1 American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Arlington, VA, American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013.
Dr. Feldman’s work discounted a 2006 study, reported in The American Journal of Psychiatry that same year, that made use of magnetic resonance imaging of the brains of patients diagnosed with DID to measure the volume of the hippocampus, which involves memory, and the amygdala, which deals with rage, to determine the relation between the volume of those two brain structures and the disorder. The study concluded that patients suffering from DID had lower volumes of their hippocampuses and amygdalas.2
Dr. Feldman’s paper and his controversial contention that there is no biological basis for DID came to the attention of members of the Behavioral Research and Instruction Unit of the FBI, the specialized unit charged with responsibility for developing investigative strategies based on applied behavioral sciences and research on violent and aberrant behavior. On behalf of the FBI, the Justice Department sought a court order to exhume Detective Vincenti’s body to examine his brain and extract samples of his DNA. The Court granted Justice’s request and entered an exhumation order.
Detective Vincenti’s casket was removed from its resting place at St. Joseph Cemetery in River Grove. It was taken to the facilities of the Cook County medical examiner on Harrison Street—the same place where Detective Vincenti had viewed the victims of his alter ego, The Bricklayer. The medical examiner of Cook County and an assistant medical examiner from the FBI were present when Cook County clinical pathology technicians opened the casket. Upon examination by the Cook County M.E., it was determined that the corpse of Detective Francis Angelo Vincenti was missing its right hand and genitals.
2 Eric Vermetten, M.D., Ph.D.; Christian Schmal, M.D. “Hippocampal and Amygdalar Volumes in Dissociative Identity Disorder.” The American Journal of Psychiatry, April, 2006, volume 163, number 4, pp. 630-636
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am very grateful for all those good and generous people who, for over eighteen months, provided support and encouragement, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, and stayed up late debating characters and plot. Without them Bricklayer would be just another Word document sitting in my trash begging to be permanently deleted. My heartfelt thanks to: Susan Balmert, Mary Joe Benedetti, Theresa Buchanan, Chris Chappel, Jen Chiaramonte, Mary Jo Coughlin, Sandy Garifo, Philippe Joncas, Mary Kennedy, Mary A. Kompare-Cross, Nancy Konrath, Mary Kay Kluge, Jack Kreismer, Greg Murray, Karen Murray, Alix Perrault, Mary Hutchins Reed, and Ira Rosenberg.
Special thanks to the people of Amphorae Publishing Group: Donna Essner, Kristina Blank Makansi, and Lisa Miller; my agent, Steve Shwartz; and my high school English Teacher, Vincent J. D’Agostino.
And my wife, Cathy, who forced herself to read a genre not of her choosing. And to Amanda Trost Malik, my personal editor and mother of my grandchildren, who taught me more than she knows.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TERRY JOHN MALIK
A Chicagoan to the core, Terry John Malik was and raised in the city he loves, son of a Chicago fireman, he now explores the dark back streets and alleys of the city’s imagination. Mr. Malik is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he majored in English, and an alumnus of Loyola University School of Law. Terry brings to his work a wide variety of life experiences. He taught English for several years in the archdiocese of Chicago School System; designed computer systems for an international accounting firm; worked with distressed borrowers as a banker for the largest bank in Chicago; practiced law for twenty-eight years appearing in federal courts across the nation; became the president of a financially troubled high school; administered a foundation that provided scholarship funds for disadvantaged inner city girls; and created websites for local merchants and non-profits. Throughout his many careers, he has continued to hone his writing skills and never lost his passion for a story well told.
Prior to The Bricklayer of Albany Park, Terry hadn’t written a word of fiction, although some federal judges mistakenly claimed he did. Terry now has two other thrillers in the works, weaving stories of killers and cops while sitting on a beach on Sanibel Island.
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