The Killer

The Characters of Steel Fear, Part 4

John David Mann

 

This seven-part series takes a behind-the-scenes look at the cast of characters in the military thriller Steel Fear, co-authored by John David Mann and SOFREP founder Brandon Webb, and explores the process of conceiving them and bringing them to life on the page. You can find the first part of this series here.

Of all the characters I’ll touch on in this series, the killer is the only one that’s hard to say much about. Impossible, actually—because if I did, I’d be spilling major spoilers. There are plenty of characters on board the USS Abraham Lincoln who could be the killer and who actually might be the killer. But I can’t tell you who actually is the killer.

I can tell you a little bit about him, though. He is mostly unseen. There are glimpses, fleeting appearances and no more, not until the story’s climax when he is finally unveiled. In those brief sightings, he seems almost non-human. 

“The face was staring at her, peering into her eyes. Like it was watching her thoughts. It looked like an insect. Hungry. A shiver ran through her nerves, though her body was still as stone. The insect cocked its head. Drinking in her revulsion. Feasting on her fear. It reached out to touch her shoulder…”-Steel Fear

It behaves like an insect. After stabbing its victims with a paralytic agent, it stares at them through goggles and speaks only in rasped whispers. At one point, it giggles, though it does not smile.