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The Oedipus Murders

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The Oedipus Murders by Casey Dorman captivates the reader by using unnerving psychological concepts to unearth a murder mystery.

When you have a gut feeling that something just isn't right about someone, what do you do? Do you distance yourself and shake the feeling off? Do you look for logical explanations for why someone may act strange? If it is a loved one, chances are that you discard the feeling and chalk it up to a bad day or an illness? But what if it was your boss, a friend or a complete stranger? Bottom line is that you just don't know what someone is capable of, even if you think that you know them better than anyone else...they could have a very dangerous secret just under the surface. Dorman engages readers in this story that has been spun around older concepts of psychological study and the fickle semblance of this thing called trust.


In this story, Regina Bonaventure is the wife of a wealthy man and the daughter of an even wealthier man. When she disappears from a bar one night, everyone is on high alert. As the days go by, the police know that the chances of finding Regina alive are slim, even though the pressure is high and the reward to find Regina's whereabouts is even higher. Lucas Bonaventure, Regina's husband, becomes suspect number one. Lucas has this demeanor that screams psychopath, but no one seems to be able to touch him. There is no evidence of his killing his wife, except the fact that he has started seeing a psychiatrist. The police become suspicious after the psychiatrist becomes professionally and somewhat romantically involved with their own hired specialist, Susan Lin. Not only do they have eyes on Lucas, but now some new evidence has started to showcase the psychiatrist as a man of interest once Regina's body is found. How will the police ever find the real killer when every turn leads them do another mystery and both men have something to hide?


According to lore, Oedipus was a very disturbed Greek king of Thebes. There isn't much within Greek Mythology that isn't disturbing if you think about it, but you can definitely give the creators an A+ for creativity. Oedipus was said to have fulfilled a prophecy, albeit accidentally, where he killed his father and married his mother. His tale symbolizes the flawed nature of humanity and the role one plays in his or her own destiny within the world. Through this tale comes the terminology of the Oedipus Complex which is explored in this story. Dorman's way of introducing these concepts may come across as bizarre or frightful, but it is useful in understanding the patterns for why specific characters are crippled or limited with their physical, psychological, and neurological control. The mind is a powerful tool and can be very dangerous. While the concepts and plot are very strong, Dorman does keep aspects of character development shrouded or hidden until certain peaks within the story. It is understandable, but at the same time, this may or may not cause confusion once the transference scenes appear. One thing is certain...the reader may always think they know who the killer is, but there will always be an inkling of doubt in the back of their mind that they could very well be wrong. The story is well-written with little to no grammatical or spelling errors present and the originality of the story is unparalleled.


An electronic copy of this book was provided to Turning Another Page by Reedsy Discovery and in no way affects the honesty of this review. We provide a five-star rating to The Oedipus Murders by Casey Dorman.

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Turning Another Page is a small web-based business, owned and operated out of San Antonio, Texas. Originally created as an official book blog in November 2014, Turning Another Page has successfully grown to encompass services that can be offered to authors worldwide.

About the author

Casey Dorman, Ph.D., a former university professor and dean, is the author of 14 science fiction and mystery novels. Casey’s background as a neuroscientist and his more than two-dozen research publications on the brain, have given him a rich insight into AI and its promises and challenges. view profile

Published on September 12, 2019

Published by Black Rose Writing

70000 words

Contains mild explicit content ⚠️

Genre: Mystery & Crime

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