The Chilling Possibility That The Author Of ‘Confessions Of A Sociopath’ Is A Prominent Law Professor

In case you haven’t noticed, their law been a bit of controversy brewing over the past few days concerning the identity of the author behind the essay Confessions Of A Sociopath, which Slate published last week. So, who’s the man behind the curtain? Is it a sociopath? A law professor? Both? Neither?

All of these possibilities have been bandied about over the past several days, but today we might have found out who it is.

Introduction

I was recently tipped off by a graduate student that a prominent law professor at an Ivy League institution might be the person behind one of the most talked about books in recent years: Confessions of a Sociopath. I will not reveal the professor’s name, but I found it interesting that someone who spent her career studying criminal justice could also study psychology and write with such depth about the way sociopaths think.

I know some people say you should never judge a book by its cover or look at what is written inside. But maybe judging this book based on its cover would help us all to save ourselves from being victims to another sociopath.

The First Key Clue

In late February, a law professor and writer who had just received tenure at a prominent West Coast university published what seemed to be an unlikely literary success. Confessions of a Sociopath arrived as the paperback original of the month in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and rocketed to Amazon’s top 20 best-selling list, where it has sat ever since.

It is an academic work, more than 400 pages long, richly footnoted, and studded with anecdotes. But it reads like summer blockbuster fiction; its dark humor propels readers through sobering material about psychopaths, such as how they display no guilt or empathy for their actions.

Coincidence or Something Else?

In researching for this blog post, I happened to see an interview with a lawyer on TV. He sounded so knowledgeable and talked about topics that I was reading about in the book.

There were other similarities but I couldn’t be sure if it was him. After the interview ended, he turned around and looked directly into the camera. And then it hit me: I had read he had been on TV Confessions after a trial many years ago as well when his client was convicted of murder and sentenced to death! His name is James Cooley and he is a lawyer who teaches at Columbia University School of Law in New York City!

Hiding In Plain Sight?

Andrea J. Lee, a professor at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, is now being accused by several people  Confessions of being the pseudonymous author of Confessions of a Sociopath:

A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight. Lee has denied all claims against her and has even filed a lawsuit against her accusers for defamation. Lee might be telling the truth about these accusations being untrue, but with there already being so many cases where similar accusations have been true, it seems like there could be something to these accusations as well.

Speculation On Why An Attorney Would Hide Behind A Pen Name (Or, Just Maybe, Not)

It is most likely that the author is not a sociopath and has a reasonable motive for wanting to stay anonymous. Perhaps the content of this book – stories about unethical and illegal behavior – is so shocking to the author’s colleagues that he or she doesn’t want to be associated Confessions with it.

Perhaps the author fears for his or her job security. This situation could happen to any of us at any time, so, understandably, some might want to keep their identities secret in this instance. Alternatively, perhaps someone was inspired by the books Gone Girl and A Quiet Place in Paradise, which were both written under pseudonyms, and decided to use a pen name as well.

How I Discovered The Storyteller’s Identity

When I was digging through the About page of the author’s website, I noticed a post dated December 10th, 2013. It was titled 2013: Full of Emotion.

However, there were no other posts in this section and it seemed Confessions had been abandoned. When I checked out her professional blog, what caught my eye was a post from October 30th. It had an image that I recognized from elsewhere on her site.

Timeline Recap

In 2009, the first few chapters of an anonymous novel called Confessions of a Sociopath were posted to an online message board.

A literary agent who had previously published two nonfiction books about sociopaths became curious and contacted the author with a request for more pages. The author wrote back, No way! I’ll do it after my parents die. After no response from the author, the agent took to Reddit to search for him/her.

Conclusion

These hints should give readers a clearer idea of who the author is. However, it is worth noting that a person with mental illness could be doing this as well, and not necessarily a law professor. Nevertheless, the question remains: What’s next for America?

Keep browsing Law Scribd for more updates.