Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas

The first memoir of its kind, Confessions of a Sociopath is an engrossing, highly captivating narrative of the author's life as a diagnosed sociopath.

She is a charismatic charmer, an ambitious self-promoter, and a cunning and calculating liar. She can induce you to invest in her financial schemes, vote for her causes, and even join her in bed. Like a real-life Lisbeth Salander, she has her own system of ethics, and like Dexter, she thrives on bending and occasionally breaking the rules. She is a diagnosed, high-functioning, noncriminal sociopath, and this is her world from her point of view.

Drawn from the author's own experiences; her popular blog, Sociopathworld.com; and scientific literature, Confessions of a Sociopath is part confessional memoir, part primer for the curious. Written from the point of view of a diagnosed sociopath, it unveils for the very first time these people who are hiding in plain sight. The book confirms suspicions and debunks myths about sociopathy, providing a road map for dealing with the sociopath in your life.

I’ve always been fascinated by the sociopathic mind, so this book was right up my alley. 

It started off strong, presenting the author’s inner voice in a clear way that left no doubt that she is a sociopath. Right off the bat, she tells us she is a megalomaniac, meaning she is prone to aggrandizing her own self worth. This made for amusing reading, since the reader never knows if what she was saying was actually the truth. Ms. Thomas makes for a great unreliable narrator. 

The book starts to get a bit repetitive about half way through. We do get more real-life examples which are interesting, but there are only so many times that you can read about someone’s lack of empathy without your mind wandering. Granted, this is a large part of the sociopathic personality, but it still felt like it was repeated ad nauseam. 

If you are like me and are interested in learning about sociopaths, then this can be a great read, albeit a somewhat repetitive one.