A former criminal and family law barrister, Helen Fields transformed her extensive 15-year experience into a career as a crime novelist. Now a million copy best seller crime writer & UK no.1 thriller book novelist, Helen has recently given a TEDxBratislava talk on the roots and consequences of the human fascination with violence.

Helen discusses how, as consumers, we seem inexplicably attracted by violence, but questions whether it should be an acceptable form of entertainment. Is there something wrong with our fascination with crime? Should anyone really be making money from murder?

Talking through society’s timeless fascination with conflict, from the Romans to the modern-day media, Helen makes links between books and real-life murders that have taken place – how books may embed fantasies, give permission for violent behaviour, and ultimately be a catalyst for crime. Arguably, fictionalised crime softens our approach to real-life crime.

However, Helen suggests that it is far more important that we tell these stories, rather than pretend that they don’t happen. Having been a victim of crime herself, Helen describes how it is cathartic for her to control the narrative. This is why she writes from the victim’s perspective – so that we don’t see crime as a series of statistics.

Ultimately, Helen concludes that she doesn’t believe that books make good people do bad things. Instead, books reflect life rather than life reflecting books. The more we read crime fiction, the more empathetic we become.

You can listen to the TedX talk here.

Photo credit: Robert Perry