Why am I passionate about this?

Why am I an expert on recommending books about sociopaths and liars? I unknowingly shared a life with one for five years. Shattered, I grappled with the aftermath of deception. How could I have been duped for so long? Through therapy and reading, I discovered many smart, compassionate people fall hard for the charismatic charm and convincing stories sociopaths tell to get whatever it is they want from whomever they want it. Without a conscious and incapable of feeling, they often latch onto someone with high morals and emotional intelligence in the hopes of learning how to mirror those attributes only to destroy the ones who love them the most.


I wrote

No Amends

By Angela Lam,

Book cover of No Amends

What is my book about?

When writer Tang Young meets her muse in a bar in San Francisco, she is inspired by Dee Young's charmā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Notes on an Execution

Angela Lam Why did I love this book?

Notes on an Execution gutted me as a reader. I became the sociopath on death row with only 12 hours to live.

I listened to the women in my life talk about me, from my mother who didnā€™t understand why I brought her dead animals instead of flowers to my wife who trusted me beyond reason to my brotherā€™s family in whom I had finally found a home until that detective snatched it away from me, leaving me with nothing.

If you want to get into the mind of someone wired differently, this book will take you there until the end.

By Danya Kukafka,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Notes on an Execution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ā€¢ WINNER OF THE 2023 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL ā€¢ NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR

ā€œDefiantly populated with living women . . . beautifully drawn, dense with detail and specificity . . . Notes on an Execution is nuanced, ambitious and compelling.ā€ ā€”Katie Kitamura, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (Editors' Choice)

"A searing portrait of the complicated women caught in the orbit of a serial killer. . . . Compassionate and thought-provoking." ā€“BRIT BENNETT, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half

Recommended by New York Times Book Review ā€¢ Losā€¦


Book cover of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Angela Lam Why did I love this book?

Tom Ripley, the original sociopath upon whom many other literary characters are based, is both a sycophant and a social climber, eager to scale the heights of society at any cost, even murder.

His dubious sexual orientation coupled with his devil-may-care attitude leaves both the characters and the reader always guessing about his next move until itā€™s too late. I never saw the movie, but I enjoyed the book with its twists and turns in an era long before DNA, surveillance cameras, and forensics made catching criminals a lot easier.

Ripley is a chameleon and a charmer. Man or woman, you canā€™t help but fall under his spellā€¦and become his next prey. Why is it that sociopaths are so seductive?

By Patricia Highsmith,

Why should I read it?

26 authors picked The Talented Mr. Ripley as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith's five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a "sissy." Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley's fascination with Dickie's debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie's ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. "Sinister and strangely alluring"ā€¦


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Book cover of The Yamanaka Factors

The Yamanaka Factors by Jed Henson,

Fall 2028. Mickey Cooper, an elderly homeless man, receives an incredible proposition from a rogue pharmaceutical company: ā€œBe our secret guinea pig for our new drug, and weā€™ll pay you life-changing money, which youā€™ll be able to enjoy because if (cough) when the treatment works, two months from now yourā€¦

Book cover of The Lies I Tell

Angela Lam Why did I love this book?

Sure, you could say con artist Meg Williams, or any of the aliases this woman goes by, is a vigilante, determined to right the wrongs done to her by society through the many lies she tells. Or you could see her as a sociopathic opportunist.

Kara Roberts is out to catch Williams and bring her to justice for being instrumental in both destroying Robertsā€™ career and her personal life. But once Roberts gets close to Williams, she faltersā€¦and falls under her spell. See a pattern yet? Yep, thatā€™s right. The sociopath always charms the victim.

While the book skews toward a Machiavellian ā€œthe ends justify the meansā€ philosophy, the characters are duplicitous and amoral at best, sociopathic and self-serving at worst.

By Julie Clark,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lies I Tell as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Julie Clark has done it again...taking you straight into the collision course of two dynamic, complicated women." -Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight!

She's back.

Meg Williams. Maggie Littleton. Melody Wilde. Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job. She's a con artist who erases herself to become whoever you need her to be-a college student. A life coach. A real estate agent. Nothing about her is real. She slides alongside you and tells you exactly what you need toā€¦


Book cover of Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight

Angela Lam Why did I love this book?

The only nonfiction book on my list, this memoir is written by a highly functional, medically diagnosed, nonviolent sociopath who shares how someone with this disorder thinks, feels, and acts.

She will shoplift for no reason. When her husband confronts her, she shows no remorse, but she does return the stolen item.

Like a child who will never learn, she constantly needs reminders of how to navigate a world of rules and regulations.

Personally, I have no tolerance or patience to constantly parent another adult who is wired without a conscious. Lucky for Thomas, she has a loving husband who should be nominated for sainthood. 

By M.E. Thomas,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Confessions of a Sociopath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The memoir of a high-functioning, law-abiding (well, mostly) sociopath and a roadmapā€”right from the sourceā€”for dealing with the sociopath in your life.

ā€œ[A] gripping and important book . . . revelatory . . . quite the memorable roller coaster ride.ā€ā€”The New York Times Book Review

As M.E. Thomas says of her fellow sociopaths, ā€œWe are your neighbors, your coworkers, and quite possibly the people closest to you: lovers, family, friends. Our risk-seeking behavior and general fearlessness are thrilling, our glibness and charm alluring. Our often quick wit and outside-the-box thinking make us appear intelligentā€”even brilliant. We climb the corporate ladderā€¦


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Book cover of Then The Trees Said Hello

Then The Trees Said Hello by HJ Corning,

Two women separated by time learn what happens when they embrace their inner magic in this inspiring environmental fiction novel. 

Although Sara's college degree provided her an out, she always knew sheā€™d return home to the small logging community that is like family to her. But when she learns theā€¦

Book cover of The Silent Patient

Angela Lam Why did I love this book?

As a reader, I felt deceived. The novel is about a mute female artist who allegedly murdered her beloved husband. 

As a writer, I saw the omission of a date in the timeline that would have robbed the story of its twist ending. 

After personally experiencing five years of life with a sociopath, I finally understood why the novel was written as it was and why readers everywhere swear itā€™s the best suspense novel ever.

The narrator is a highly educated and deeply sympathetic sociopath.

By Alex Michaelides,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked The Silent Patient as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

"An unforgettableā€•and Hollywood-boundā€•new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."
ā€•Entertainment Weekly

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a womanā€™s act of violence against her husbandā€•and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berensonā€™s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of Londonā€™s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him fiveā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

No Amends

By Angela Lam,

Book cover of No Amends

What is my book about?

When writer Tang Young meets her muse in a bar in San Francisco, she is inspired by Dee Young's charm and beauty. But Dee isn't who she says she is. Haunted by desire, Tang plunges headfirst into a bi-coastal love affair that leaves her trapped. But will the truth set Tang free even if it can't alter the past?

Book cover of Notes on an Execution
Book cover of The Talented Mr. Ripley
Book cover of The Lies I Tell

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Venice, 1612. A notorious courtesan and the scholarly daughter of the chief rabbi meet and form an unlikely friendship when their portraits are to be painted for a ā€œGallery of Beautiesā€.

Dangerous passions are stirred by the portraits, and one by one, the beautiful subjects of the paintings are poisoned.ā€¦

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Interested in psychopathy, death row, and murder?

Psychopathy 79 books
Death Row 16 books
Murder 1,082 books