Update: "Dark Returns: Tales of East River"

Up to page 175 on my first draft and now digging into the big climatic build-up. At this point I am delving into the darkest material of the book and considering how far I want to go with it. In the back of my mind, I already know how this book is going to end--which is nice. As a writer, its always good to know where the end is. The last thing a writer needs is a story that just rambles on into eternity. I definitely like to keep my work grounded around a framework or set question I would like to have answered. For this book, the main question that comes to mind is, "Just how strong is the power of forgiveness?" A close second question that defines the tension in this novel is, "How do you kill or contain something as eternal as evil?"

Think about that-- how does someone face evil in the world is they know that it is just one side of an eternal coin? Where there is good, there has to be evil and vice verse. And if one evil is taken out, invariably there is some other evil to fill gap and take up the empty space, right?
Is the struggle between good and evil truly hopeless? Does everything happen to follow some cyclic nature?

Think about this-- For every Hitler that is killed, there is a Stalin, or Kim Jong Il, or Sadam Hussein, Ayatollah Koemeni, Kadafi, Pol Pot, Osama bin Laden, or other psychopath or sadistic maniac out there to keep evil rolling along. Evil comes in all shapes and sizes and in all types and nationalities. The U.S. has had its fair share of terrorists, serial killers, and psychopaths. Charles Manson, Jefferey Dalmer, the Unibomber, etc...

And I wonder, for every villian out there, is there an equally heroic counterpart? How come there isn't recognition for the heroes? Are we more fascinated by villians? Is that where the story is?