Harm Reduction

Jenny Ocean is already on shaky ground when her life is turned upside down in the aftermath of a violent attack. She kills a man in self-defense, which leaves her anxious and feeling like a criminal. Believing she has escaped legal consequences, Jenny decides to better herself by becoming a professional counselor. Initially, her life seems to be back on track, but her past catches up with her in the form of client Rio Winston, a narcissistic serial killer who demands that Jenny use her counseling skills to help him complete a delusional and homicidal mission.

Feeling trapped, Jenny begrudgingly goes along with the plan. Her complicity degrades her self-esteem as it pulls her to a dark yet exciting place. While balancing crime on one side of her life, Jenny carries on an affair with police detective Sam Longford on the other, only to find that the distance that separates detective from killer is not as great as she once thought. Jenny struggles to maintain her boundaries and sense of self as she vacillates between hating and enmeshing with the two men in her life.

Featuring a trio of characters brought together by pathological desire, grandiosity, obsession, and homicidal rage, Harm Reduction journeys into the depravity of serial killing, the pain of ambivalence, the pitfalls of violating boundaries, and the process of gaining and losing insight.

Todd Grande, PhD, is a counselor, educator, and content creator specializing in personality disorders, addiction, trauma, and psychopathology. He lives in Newark, Delaware.