Georgia and Missouri’s recent executions of convicted killers reignited the capital punishment debate across social media and elsewhere. With more than 140 death row prisoners found innocent, there’s good reason the debate rages across all societies and religions. By 2011, even though 140 countries had abolished the death penalty, 20 carried out executions and 60 others-imposed death sentences.
Taking a life has more than just legal consequences. To explore the psychological and moral effects of deciding who should die for a crime, a new thriller by Colin Knight provokes readers to consider how they might make the same choices his protagonist confronts. “Some People Deserve to Die” explores the full impact on Alan Davies, the story’s anti-hero, as self-preservation forces him to make life and death decisions in desperate situations.
Newly published by TotalRecall Publications, the novel begins as Alan, a naive and nerdy high school boy, is plied with alcohol and drugs by four school jocks. He’s then led to an abandoned building where a girl, unconscious and naked, lies helpless in the dirt with a sack tied over her head. Encouraged, berated, and taunted, Alan reluctantly rapes the girl.
Six months after his crime, Alan’s sister, Julie, commits suicide and leaves a note that convinces Alan she had been the unknown girl in the abandoned building. Devastated, Alan runs away from home, succumbs to alcohol and drugs, and enters the underworld of drug smuggling. Soon, he’s drawn into international plots, guerrilla conflict and mercenary activities.
Twenty years later, a chance confrontation brings Alan eye-to-eye with the four jocks who tricked him into raping his sister. When Alan’s cruel and permanent justice has been meted out, he receives a letter explaining the truth about his sister’s rape. He’s forced to recognize the true extent and consequences of his selfish self-pity and to consider that his form of justice was not quite so righteous.
For the astute reader, the gritty story of Alan’s transformation from an innocent, naïve teenager into a vengeful and merciless killer is a backdrop to how some parts of society have become indifferent to and desensitized to taking human life in payment for an offense against society. Alan’s conclusion about who deserves to die doesn’t have a Hollywood ending. No matter which side of the death penalty debate they are on, Alan’s actions will challenge every reader’s opinions.

It is quite hard to explain those unexplainable feeling that you get when you are a grandpa. They are precious and it is a love so deep that you truly want to do things to make them proud to be your grandsons. This book came from my heart. I cold picture myself setting on their beds at night reading them to sleep with a book I had authored. Originally, I was committed to illustrating the book myself. I have not art training, but my drawing was improving. The problem was that it took me so long to complete one illustration. I was fortunate to have met a man who is a wonderful artist. My first glimpses of his work came in 2001 on a visit to England on business. His works caught my eye, and I found myself staring at them for hours to get every detail. I called him up and explained the book and asked him to join with me in this process and engage his great talents to bring this book to life. It is truly a work of art. In fact, it has twenty-seven separate works of art. Each is an original watercolor by David. The results are stunning, I think. In an age of computer-generated illustrating individual artwork is a dying breed. In truth in our discussions David and I believe we will do it no other way.

I remember my times at this age. The sounds of an old house as it settles or the wind blowing against the window came make some very scary noises. In reality they are nothing but as a child with a pure and fertile imagination they can mean many things. I would curl up on my bed and surround myself head to foot with my stuffed animal collection to protect me from my own monsters. They were my best friends, and they stood their watch successfully for many years. With that in mind a touch of the pure childhood imagination took over and once it started to flow it did not stop until I got to the end.

In the Closet and Under the Bed explores the time in life where a boy comes to terms with his own monsters. He is very creative in his solutions and will probably someday be very successful in business. David was a great resource in reconciling the words to the visuals and we joined those visions successfully in his art. Rosie acted as our go between and spent many hours on the phone relaying messages back and forth. During David’s work he suffered a medical crisis and a major surgery. During the middle part of this process, he sat at his easel in great pain to produce this wonderful art and story. By this time, I think we both had invested in the book from our hearts, and nothing would stop its completion. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you can spend that time curled on the bed with your own children and in the end, they can make their own peace with their own monsters.