Martin Ströhm
I was born in Cape Town, South Africa. When I was 15, I read The Dark Half, by Stephen King, which unlocked a world of magic I have been enthralled by ever since. Two years later, I wrote my first short story. Although, in truth, it was a rather dismal piece, I fell in love with writing, the magic of creating characters and story lines and seeing how everything turns out. Initially, I was very much into Horror, vampires being my personal favourite. So it was only natural, when I discovered the existence of certain men, known as serial killers, that I would be fascinated by them. And unlike vampires, serial killers were real. They were human. They looked just like the rest of us. And yet they perpetrated unfathomable acts of depravity on other humans. And they enjoyed it. I wanted to know why.
Eventually I studied Psychology and Criminology through the University of South Africa, and obtained an Honours degree in Psychology in 2002. At the moment I am working on a novel about a serial killer, and have been researching these murderers, as well as the components involved in crime investigation in South Africa, more thoroughly. The art of profiling intrigues me in particular, since it is very much related to the psychological dynamics of the killers. I have even dabbled in my own theory on the development of serial killers, drawing on some of the psychological theories and research I came across during my studies.
South Africa has actually had a significant number of serial killers (second only to the USA according to some sources) and some of them have been quite prolific. Yet very little information seems to be available about these murderers, as an internet search usually quickly reveals. Some of their stories are quite fascinating. Despite the basic similarities, there are some very interesting differences in South African serial killers as opposed to those in other countries, based on the idiosyncrasies of this country.
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