Would you believe that killing and sex are equally intimate, psychologically similar?

Writing

I completed my second novel, The Accidental Spy, about a year ago. The readers have read it. My wife has edited it. And yet, it has languished. Something felt wrong about it. Then, about two days ago, I discovered what it was. A theme crept into the story about midway through and I had missed it. I had to go back and weave it into the complete fabric of the story. The theme? Teaching a civilized man to kill.

Click to read the except of The Accidental Spy

In a way, the study of killing in combat is very much like the study of sex. Killing is a private, intimate occurrence of tremendous intensity, in which the destructive act becomes psychologically very much like the procreative act."

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society 
by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

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In this story set in the time and place of the Korean War, my hero, Nick Andrews, learns both the art of love and the art of killing. These themes are now embedded in the earliest pages and developed throughout the book.

I hope you enjoy this sample.