My Reason for Insanity

So, it seems this week I've been answering almost all of my emails with an apology for the delay in response. See, for the past two weeks I've been taking a course in writing instruction, and while it is engaging, enriching, fascinating and fulfilling, it's also exhausting, draining, mind-consuming and depleting. It's also, however, finished, and this evening I embrace the first evening in a long time not dominated by homework.

I'm late announcing the winner of my heart remembers, and it's Kimberly! Congrats and I'll get that to you soon.

This week's give-away is as different from a sweet historical family saga as can be. The book is By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer, and it's a tight, tense courtroom drama. Here's the blurb:

How did crime reporter Catherine “Cat” O’Rourke wind up in prison? It starts with “visions” involving victims of a high-profile kidnapping, twin children adopted by the family of a well-connected defense attorney. In her first vision, Cat sees the children being executed. Nightmares? Maybe, but why do they occur when Cat is awake? She seems to know so much information about the missing children (and other grisly crimes) that she becomes the key suspect. Could Cat possibly have an alter ego committing these heinous acts? Enter defense attorney Quinn Newberg, who recently invoked the insanity defense to get his own sister acquitted for murder. Quinn decides this will be Cat’s defense as well, even though the evidence suggests otherwise. At the center of the heart-pounding action are the moral dilemmas that have become Singer’s stock-in-trade. In addition to scrutinizing the insanity defense from an ethical point of view, Singer offers similar appraisals of the death penalty and vigilante justice.

And, my take: This is the first Randy Singer book I've ever read, and it definately won't be the last. Now, I'd never judge a book by my own ablility to figure out a story, because I can never figure out the whodidit in a whodunnit. This book gets high marks from me because I actually cared to know--enough to stay up far past my reading time. The story was complex without being confusing, exciting without being manic, insightful without being intrusive. Great writing, great story, great message.

So, playing off the title for a minute...for the past few weeks, my reason for insanity has been an insane, hectic, crazy schedule. Class all day, obligations all evening, editing all night. How about you? been feeling a little insane lately? What's your reason?