Jilliane Hoffman: Plea of Insanity
Book Club Discussion

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

You mention in your acknowledgements that this story is "inspired by the tragic and heartbreaking story of a close friend whose sibling suffers from schizophrenia." Does this mean that these types of family murders actually took place? What is your goal in telling them? Do you hope to shed some light on the disease?

When I was in college a good friend's brother was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. The diagnosis came as a complete shock--"Billy" was a nice, funny, smart, "normal" guy. There was nothing alarming about him, no bizarre childhood to report. One day he just started hearing voices in his head, which ultimately led to his first psychotic breakdown. He ended up hospitalized and placed on antipsychotics, but like many schizophrenics, he eventually stopped taking his meds. Of course the paranoia returned with a vengeance, as did the voices, and in a tragic turn of events, this young man with the once bright future committed a senseless, horrific crime that garnered headlines across the state. Out of respect for my friend and her brother and their desire for privacy, I can't discuss specifics of the crime, but Billy's story has haunted me for years. I had never known anyone with schizophrenia prior to his diagnosis and what I subsequently learned after researching the disease was nothing short of terrifying. That was when I decided to write Plea of Insanity. My hope was that the novel would not just thrill readers by taking them on a roller coaster ride through the Miami criminal justice system, but that it might also educate people about this frightening disease with no known cause and no known cure that robs its victims of not just reality, but more often than not, a future.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Tell us about your background with the criminal justice system.

In the dead of winter in my last year of law school in New York, I was wooed to the State Attorney's Office in Miami with a job offer that came complete with an interesting brochure of well-tanned people yachting and jet-skiing on Biscayne Bay. Much to my mother's chagrin, of course I said yes, packed up my MR2 and headed south with my brand-new husband and not-so-new parakeet. From 1992-1996, I was a felony prosecutor in Miami prosecuting everything from burglaries to sexual batteries, domestic violence and homicide. I left the State Attorney's Office to take a position with The Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a Regional Legal Advisor because it sounded fun and it offered more money, something I was unfortunately still not making much of as a prosecutor. There, I assisted special agents in complex civil and criminal investigations, including homicide, public corruption, narcotics, and money laundering. Five years, two babies and a lot of great ideas for a book later, I left FDLE to write what would become my first novel, Retribution. I now write full-time.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

A major theme in this book is guilt versus innocence. If someone like Andy or David didn't understand their actions, does that make them innocent? Should they be punished in some way?

The law on insanity is tricky and differs from state to state. Florida follows the McNaughton Rule, which basically says a jury can only find a defendant insane and therefore not criminally responsible for his/her actions only if he/she 1) has a mental disease or defect, and 2) that because of that disease or defect, he/she either did not know what he/she was doing, or didn't know it was wrong. It almost sounds simple on paper, yet the actual application of the law is anything but. So as to dissuade potential malingerers from claiming they see little green men just to win a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card, it is also a defense that is narrowly interpreted by the courts when it is raised.

As for whether a defendant who is actually insane under the law being innocent, the label is actually not guilty. That doesn't mean he did not do the crime--it means he cannot be held criminally responsible for his actions. Once a defendant is found NGI (Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity) the judge can (and usually does) remand the defendant to a psychiatric facility for an indeterminate period of time if the defendant is still considered a danger to himself or others. This is not supposed to be punitive. Once doctors declare a defendant no longer a danger to himself or others, he is released back into society, regardless of whether he killed one man or a schoolyard full of children.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Another interesting, yet very disturbing idea is of "faking" an insanity defense in order to get away with a heinous crime. Unless the person who committed the crime was in the medical profession or had an extensive background with a family member who suffered from a particular mental disorder, do you think it would really be possible to fool the experts?

Great question! That, of course, is the thought-provoking question that readers will have to answer in Plea of Insanity. Mental diseases, such as schizophrenia and manic-depression/bipolar are diagnosed by psychiatrists based upon the symptoms that a patient claims he or she is experiencing in his or her head. There is no blood test, CAT scan, X-ray or MRI that can diagnose mental illness. So it is entirely possible that one could be clever enough to fake an insanity defense in an attempt to get off.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Why doesn't Julia have any close friends?

Julia's close friends from her childhood are long gone--victims of the horrible tragedy that befell her family when she was a teenager. As for adult friends, she has made sure that she maintains an emotional distance from everyone. She doesn't want to let anybody into her life, because she knows that that means eventually letting them in on the terrible secrets of her childhood. Secrets she herself has tried to bury away and forget for fifteen years.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

The stigma of schizophrenia caused David's parents to pretend their son was fine, just anxious. Do you think that the families of these patients often sweep it under the carpet so as not to embarrass themselves or was this particular to David's family as they were somewhat well-known?

I think that the initial reaction of most families to the frightening possibility that a loved one may be mentally ill is denial. Particularly those families that are affected by severe, debilitating, chronic mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and/or manic depression. It is much easier to blame anxiety or a stress for someone's emotional problems, because the hope is that when the stress is gone, the mental problems will be, too. There is hope for a normal life left to cling to. And the damning stigma of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder cannot be ignored. It is far more acceptable in our society for someone to have a drug problem then to be schizophrenic. As diseases go, schizophrenia afflicts more individuals in this country than AIDS, ALS and multiple sclerosis combined, and yet you never hear of schizophrenia walkathons or celebrities championing for National Association for the Mentally Ill. Being in a well-to-do circle such as the Marquette family only makes you want to hide the black sheep further out in the pasture.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Your stories are so perfect for movie adaptation! Do you write with this in mind or is it just a knack for writing thrillers?

Thank you for such a great compliment! I do see my books as I am writing them, meaning I have to actually visualize a scene before I write it, so it runs like a movie in my head. I feel the need then to describe just what I am seeing so that reader can experience it like I do.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman

Can you tell us anything about your current writing projects?

Of course! I just finished my fourth novel, another psychological, suspense thriller set in Miami and tentatively titled, The Portrait Painter. It's about a troubled 13 year old girl, Lainey Emerson, who pretends she's 16 on an internet chat room and goes missing after school one afternoon. Lainey's disappearance is initially dismissed by the local police as just another disillusioned South Florida teen running away from suburban drama and a crappy home life, but FDLE Crimes Against Children Special Agent Bobby Dees, who's been assigned to assist the locals with their investigation, quickly discovers the young teen's disappearance is anything but routine. When chilling hand-painted portraits of other missing teens are mailed to a local television station, Bobby will find himself lured into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the most prolific killer he's ever encountered. And when one of those portraits turns out to look very much like his own missing teenage daughter, he'll discover that the nightmare he's prayed for an ending to for almost a year is only just beginning...

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jilliane Hoffman