Have you ever had one of those days where a nice young gentleman comes up to you at the bus station and strikes up a pleasant conversation with you, but something just feels off about it? He’s just a little too nice. Just a little too friendly. Just a little too nosey.

What if you notice him nod to the driver of an unmarked van and instantly decide to board the bus that is arriving—even though it isn’t your usual line? What if he follows you? What if you take him on a crazy adventure of a ride that lands you both in front of the Pentagon?

Has that ever happened to you?

No?

So, it’s just me?

Okay…forget I said anything...

Before we get into this month’s rather uncomfortable question, I want to take a moment to say: Thank You!

The Kofler Files is still a young publication, and every person who has chosen to subscribe, read a File, open a Dispatch, or spend a few minutes thinking about these characters means more to me than you probably realize.

You’re here while these stories are still taking shape.

And I love that!

Writing The War Within series isn’t simply about deciding what happens to Jenny. It’s about asking why she makes the choices she does—and whether we would make different choices if we were standing where she was standing.

A little something for being here early

Since you’re here while these stories are still taking shape, I want to give you something that isn’t available to everyone.

Downward Spiral is the exclusive prologue to Roots of Obsession, and it’s available only to subscribed members of The Kofler Files.

It’s an early glimpse into Jenny’s world—and into the events that set the stage for The War Within.

If you’re not subscribed to The Kofler Files yet, click the Subscribe button below, and you’ll get instant access to Downward Spiral, the exclusive prologue to Roots of Obsession.

Subscribe now

Now back to the uncomfortable question

This week, while editing a scene between Yanis and Jenny, I started thinking about the legal and ethical implications of Jenny’s actions.

For some context, one of the guards has been very jovial and friendly with Jenny. He side-bumps her arm, puts his hand on her shoulder, and pats her back when he is near her. But there is nothing about any individual interaction that would necessarily set off an alarm.

A hand on her shoulder could be a friendly gesture. A pat on the back could be brushed off as harmless. Even the frequency with which he seeks her out could be explained away.

That’s part of what makes it difficult.

From Jenny’s perspective, it’s the pattern that bothers her. The repeated contact. The fact that he seems to find reasons to be near her. The way his attention toward her has been escalating.

And then there’s the invitation from the previous evening to join him in watching the game—which somehow turned into the question:

“Would anyone even look for you if you left?”

That question, in particular, sets off every alarm she has.

Jenny has learned that someone looking to exploit another person doesn’t necessarily announce themselves as a threat. They can test boundaries gradually. They can ask questions that seem innocent in isolation. They can create interactions that are easy to dismiss individually while watching to see how someone responds.

That’s what Jenny thinks she’s seeing.

And the timing makes it worse.

The following day is the beginning of the weekend shift—a period Jenny considers particularly high-risk for herself. Whatever is happening, she doesn’t believe she has the luxury of waiting to find out.

Based on her observations, intuition, and experience, she suspects the guard may be a scout for traffickers.

But suspicion—and the presence of a trafficking ring alone—are not proof.

That’s where things get complicated. Here's the excerpt from the scene in Roots of Obsession where Jenny and Yanis discuss engineering a situation that could get the guard transferred or fired.

Yanis’ POV

“You have a problem,” I said. “Want me to solve it?”

“No. I refuse to owe you anything,” she said.

I waited. Despite what she said, I could see her thinking about it.

“I will make an exchange of equal value on the condition that we owe each other nothing once our objectives are met,” she finally replied.

“What do you have of value?” I asked, now intrigued.

She’s making me an offer.

“Theoretically, you might be in need of certain key items, just as I am in need of the removal of a certain individual’s access to me,” she continued. “You get what you need. I get what I want. We split the risk.”

“Convince me.” I leaned back and waited.

“I cannot say directly, but the individual in question carries certain items of possible interest. After lunch, the door to the outdoor courtyard will be opened. The Russians, the Roma, and my parents and I will gather there. You should bring the sick kid for some sunshine.”

“How is this of value?”

“So impatient.” Jenny shook her head. “The individual will remove his uniform shirt, finish his tea, and head to the bathroom. There, he always removes his belt and hangs it over the door. The items in question are on the belt. The rest is up to you.”

“Your information is worthless to me. Whatever you think I need, you’re wrong. And your plan is stupid.” It was a bald-faced lie, but I couldn’t have her thinking we were on the same level.

“Your loss,” she shrugged. “I don’t actually need your help. This individual will be gone before the weekend, regardless. I just like your style and thought it would be fun. But maybe you’re not as good as I thought. Men these days,” she tsked. “So disappointing.”

“You are insane, woman!” Her attempt at manipulation made me furious. And impressed. I wanted to—hell, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with her. To her?

Merde. She’s getting under my skin again.

“Probably,” Jenny said with a shrug. “If you change your mind, just know that this window of opportunity will only exist today. Everything changes on Monday.”

I threw Samir’s sandal at her. It hit the windowsill and bounced off.

Jenny fucking giggled.

So… was Jenny wrong?

Let’s separate what Jenny knew from what she suspected.

• She knew the guard had repeatedly acted out of protocol, and his behavior had suddenly escalated.

• She knew other people—including her parents—had witnessed his behavior, felt that it was slightly inappropriate, but shrugged it off.

• She suspected he was connected to the trafficking operation she had observed.

• She decided that waiting for certainty was too dangerous for her.

This is where risk assessment enters the picture. When assessing a threat, probability matters. But so does consequence.

If Jenny is wrong, an innocent man could lose his position because she deliberately engineered a situation against him.

But what if she’s right?

What would it cost her to wait until she had irrefutable proof? And what would “proof” actually look like?

Would she have to wait until she was drugged, restrained, trafficked, or otherwise placed in a situation where the threat was no longer theoretical? Would proof arrive only after something irreversible had already happened?

For Jenny, those possibilities aren’t abstract. She is well aware of the darker side of humanity and has seen firsthand what can be left of the people who didn’t survive it.

She is the person who will bear the consequences if her assessment is wrong—or if she is right and does nothing.

So she decides to act before she has certainty. But notice what she actually does.

• She doesn’t report the guard.

• She doesn’t confront him.

• She doesn’t ask someone else to intervene.

She gives Yanis information that serves his own criminal interests and creates an opportunity for him to exploit an existing vulnerability in the guard’s behavior. She also makes sure she has another plan if Yanis decides not to participate.

That’s not exactly innocent. But does that make it wrong?

Or is this what self-protection looks like when the people and systems you’re supposed to be able to rely on aren’t capable of protecting you fast enough?

Let’s ask another question

If Jenny had waited for proof and something irreversible happened to her, would we judge her differently for failing to act sooner?

I don’t think there’s an easy answer. I’m not sure there should be.

• Was Jenny defending herself?

• Was she justified in acting on suspicion?

• Did she cross a line by discussing cooperation with Yanis?

What if it were you instead of Jenny?

How much certainty would you require before taking action if the cost of waiting could be irreversible?

So what was the outcome?

It would be quite mean of me to leave you hanging. So here is the excerpt from the outcome:

Yanis POV

Jenny’s plan yesterday had paid off. Despite the unexpected involvement of the Russians and the Roma, I now possessed a master key safely hidden in an obscure nook of the facility. It was shaping up to be a nice weekend—I just needed to get away from this disgusting place and Samir’s constant coughing.

“Dominic can’t keep touching me like he does.” Jenny pouted to the Chief of Security as she made her way ahead of me through the security checkpoint. “It makes me really uncomfortable.”

“I’m sorry, Dominic did what now?” the Chief asked, his face darkening as Jenny repeated her complaint. “Would you mind stepping into the conference room with me for a moment,” he asked Jenny and her parents.

The Roma family ahead of me exchanged glances, carefully avoiding looking at me. We had all played a part in what went down yesterday. It had gotten somewhat out of hand. Dominic had spent over an hour retrieving parts of his uniform shirt, belt, and tactical items. What he hadn’t recovered were his keys, most of which had fallen into a floor drain—with my help, of course.

I suppressed a grin. Jenny had been right when she said it would be fun. Watching Dominic endure the humiliation, anger, and panic of chasing down his gear had been intensely satisfying.

Such a risky operation. And yet it worked.

I handed my ID to the guard at the checkpoint. Through the glass partitions of the guardhouse, I could see Jenny crying. Her parents and security were trying to console her.

Adding the final nails to Dominic’s coffin. Girl isn’t leaving anything to chance.

Now the question gets harder.

Jenny never actually acts against Dominic herself.

• She identified a vulnerability.

• She identified someone (Yanis) capable of exploiting it.

• She gives Yanis the information needed to exploit the vulnerability.

• She identified a time and place when the only witnesses were individuals that had been negatively affected by this particular guard’s petty aggression.

And then she steps back.

The opportunity already existed. The protocol violation was already there. Yanis already understood Jenny’s objective and had offered to help. Jenny simply recognized that his interests and hers could temporarily align.

And the result?

The guard is compromised.

Jenny’s immediate problem is reduced. Yanis gets something he wants. And yet we still don’t know whether Jenny was right about the thing that started all of this.

She suspected Dominic was connected to the trafficking operation, but she acted without proof.

Which brings us to the larger question:

So, what’s your take?

• Was Jenny protecting herself—or manipulating circumstances to punish someone she suspected might be dangerous?

• Does the fact that she never personally acted against Dominic change your judgment?

• And if you were the person who had to live with the consequences of being wrong, how much certainty would you require before acting?

Play devil’s advocate. Take the position you disagree with. Challenge Jenny’s reasoning. Challenge mine. Let’s examine the situation from as many angles as possible.

Drop your thoughts in the comments below. The conversation is open to subscribers, so this is our little corner of the filing room.

And one last thing before you go…

Remember to download your exclusive copy of Downward Spiral, the prologue to Roots of Obsession.

If you’re not subscribed to The Kofler Files yet, click the Subscribe button below, and you’ll get instant access to Downward Spiral, the exclusive prologue to Roots of Obsession.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for a free monthly newsletter from psychological espionage fiction writer J. W. Kofler, exploring manipulation, deception, identity, and the lives of those adjacent to espionage.

Share The Kofler Files

Subscribe now

The War Within follows Jenny, the daughter of two covert American operatives, as she begins to question the world she is forced to navigate.

From childhood, she has been immersed in a world where secrecy is ordinary, identities are constructed, information is controlled, and trust is conditional. What she understands as family, loyalty, and love is shaped by the demands of the work—and by the people who have taught her what to believe. She struggles to find answers to her lived experiences.

• What happens when the person you’ve been taught to trust is the person controlling what you believe?

• What happens when the identity you’ve been given begins to feel like a lie that you no longer want to live?

• And how do you escape a world that you’ve been conditioned to infiltrate and survive inside of it?

The story

The War Within is not simply a story about espionage.

It is a story about psychological manipulation—about conditioning, control, loyalty, identity, and the complicated relationship between those who hold power and those who learn to live within its boundaries.

The espionage is the world around Jenny.

The psychology is the story.

At its center is a young woman trying to understand what was done to her, what was real, and whether she can become someone outside the identity that was created for her.

Why I’m writing it

I’ve always been interested in the space where psychology and espionage intersect—not just in what happens during an operation, but in what happens to the people who have to live with the consequences.

Espionage stories often focus on the operative.

The War Within asks what happens to the people around the operative.

The children.

The families.

The people who didn’t choose the life but were shaped by it anyway.

Jenny is one of those people.

Her story explores what happens when manipulation begins so early that it becomes indistinguishable from upbringing—and what it takes to recognize that distinction later in life.

Where I am now

The War Within is not yet published.

I’m writing it now.

The story, characters, and world are still taking shape. Some things I know. Some things I’m discovering. And some things will change as I work my way through the series.

That’s part of what The Kofler Files is about.

Through the monthly Files and occasional Dispatches, I’ll document the process of building The War Within—the characters, research, psychology, espionage, questions, discoveries, and decisions that happen along the way.

The story has only just begun. You’re arriving while it’s being made.

Follow The War Within

→ Start with File 001
→ Read the Dispatches
→ Subscribe to The Kofler Files

The Kofler Files

A monthly newsletter from psychological espionage fiction writer J. W. Kofler, exploring manipulation, deception, identity, and the lives of those adjacent to espionage.

By J. W. Kofler

Welcome to The Kofler Files.

I’m J. W. Kofler, and I’m writing The War Within—a psychological espionage series told through the eyes of the daughter of covert American operatives living undercover in the field.

Conditioned from childhood to accept manipulation, secrecy, and deception as normal, she eventually begins to question the world that shaped her—and sets out to escape it.

This publication is where I document my journey of bringing that story to life.

And I’m starting from the beginning.

I launched The Kofler Files on August 21, 2026. I’m new to Substack, new to this particular kind of public writing journey, and building this publication from the ground up. If you’re here now, you’re here early.

What you’ll find here

FILES
My monthly newsletters, numbered chronologically, begin with File 001. Each File takes you deeper into The War Within: its characters, psychology, espionage, research, themes, and the questions driving the story.

→ Start with File 001
→ Browse all Files

DISPATCHES
Occasional posts between monthly Files. Dispatches are where I share observations, discoveries, research, reflections, and other pieces from the writing journey. They’re numbered separately, beginning with Dispatch 1 (this post that you are reading).

→ Read the Dispatches

THE WAR WITHIN
The series I’m building toward. It isn’t published yet. You’re here at the beginning, while the story is still being written.

→ Learn about The War Within

Follow the journey

Subscribe to receive each monthly File, and follow The War Within from its earliest stages through the writing process.

Share The Kofler Files

When I first started drafting my upcoming The War Within series, this question kept resurfacing.

It began as a question about my main protagonist, Jenny.

As she navigates the figurative minefields of her own home, she starts to question how accurately she sees her own life—and what truths the people closest to her continue to hide.

But the more I wrote, the more I realized the question wasn’t just Jenny’s.

How much of our understanding of ourselves comes from the people who tell us who we are?

For Jenny, that question became impossible to ignore.

Subscribe now

Deviation

© J. W. Kofler

The faint sound of the front door opening snapped me from my thoughts. Dad was back. I followed his shuffling steps through the entryway, then into the kitchen. The front door latch hadn’t clicked into place.

One, two, three… Perimeter fail. What is this, amateur hour?

I moved quietly to the stairs, my left leg stiff and painful. I had forgotten my stretches yesterday. Skip the fourth step. Use the right edge on the sixth. Skip the eleventh. I stopped at the threshold. The door had drifted open. Damp air caressed my cheek. Fog reduced visibility to a few drifting meters of gray. So damp and quiet.

Longing tugged at me. To feel the fog surrounding me. To walk alone through the vineyards and orchards, wrapped in clouds and hidden from view.

One minute and counting. The voices from the kitchen were low and indistinct. It would have made sense to close the door, but for all I knew, this was another compliance test.

It was also an opportunity to run my own test. My mouth went dry as I reached my hand across the threshold.

Follow orders!

The subconscious command hit like a sucker punch to the gut. My hand started to shake, and I struggled to breathe. The pounding in my temples when resisting a direct order was nothing new. I pushed through it until the pain subsided, then stepped back and settled on the final step of the staircase.

It’s not time yet. I tightened my plaited, mousy-blonde hair. Until my situation changed and I had access to key documents, I had to be patient.

Five minutes. I frowned at the kitchen door. No instruction or supervision was highly unusual. What had changed in the past twelve hours?

Thought Experiment

Imagine you gradually realize that someone has been deliberately shaping your behavior for years—and you're not sure who you can really trust. You suspect there is more to your situation than what you see on the surface and you aren't able to leave without getting arrested because you have no ID papers.

There isn’t a clean answer. Every choice has a cost.

Keep going, and you may remain trapped. Test the boundaries, and you may suffer consequences. Pretend to comply, and you become a participant in the deception. Look for a way out, and you risk discovering that escape may be more dangerous than staying.

At what point does survival become its own form of conditioning? What happens when someone notices?

Feeling unsettled?

I certainly am! 😂 But I am here for the twisted mind games—and I hope you are too!

When I first started outlining and drafting The War Within, I kept running into the same problem. There was a figure lurking in the background—someone who seemed to influence Jenny’s decisions even when he wasn’t there. The more I wrote, the more I realized I needed to understand him. Who was he? What shaped him? And how did he become someone capable of having that kind of influence over another person?

So, I did what any perfectly reasonable writer would do.

I started writing his story.

The Wrong Assumption

© J. W. Kofler

“Stay away from him, Jenny. I mean it.”

A door closed.

The Americans were not here by accident. I had suspected that from the beginning. Too much access. Too much interest in the people around them. I could neither assume nor rule out that they were aware of my purpose here. Either way, I could not afford interference. If they went out tomorrow, I would follow them.

Jenny laughed. “Finally. They’re always preaching to the damned.” She sighed. “I miss isolation already. But at least I have pears and chocolate.”

Her laughter turned into a cough. She recovered quickly, but not quickly enough to hide how weak she was.

“Don’t be late for prayers,” she said, giggling, though her voice was still rough from coughing.

I sat up. She couldn’t possibly know I had been listening. Could she?

I replayed the last few minutes in my head. The window had already been open. I had made no sound. The mirror’s unique angle concealed me. There was no reason she should know.

Which meant one of my assumptions was wrong.

I waited to see if she would say anything else, but she seemed to have retreated further into the room.

And I was late for prayer.

I also made assumptions

I didn’t initially realize how much of a part this re-occurring background character actually plays in Jenny’s story, and that’s how I find myself writing a standalone prequel to The War Within—a story that wasn’t part of the original plan at all. Apparently, some characters refuse to stay in the background—even when it’s exactly where they insist on being.

The tentative publication date for the prequel is October 2026.

This is my first full-length novel, so I’m learning quite a bit as I go—not just about writing a book, but about everything that comes after the words The End. Independent publishing definitely has its own learning curve, and I’m still figuring out the ins and outs of it all. The Kofler Files is part of that process. It’s a place for me to share the stories, characters, questions, discoveries, and occasional rabbit holes that happen along the way—and, hopefully, bring you along for the ride.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to build a fictional world from the ground up—that draws heavily from life experience—while simultaneously figuring out how on earth to publish it...

Well, we’re about to find out. 😂

Share The Kofler Files

Subscribe now

How would you know if someone were deliberately changing your perception of reality?

Not all manipulation is dramatic. Sometimes it begins with affection. With loyalty. With a sincerely held belief. With the conviction that what you're doing is right.

What happens when those good intentions go too far?

The idea has fascinated me for years: not the obvious lie, but the carefully constructed reality built around partial truth. The kind of psychological manipulation that happens gradually, deliberately, and often so subtly that the person being manipulated doesn’t recognize it until their perception of themselves—and everyone around them—has already changed.

I became curious about these questions when I was young, listening to the adults around me have conversations about psychological manipulation, radicalization, brainwashing, and spheres of influence. I wondered how someone could be persuaded to believe something that seemed completely irrational from the outside.

The answer seemed simple and we’ve likely all heard it: Just do the right thing. However, after years of travel, adventure, dangerous situations, unusual people, and bizarre experiences, I came to realize that life isn’t that straightforward.

Sometimes nothing is as it seems.

In situations where there is no ethical solution, how do you determine the lesser of evils? How do you live with your choices? What if you acted in good faith and time proves you very, very wrong? What if you made a choice everyone condemned that later proved the best choice given the circumstances?

What if there comes a point where you’re no longer sure what truth even is?

What am I Really Buying?

© J. W. Kofler

I counted the money twice. Two thousand euros in crisp, un-sequential fifties and twenties. I lifted the stack and smelled it again. Something faintly chemical clung to the paper. The closest match that came to mind was the dry, recycled air of a passenger plane. My fingers tightened slightly around the stack.
I looked at my parents. “Where did you get this from?”
They didn’t answer. The silence stretched just long enough to confirm I wouldn’t get one.
“How much do I need to put in the envelope for the dog?” I asked, eyeing Mom, who kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Like a buzzard, I thought. What was she anticipating here?
“The agreed price is two hundred euros,” Mom said, finally sitting down.
Why so fidgety? I counted out the amount and placed it in an envelope labeled “For Dog.” After consideration, I set a fifty and a twenty beside it.
“What’s that for, Jenny?” Mom poured a cup of tea, dipped a biscuit, and took a bite.
I paused. There wasn’t a word for it.
“Extra. They will ask for more.”
My parents exchanged a look. I knew that look. This was a test. One where the rules kept changing.
“You’ll need to purchase supplies and budget for vet bills and dog food,” Dad said. “The money needs to last six months.”
That’s pretty specific. Why six months?
“In that case...” I set one grand aside, grabbed my notebook, and started making a list. As I tried to recall the price of a chew bone, I almost missed Dad gesturing for Mom to leave the room with him.
The door clicked shut behind them. I shook my head. So many secrets.

What if you knew that it wasn’t actually a choice?

Is saying no to something you don’t want, especially when it is going to happen anyway, really an effective strategy? Feigned compliance is deception. Manipulative control is too. Who is the bad guy?

Share The Kofler Files