Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Why do we love the bad girl?

It's happening again: with the release of The Pendulum Files, more people are saying that Brenda Carnegie is their favorite character in the series.

Brenda is the ultimate bad girl. No, she doesn't drink until she passes out and she isn't known as a party girl. If you spotted her in Real Life, you might think she's pretty normal.

It's what she does behind the scenes that has gotten her in trouble... repeatedly.

Brenda is incredibly intelligent. So intelligent that she can hack into computer programs and websites without a second thought. She enjoys Life on the Dark Side; she thinks nothing of forming off-shore shell corporations and moving commodities on paper only, and each time raising the price until she's become a millionaire (Exit 22).

She enjoys keeping lists of politicians and their shady deals and then selling the information to the highest bidder - which could be the opposing political party or another country - or even a terrorist country (Secrets of a Dangerous Woman).

She packs a pistol even in countries where such weapons could result in serving hard time, and she is not afraid to use it. (Dylan's Song)

She is passionate to the point of being pertpetually oversexed, whether it's with Christopher Sandige, the political strategist who lived life between the lines until he stumbled upon Brenda... Or sizing up the local Catholic priest (Dylan's childhood friend) or even flirting with Dylan Maguire, her sister's lover.

What is it about this bad girl that people love her for? Is it her ability to tramp through alligator-infested swamps, remove a bullet and patch up the wound, out-maneuver her enemies?

Or is it that she does things we'd never do in real life but would love to experience that level of adventure, sex and danger within the pages of a book?

If the Black Swamp Mysteries Series was turned into film, I would love to see Lindsay Lohan play bad girl Brenda Carnegie.