Square Dance by Richard Erickson

About the book

Roger McKinley and his very wealthy family had been involved in fund raiser events for cancer research for more than a decade. The yearly event they personally sponsored was considered a hot ticket within social circles of Minnesota society. Over a thousand people would funnel into the Hilton hotel on Saturday night the sixth of September, 2003, prepared to spend money freely, knowing that everything was going to benefit cancer research.

The McKinley family had no way of knowing that their son, grandson, and brother would, on that very evening, be the target of kidnappers. In such a public setting; who would have every guessed?

Johnny Banks and his partner Craig Hampton were themselves organizing a fund raiser of their own, except that theirs would benefit only themselves, to the tune of seventeen million dollars, and their deeds would psychologically devastate many others.

Johnny Banks considered himself brilliant, and most importantly be thought of himself as the boss in charge of this fool proof plan. He would personally orchestrate the grandest of kidnap schemes in a fool proof manner, with no chance of being caught. As long as his instructions were followed, he and his partner Craig would soon become millionaires living a life of luxury beyond description.

Dishonesty was a part of both men's lives, but for Johnny he was a first class psychopath without a conscience, and no morality or integrity. He was afraid of nothing, and never once did he expect that Craig would be the weak link in this perfectly conceived plan. Johnny had spent a lifetime bullying people, and Craig was one of his victims.

It took Johnny almost a year to get all of the details in place, and insure that the ransom money had been sufficiently laundered. In his effort to insure perfection, Johnny needed to use and abuse many people. In the end, Craig dismantled Johnny's desire to destroy the last piece of evidence by drowning Roger in the depths of Rainy Lake.

It never occurred to Johnny that by leaving Craig marooned on an island essentially babysitting Roger McKinley for almost a year, that a significant bond of friendship would develop between the two. That bond of friendship cost Johnny his life when he was shot by Craig, who in the end was objecting to Roger's death.

Craig turned out to be a thief with honor. He and his partner had promised to return Roger in exchange for seventeen million dollars. As Craig watched Johnny prepare Roger for death, he made a move which even surprised himself. He permanently terminated a relationship that had forever bugged the hell out of him, then he took Roger home.

About the author

Dr. Richard Erickson has written Square Dance as his first adventure into the genre world of fiction. Previous writing experiences include a co-authored non-fiction book called Making Sense of Adolescence: How to Parent from the Heart. That book was published by Triumph Books in 1995. Erickson also wrote a column for two years related to parenting teenagers, which was a featured presentation in a Minneapolis monthly magazine called, Family Times. The non-fiction genre is probably more characteristic of Erickson's professional existence than is Square Dance, which is one of those things he did for a lark.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Erickson felt pressured to attend the seminary in response to desires of his parents, both janitors of a big Lutheran church. Flunking out of the seminary, but having been a chaplain in a correctional school for juvenile delinquents, Erickson immediately entered the professional world of crime response and reduction. He took a job six weeks out of the seminary, as an institutional family therapist in a correctional setting, as well as a probation officer for the court in Hennepin County, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Feeling competent in his dealings with delinquents and their families, yet possessed with inferiority feelings related to his seminary discharge, Erickson headed off to graduate school where he successfully earned a master's degree in social work in 1971, and then in 1986, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Erickson has been a teacher and counselor all of his life. He has worked in schools, courts, institutions, private practice, graduate school teaching, and even a four year stint in the world of business, as a trainer for a securities firm. In his spare time he has been a budding entrepreneur.

The material that provides the foundation for Square Dance is truly fictional, but nonetheless, it is also in part a compilation of information and experiences he has personally acquired over forty years in the people business, especially people in trouble for one reason or another.