God of Malice

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a mental health disorder characterized by “impulsive, irresponsible and often criminal behaviour” (“Antisocial Personality Disorder.” National Health Service). Though it’s unclear whether any received a formal diagnosis, in the novel Glyndon believes that characters like Killian, Landon, and Creighton fit this definition. The UK’s National Health Service describes a person with ASPD as someone who “will typically be manipulative, deceitful and reckless, and will not care for other people’s feelings,” not unlike these characters in the novel (“Antisocial Personality Disorder”). Symptoms include a lack of concern for others (or their distress) and exploitative behavior, some of the things that characterize Killian (Glyndon’s love interest) in God of Malice. Glyndon and others believe that Killian is incapable of true and honest feelings, particularly love. People around Killian who have seen his evil side often distrust him. ASPD presents with various degrees of intensity, but the novel often conflates Killian’s supposed ASPD with his homicidal tendencies. Killian refers to those who have ASPD as “on the spectrum” (113), a phrase more commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder, while he and other characters in the novel pejoratively call people without darker urges or interests in violence “neurotypical,” creating a false binary that has contentious implications.