Inger Ash Wolfe

Inger Ash Wolfe is the author of the acclaimed “debut” crime-fiction novel, The Calling. Actually, Wolfe is a pseudonym and The Calling is not the author's first novel.

In January Magazine Ali Karim explores the story behind the author and novel in an interview with Ms. Wolfe. And gets to the heart of the matter:

Thematically I found similarities between The Calling and the works of Thomas Harris, as you delve into the psyche of a serial killer and why he is hunting down the terminally ill. Would you care to comment, and are you familiar with Harris’ work?

I’ve read Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, both of which are great books (there’s a scene in Red Dragon, when the villain reappears and we see his yellow eyes glowing, that made me drop the book in terror). I’m not sure Hannibal Lecter and Simon Mallick have much in common, though. Lecter is a true psychopath: he has no empathy, feels no remorse, he is “morally empty” as a psychologist would put it. Mallick believes in goodness and thinks he’s acting on its behalf. He is driven by grief. He’s not a psychopath as much as he’s had a psychotic break. A slender difference, but one all the same.

Read more of the Q & A.

From Linda L. Richards' review: "The Calling is extraordinary. This sounds like hyperbole, but I will risk it: I have never read a book peopled by characters this vivid and with voices this strong."

--Marshal Zeringue