages were meant to turn in this first installment of Insanity series.
Jeremy the main character, has a break with reality-that much is obvious.
Was it because of being passed up for promotion after promotion- or getting dumped by girlfriend- or maybe his gambling addiction was the start of a compulsion that he wasn’t able to nix.
To find out what Jeremy’s journey was like- grab a copy of book—today.
The next in series can’t possibly disappoint.
Only question I have is how does one get to ‘Jeremy’s journal”?


Profile Image for Sofia Danokaras tsotrou.
76 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2017
The pacing is fast and good. I like Andre Gonzalez writing. Jeremy Heston has dreams and goals for his life, but things dont go the way he wants them, so he goes INSANE.
Profile Image for Peggy.
81 reviews
November 14, 2018
Insanity...we're all a few

I completely related to Shelly, as I had worked for a woman like her, you could never quite measure up to her level of perfection! It simply didn't exist! But both of the jobs Jeremy held during the course.of this novel found him lacking sorely, despite his great attitude, his very string work ethic and his humble character when passed over for a promotion of slighted out of a raise! The reader is not privy to the reasons for this, because the Jeremy face we see and get to know, shows that he is indeed deserving of so much more than he's given! To me, it appeared that his girlfriend is a "numpskull" always lamenting about something irrelevant and his professor wasn't someone with whom you were able to have a conversation with, he seemed to have a set predisposition about how he wanted to see Jeremy's life play out. So, what does all this lead up to? There has to be more here than meets the eye! As a reader, there are things we either don't yet know, or the hand is still being dealt. This novel certainly builds suspense along the way, but it's difficult to see the climax, unless the ending qualifies? It's peaked my curiosity, so now I have to read the next novel in the series to find out whether his self-sacrificing experiment worked! Also, regarding the prequel, how and when is this information going to come into play? This novel is a slow read, however it does appear to touch on psychological issues that are more realistic than we care to believe!
Profile Image for DeeAnn.
91 reviews6 followers
December 13, 2017
I can relate...to a point

This book was interesting and I did enjoy it. I can relate to the character (up to a point, obviously) in that I have a background in psychology, but was never able to find a job in that field and was rarely happy or able to advance in any of them. I eventually had to go on disability. But never in all my life did I contemplate doing what he did. Is he insane? You’ll have to see.

The only real complaint I have is that the storyline seemed, for lack of a better word, clipped. It had the sense of diary entries rather than a full flowing storyline.

Using his experience with the Aurora massacre and his own similar employment experience in writing this book, the author really created something relevant to what we’re experiencing in today’s society. I look forward to the next two books.
Profile Image for Zain.
310 reviews
October 5, 2018
Terrifying

This book is terrifying! I could not put it down. I just had to keep reading to see what would happen next.
Profile Image for Randi Robinson.
657 reviews15 followers
November 13, 2017
The author of this book is a survivor of the the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012. He has first hand personal knowledge of mass shootings. This book explores one mass shooting and the man's reason for doing it. It also explores dreams and what happens when we become disillusioned with them. It explores knowledge and our misuse of it, no matter how good the reason seems to us. It also emphasizes how little we may really know of those we work with every day. The book and subject matter is very heavy. Jeremy is a deep character and well developed. I am not sure I really liked him but I felt sorry for him. He could be any man trying to pursue his dreams but failing. I think this is an important book in the light of all the mass shootings recently. The news always tries so hard to find a reason but sometimes there isn't one. Check out this book. You won't be able to put it down.
Profile Image for Ashley .
1,151 reviews4 followers
September 25, 2017
A very interesting premise that exceeded my expectations. I think it has great characters along with an excellent plot. The pacing really helps along the book as well as good amount of twists. I'm definitely going insane for this book right now!
Profile Image for Tanya Whalen.
1 review
October 13, 2017
What a great read!! It was hard to put this book down, definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.
1 review
November 21, 2017
An enjoyable read. It really picks up speed after a few chapters and escalates rapidly toward ... a cliffhanger. Now I’ll have to await Book two!
Profile Image for Leigh.
192 reviews9 followers
August 19, 2018
For me, the scariest people are those who never seemed frightening or threatening before. They're the people who are always delineated into "before" and "after." Before the threat, and after the knowledge of their violent potential. Before the bliss of ignorance was shattered and after. That moment when you see a seemingly innocuous person transform into a predator is horrific. Not only is there fear caused by the threat, there is also shock at having been wrong about the person, confusion at how they managed to conceal their evil, and a desperate hope that you weren't actually wrong all this time.

That is who Jeremy is.

Jeremy Heston experiences so many of the very same things that a majority of Americans do. Relationship disappointments, work difficulties, and the always tough struggle to balance work life, home life, and future dreams. But where others either find a way to persevere through the difficulties or "roll with the punches" and adjust their efforts to find that open window when a door closes in their faces, Jeremy never tries to do that. Instead, if something goes wrong, he's being unfairly targeted. He's not being appreciated fully, he's not being given a fair chance. Nothing ever seems to be his fault. Throughout the story, Jeremy self-aggrandizes on an astronomical delusional scale.

One of the toughest things for me in reading this story was trying to reconcile that there were several times when Jeremy seemed to be legitimately a wonderful person. Good at his job, driven, capable, considerate. And then something just flips and with the same seemingly-logical thought process he used in pursuing his education and career goals, he sets about planning and preparing for a mass murder. It is utterly terrifying, because he's doing it on purpose. Although I say "something just flips," it's actually a deliberate, thoughtful action taken by Jeremy. He is good at his job because he wants people to be stunned when he attacks the office. When people are stunned, it plays into his exact plan of pleading insanity for an action he took deliberately after months of methodical planning.

Whatever piece of the brain - a conscience, by any other name - that Jeremy is missing is so vital and yet very difficult to tell when it's missing until something catastrophic happens. I think that's how Jeremy got as far as he did, how he was able to hurt as many people as he did.

Andre Gonzalez did a phenomenal job writing this story in a way that makes Jeremy both completely terrifying and completely relatable. I felt myself pulled multiple times into feeling compassion for Jeremy, even rooting for him at those times that he really seemed to be putting in his best effort. And then I would reel back in shock as he oh-so-casually described how he was going to shoot specific people first, cut off escapes, hide the evidence, and so forth.

This was a deeply thought-provoking, emotional read that I highly recommend to absolutely everyone on the planet.

Read this and more of my reviews at:
www.memoirsofabookwyrm.com
542 reviews10 followers
February 16, 2022
Deranged young man schemes his insanity defense as he plans mass murder of his co-workers - 4 stars

The author puts the readers inside the mind of a young man who decides to make history for the sake of mental health. This was not an easy read; trying to understand mental health from the aftermath of a mass murder, even when fictional, is not a pleasant undertaking.

We follow Jeremy Heston who works in a call center in Boulder, Colorado. Jeremy seems quite normal as a college student who takes a part-time job to get spending money while he attends college. He becomes less focused when he pursues his ability to gamble, realizing that alcohol makes concentration difficult. Jeremy is wrapped up in himself and has a knack of making small talk without an apparent attempt to make connections. It seems quite normal.

We are led in a succession of events over several years where Jeremy talks to himself and yet is successful in a call center situation. He loves attention but falls apart when stressed. His drinking is moderate but significant.

While planning the murders in an open carry state, Jeremy plans to act to fit in when he is with others. Outside of work, he creates a detailed plan for killing and developing a guilty-by-insanity plan to escape the consequences.

If you ever wanted to meet a mass murderer and try to understand his motivations, this tale should satisfy that need. This book is the first of a series.
316 reviews8 followers
June 1, 2018
Insanity by Andre Gonzalez

I first experienced the writing of Andre Gonzalez when I read Followed Home, which was very good. I just finished Insanity the first novel in his Insanity series. I have already downloaded the second in the series, The Burden.
What would you do if you were an ambitious, hard working employee who just doesn’t seem to fit in with corporate America. This is Jeremy Heston, a bright young man who worked his way through college in a job that he gets fired from. Then he moves on to a new corporate world where everything seems perfect. But then he keeps getting passed over for promotion after promotion.
Jeremy is a psychology graduate with thoughts of helping the world. He is concerned that too many mentally unbalanced people who have committed a crime, are found guilty and sent to prison rather than receiving the help they need to become healthy. He devises a way to fight the system. He carefully plans and follows through on an experiment that he feels will help those who have been shunned by society.
Read Insanity and discover what might really be behind an insane person. Is Jeremy one of them?

06.01.18
420 reviews3 followers
January 19, 2024
This book chronicles the fall of a young man who starts a career in corporate America with enthusiasm and naivete while going to college. His early career efforts are rewarded with promotions and accolades, but he hits a ceiling that he can't break through. As a psychology major, he researches the mindset of mass shooters in the hopes that one day he can help them when he graduates. Unfortunately, his own mental health deteriorates and, after suffering bitter disappointment after disappointment with his job and relationship, decides to gun down his workplace and plead temporary insanity as part of his "research". The author, Andre Gonzelez, was in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater when a gunman shot and killed a number of patrons. He wrote the book to better understand the psychosis of the killer. He also changed his career trajectory to a writer. It's an engrossing read, dark and disturbing. The character's descent is largely plausible and since we are in his POV, we understand how he fell (though it justifies absolutely nothing). The book highlights the declining state of mental health in this country and the need for action.
1 review
April 17, 2025
This story is so interesting, and I think that had I known what it was about, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. But I’m glad I did! It’s such an interesting perspective, and one that I had never considered before. I’m used to liking the main character, so I want to like Jeremy so badly. But knowing what he’s planning on doing makes me want to despise him.

I just finished reading this book and I’m about to start reading The Burden, but I wish that the first book could stand more on its own. I feel like the story was just getting started and that it shouldn’t have been broken up, which almost makes readers HAVE to read the next books. When I read books in a series, I prefer to WANT to keep diving in to the story, but I didn’t feel like that at the end of Insanity. It still piqued my interest, though.
Profile Image for Veronica.
41 reviews
October 28, 2023
Huge trigger warning for gun violence, mass shootings, etc.

It’s interesting as the author is a survivor of a mass shooting and wanted to tell a story from the other side to spread awareness and concern. It did feel very clear that was the goal with the story and sometimes felt difficult to read (obviously because of the content) but also because I didn’t feel like I knew or cared about the characters much…which I feel like that was necessary in order to raise the stakes even more to really drive home the devastation. This is also just a horrible topic to try and “enjoy” reading as a fictional novel. But I am happy this author was able to write it and I hope it helped in his healing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Barbara.
64 reviews2 followers
October 23, 2019
Needs work

Interesting premise, but the whole story could have been told in a third of the word count. Very poor character development and lazy, confusing narrative. Jeremy and his girlfriend seem to argue at random, with no prodrome, then the next page, they're acting as if nothing has happened. Endless, boring detail about day to day stuff that's totally uninteresting. The writer would have done better to get the audience to understand and sympathise with the characters rather than writing every boring detail of every day. Can't really recommend it - sorry.
Profile Image for Sea Caummisar.
Author 82 books1,405 followers
September 30, 2022
This is a story that has me questioning mental health. It starts with a man in jail and him thinking about the mass shooting he had just completed. Then the story flashes back a few years. The first third/ almost half of the book was the main character working a job and doing daily routine stuff that really isn't pertinent to the plot. And the kid is going to college to be a head shrinker. He gets a bright idea to make a huge impact on society with a message. I really feel like this one could have been much shorter. The last third of the story was the best..
Profile Image for Nancy Tuttens.
26 reviews
November 16, 2017
I received an advanced copy of this book and am voluntarily proving my feedback. This book exceeded my expectations. I loved the storyline, the characters and the pace. It was tough to put the book down. The author kept you interested and intrigued throughout the whole book. This is the first book I have read from this author and was not disappointed. Andre Gonzalez has been added to my favorite author list.
Profile Image for Lisa Manifold.
Author 72 books603 followers
December 15, 2017
Wow!

I have friends who were at the Aurora theater, so when I read that the author was there, I was hesitant. But this is a fantastic read. It's really well done - by the end, I found empathy for the main character and I didn't see, initially, how that would work. It's also very interesting in watching the evolution of the main character's point of view and how he ends up where he does.

Well done. I'm excited to see what happens in the next book.
29 reviews
June 29, 2018
A good story

A rather unique premise. The author survived Aurora and this is a twisted story. Not at all what I expected but quite engaging. There were a few redundancies as if the reader needed reminding but over all well written. I cared enough about the protagonist and the story to want to continue the series.
5 reviews
December 4, 2021
It’s so good, I’m reading it again!!!

I read the 3 book series and could not put it down! This is the most intriguing story! How did this author get in the mind of the shooter?! In reading this again, I’m catching things that I skimmed past the first time.
It’s even more compelling the 2nd time! Want more from Andre Gonzales!
203 reviews2 followers
May 20, 2018
Unbelievable drama

This story is absolutely astounding... as well as terrifying... as you are drawn into the tale you wonder how the idea developed. It certainly is one for your must read list.
65 reviews
July 28, 2018
Insanity

I didn't think I was going to like this book when I first started reading it but it got more interesting the more I read. Interesting enough to read book 2. It was a surprise ending for me. I thought I'd figured out the ending but was wrong. I recommend the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.