Going AGAINST Your Gut

-->

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We've all wondered--what would I do if? 

And sure, some people have training for some kinds of things...but sometimes, in this unpredictable world, unpredictable things happen. It's easy enough to say--well, I'd just  go with my gut. And figure out what to do when the time comes. IF the time comes.

Reading the fab Hilary Davidson's essay today I realized I might have to think again.  And then her amazing new book, One Small Sacrifice, confirms it.

You know Hilary, right? A dear pal, and a dear friend of Jungle Red, and a terrifically talented author. Truly one of the loveliest people in the biz.  (Did you know she used to be a travel writer?Ask her about finding gluten free food in the Peru. I bet she knows!)

The Case for Going Against Your Gut

By Hilary Davidson

How many times have you have you heard the phrase “Go with your gut” or “Trust your instincts”? 

When I was a kid, that always made me think of the scene at the end of the original Star Wars movie, when the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi whispers to Luke Skywalker to trust the Force, and Luke turns off his targeting system and lets instinct guide him to destroy the Death Star. 

The idea that the truth you need to know is already inside you is an intoxicating one that comes up over and over in popular culture. But there’s another side of the story we need to be honest about: Your gut is entirely capable of leading you astray.

That’s not a popular point of view, because it can feel like an insult to one’s instincts, which are deeply personal. But that’s the point: our gut reactions are the products of our own personal histories and beliefs and biases, and they’re influenced by what happens to us, good and bad. 

I learned this the hard way.

At my first job out of college when I was twenty-two, I was a victim in a workplace violence attack. I was working in a government office that served veterans, and one very disturbed vet decided that he wanted to kill his counselor and everyone else in the office. The fire he set destroyed three floors of our office building and injured several people.

 I would be the first to admit that, on that day, my gut worked perfectly well. Some of my coworkers saw the flames and froze; I ran like hell.

 But in the weeks after the trauma, my instincts started to malfunction. I would notice someone on the subway who seemed shifty or suspicious, and my gut would whisper that this person was getting ready to attack. My brain knew that this was deranged, but my gut looked at strangers through a dark prism, ever-ready to run like hell again.

 I didn’t understand for some time that I had PTSD, but I knew early on that my gut was no longer able to discern a genuinely threatening situation from an everyday scene. The trauma I’d experienced had colored my perceptions.

 The experience made me think more critically about gut reactions. We’re all marked by what we experience, for good or ill, and those imprints can stay with us for all our lives. 

  In my latest novel, One Small Sacrifice, the fallibility of gut instincts is a question my main character, NYPD Detective Sheryn Sterling, grapples with. She’s investigating a case in which a doctor has vanished, and the case is particularly troubling because the doctor’s boyfriend was involved in another woman’s death a year earlier.

 Sheryn knows that the boyfriend suffers from PTSD, and that deepens her suspicions. In her gut, she knows he’s guilty, and that belief shapes her investigation. But Sheryn’s husband forces her to take a harder look at what her gut is telling her; he’s aware that Sheryn’s father suffered from PTSD, too, and that has shaped Sheryn’s world view.

 “Instinct’s not a superpower,” he tells her. “It’s made of experience and memory and belief. Prejudice is part of that.”  

 That’s not to say that there aren’t times to trust your gut. But we should think about where those instincts come from, and how our own histories can blind us to what we need to see.

PS Thanks for having me visit again, Hank and the rest of the Reds. It’s always an honor to stop by!

HANK: And it happens, too, in less stressful situations. You think--oh, that guy just LOOKS guilty. Hmm. 

On the other hand--the gut can be pretty darn smart.

What do you think, Reds and Readers? And a copy of ONE SMALL SACRIFICE to one lucky commenter! 

(US only please--sorry, I know,  international postage mail is more expensive than the book itself. 

*************

(and the winner of THOSE PEOPLE is Triss! Email me with your address! And congratulations!)********

Hilary Davidson has won two Anthony Awards as well as the Derringer, Spinetingler, and Crimespree awards. She is the author of the Lily Moore series—which includes The Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its Disguises—the standalone thriller Blood Always Tells, and a short-story collection called The Black Widow Club. Her latest novel, One Small Sacrifice, was just published by Thomas & Mercer, and received a starred review from Library Journal, which said, “Fans of Karin Slaughter, Tana French, and Lisa Gardner will devour this new police procedural, which boasts a strong female detective and an intriguing antagonist. Sheryn [Sterling] will draw in readers, and Davidson’s complex storytelling will keep them wanting more.” Visit her online at https://www.hilarydavidson.com