Red Flags

January 12, 2015
Patrick, a deputy district attorney in San Diego, offers her expertise on the minds and methods of users and abusers, advising readers on how to avoid becoming a victim. She employs a simple mnemonic device for evaluating a person’s motivating interests, FLAG (Focus, Lifestyle, Associations, Goals), culling examples from her own cases. These include a charming serial rapist, a thieving manipulator of an elderly veteran, and a teenage sex trafficker who recruited other girls for her pimp. Patrick issues her most urgent warning about the “Dark Triad,” consisting of narcissists, Machiavellians, and psychopaths. She explains psychological traps to avoid, such as the “halo effect,” in which positive qualities are attributed to physically attractive people, and the “‘white-coat phenomenon” of blind adherence to perceived authority. Advice particularly useful for women includes pointers on evaluating online dating profiles for negative characteristics, looking for traits of the “Dark Triad” in possible one-night-stands, and paying attention to the too-often ignored warning signs of incipient domestic violence. Patrick’s profession has provided her access to a host of victims and offenders, while her shrewd analysis sheds light on the distinct patterns of abuse. Though much of this material is available elsewhere, her knowledge and the mnemonic shorthand provide a unique perspective.

April 15, 2015

Patrick is a deputy district attorney and team leader in the Sex Crimes and Stalking Division of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. She previously coauthored the revised edition of Reading People, which taught readers how to gain important information about others by looking and listening. Here the author aims to help the reader distinguish between good and bad by enhancing the tools of perception. Patrick contends that many of us are too often attracted to people emotionally and thus miss warning signs, or red flags, that would reveal deception or danger. She uses the mnemonic spelling FLAG to represent focus, lifestyle, associations, and goals as the areas most likely to reveal a person's true colors, and guides the reader through the psychology of attraction. VERDICT Patrick shares practical knowledge gained during the course of her career working with victims of crimes and ably describes both the strategies of perpetrators and the vulnerabilities of victims. Fans of psychology and relationship books as well as those interested in law enforcement should appreciate this very intriguing book.--Linda F. Petty, Wimberley, TX

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