In October 2002, Susan Polk, a California housewife and mother of three, was arrested for the brutal stabbing death of her husband—and former therapist—Dr. Felix Polk. What followed was a trial as sensational as the crime itself.
Choosing to represent herself, Susan spun a defense full of abuse allegations, unethical therapies, repressed memories, and even satanic rituals. The courtroom quickly transformed into a media circus, her erratic behavior pulling back the curtain on a mind unraveling in real time.
With chilling precision, journalist Carol Pogash reconstructs the murder, the Polks’ toxic marriage, and the disturbing spectacle of a woman exposing her own madness on the stand. Seduced by Madness is a riveting account of family dysfunction, obsession, and a descent into true-crime infamy.