Elena Storer
With an Masters in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in psychology, Elena Storer has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty years with expertise in treating trauma, sexual assault, and those scarred by narcissists. She has done extensive research into the internal workings of narcissists and psychopaths—and those whom she terms as “lethal narcissists.”
Writing Scatterings gave me the opportunity to explore and understand the psychology of those who operate without empathy or conscience and reveal how our flawed parole system offers serial rapists the freedom to become killers. True in 1980 and still true today.
Scatterings, set in Santa Cruz California in the ‘80s, weaves the true crime story of the Trailside Killer into a suspenseful, heartbreaking mystery of an abducted identical twin sister. Characters come to life against the colorful backdrop of Santa Cruz’s beauty and weirdness. Beautifully written and heart-wrenching, Elena Storer, with a PhD in psychology and a practicing trauma psychotherapist, brings her expertise and passion to illuminate the nature of evil, loss, and resilience. Scatterings tenderly highlights one of life’s great mysteries: love deepens and blooms in the depth of grief.
“Scatterings perfectly captures life in an idyllic seaside university town with its weird and colorful characters – surfers, pot smokers, professors, and psychics while deftly foreshadowing an encroaching darkness. Elena Storer brings great complexity and passion to her characters caught in a web of terrifying events. Scatterings brings the music, people, posters, politics, and a small town terrorized by serial killers to life. I know because I lived through it.”
Lauren Zemelman Schneider, author of Taropty: It’s All In The Cards
“Taut and fast-paced, Scatterings by Elena Storer explores a close familial bond shattered by cruelty and violence. With each chilling turn, hidden revelations are made as Storer’s compelling and complicated characters remind us that there are secrets lurking within all of us. Scatterings is a haunting, deeply captivating read.”
Gail Tsukiyama, author of The Samurai’s Garden and The Brightest Star
“From the very beginning, Storer captures all the nuances of this world’s times and culture, painting a fine backdrop for the trauma that emerges to impact the lives of all characters—perp and victims alike…”
–D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review Sr. Reviewer