Cold-Blooded Kindness ─ Neuroquirks of a Codependent Killer, or Just Give Me a Shot at Loving You, Dear, and Other Reflections on Helping That Hurts

Oakley, an author who teaches engineering at Oakland U., tells the story of Carole Alden, an artist and mother who shot and killed her third husband, then called the police claiming it had been self-defense. Drawing from police records, trial testimony, interviews, and letters from Alden about the events, she describes how Alden was obsessed with caring for animals but neglected her children, accused her first husband of abuse so she could keep their children, portrayed her third husband as an abusive monster, and manipulated the kindness of others by playing on their sympathies. Along the way are discussions of concepts like codependency, battered woman syndrome, empathy, and compulsion to care. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Barbara A. Oakley, PhD (Rochester, MI), is the acclaimed author of Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend. She has been dubbed a female Indiana Jones—her writing combines worldwide adventure with solid research expertise. Among other adventures, she has worked as a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers in the Bering Sea, served as radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, and risen from Private to Regular Army Captain in the US Army. Currently an associate professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan, Oakley is a recent vice president of the world's largest bioengineering society and holds a doctorate in the integrative discipline of systems engineering.