Sanity Test is a short but a very disturbing look at two very troubled, conflicted, and potentially delusional men. They reveal a great deal about their characters and perspectives through the emails.

Kawka straddles between childlike impulsivity and frightening sociopathic behavior. Through his emails, he describes a series of dramatic means to get Pawski’s attention from stalking, to sending him a live dog through the mail, to entering a village using Pawski's name. Kawka is clearly fixated on Pawski to an unhealthy obsessive degree and is gaslighting the other man.

Kawka's actions are reminiscent of an immature teenager doing awful things that he thinks are hilarious to get attention but not realizing that what they are doing is wrong. However, there is also something cold and analytical about his activities. He wants to gauge Pawski’s reaction to see how far he can push him into insanity. He has total control over the situation.

However, Pawski’s emails also raise concern. He is more emotional than Kawka, even from the beginning. By his second email, he is warns Kawka to stay away from him even referring to him as "Annoyingly Patient" and himself as "Former Doctor," even though Kawka hasn’t yet.done anything to harm him. He only sent him a couple of pestering emails at first. They are annoying but not a threat yet. Of course, let’s not rule out the possibility that Kawka might have been sending Pawski emails before the book started and we are only gaining access to the most recent. But this is definitely a potential sign that things are not what they seem. It certainly adds to the overall uncertainty that we can’t trust either of these men.

The earlier suspicions toward Pawski become warranted as his email messages become more frantic, more unhinged, and disjointed. If Kawka’s goal was to drive Pawski insane, then mission accomplished. He becomes a paranoid angry man who is disconnected to reality and will strike at anyone who opposes him, even friends and coworkers.

As Pawski becomes more unstable, Kawka becomes more reasonable which leaves the reader with questions. Were we right in the initial assumption that Kawka was the patient and Pawski the doctor? Are the roles reversed and was this a role playing exercise between them? Is one of them a real person and the other is not? Are neither of them real?

It’s worth noting that though both Kawka and Pawski are typical Polish surnames, Kawka’s significantly comes from a jackdaw bird that is known for its cleverness and ability to steal shiny objects. It also describes a person who is clever and adaptable. So is Kawka not an actual name but a personality, maybe an alter, or a hallucination? A representative of a personality trait that Pawski himself doesn’t have but wishes that he did?

The book gives us no real answers and leaves the reader to make their own conclusions to understand this strange and disturbing duo.