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- Free of Malice is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
Liz grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, known for its high school football and as the last watering hole on highway I-75 before entering Florida. She was editor of her high school newspaper and salutatorian of her class. Liz graduated from Georgia Tech with an engineering degree and went on to a successful career at General Electric before joining a consulting firm.
The events that inspired Liz to write her psychological thriller, Free of Malice, happened to her while a senior at college. She was living off campus in an area called Home Park when she was jarred awake by the sound of her bedroom door crashing open. She surprised even herself at her ability to fight back before this would-be-rapist eventually fled. Though her voice was hoarse from screaming and her fingers bloody from his bites, Liz physically survived the attack. Emotionally, however, her sense of security was shaken. As a means to heal, she began writing about that night and the changes to her life.
At one point, Liz had mentioned to her brother-in-law that if she had owned a gun, she would have shot the guy when he was leaving. He countered that her actions might not have been deemed self-defense which got her thinking about the criminal justice system. Though Free of Malice is a hypothetical legal story, written in conjunction with several criminal defense attorneys, the attack on the main character was drawn from Liz’s real life experience. In addition, the unique therapy sessions using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) techniques that the main character undergoes were written in collaboration with an EMDR trained therapist.
Interestingly, Liz never intended to write a fiction novel—she had other ambitions on her bucket list—a career at GE, living in Paris and learning to speak French, receiving her executive MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, earning her pilot’s license, and co-producing a music CD with her best friend, Thomas Barnette. But as she describes it, “the book wouldn’t leave me alone—it kept nudging me to write it to the point that I could no longer ignore its calling. And now that the book is done, I look back and realize what a rewarding journey it has been.”
Liz lives in Atlanta, is engaged to fiancé, Richard, and is a partner at a consulting firm focused on strategic planning. When she is not working, Liz enjoys reading, traveling, and spoiling Buckwheat, their cat.
Visit www.freeofmalice.com for more information
http://www.freeofmalice.com/
@liz_lazarus
My Thoughts
Debut thriller, Free of Malice by Liz Lazarus takes place in Atlanta featuring Laura Holland. She awakens to find a man in her room, he attacks her but she is able to get away and the man flees, but not before he says that she should not forget Sam. Of course, Laura is terrified that the man will come back to complete what he started.
Laura, at the advice of her husband, goes to therapy where the therapist. diagnoses Laura with PTSD. Laura starts to have nightmares of the attack so the therapist starts using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing technique (EMDR) to help Laura recover from the emotional pain she is experiencing.
"EMDR therapy is a cost-effective, non-invasive, evidence-based method of psychotherapy that facilitates adaptive information processing. EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment which comprehensively identifies and addresses experiences that have overwhelmed the brain’s natural resilience or coping capacity, and have thereby generated traumatic symptoms and/or harmful coping strategies. Through EMDR therapy, patients are able to reprocess traumatic information until it is no longer psychologically disruptive." ... from http://www.emdrhap.org/
Therapy goes along well for Laura but she starts questioning 'what if'. The what if in her case is that if she would have had a gun what kind of trouble would she be in if she had shot him as he was fleeing her home. Laura is a journalist and wants to do a feature on what happens in a case like hers if the victim shoots the would-be rapist/attacker. Against her husbands wishes she purchases a gun and starts taking lessons on how to properly handle a gun.
She starts seeing a lawyer, Thomas, who has an office in the therapist's building. The lawyer takes her from the attack all the way through the jury's verdict if she had shot her attacker. All of this is hypothetical of course but I believe that she was still suffering the emotional pain because she starts to get suspicious of her lawyer, Her attacker was black, Thomas is black, Plus he seems to know things that she does not recall telling him. All this leads the reader on a thrilling journey along with Laura as she finds out who her attacker is.
This story is loosely based on the author's personal experience. I loved how the the author wove Laura's experience into a what if scenario, learning what happens from the time of the incident all the way to the jury's verdict and sentencing. You can't shoot someone once they leave your property because then unless you can prove that you were Free of Malice, you could find yourself in prison for protecting yourself. An interesting read that I really enjoyed!
I received a copy of this book for review purposes.
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