As a teenager, M. E. Thomas — a fittingly egotistic pseudonym — was “so uniquely accomplished, talented and charming that I was naturally included on everyone’s list of people to know.” She went to indie movies and drummed in a rock band. Her friends idolized her. “Musicians are expected to be narcissistic and outrageous,” she writes. “You’re supposed to scream and dance wildly.” Nobody suspected that the screaming and the wild dancing were indicative not of awesomeness but of sociopathy.