--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Ron Clinton" <clinton65@...> wrote:
>
> > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> > Behalf Of jacquesdebierue
> > > I found Red Dragon far superior to Silence of the Lambs in this respect.
> > >
> >
> > Me, too. With Silence of the Lambs, I was conscious of reading some sort
> of
> > concocted story with a super villain. Red Dragon felt more real.
>
>
> I've heard that a number of times, and while I still believe SILENCE is the
> better of the two for a number of reasons, I would agree that RED DRAGON is
> itself a remarkable work and would probably immediately follow the three top
> serial killer works I mentioned earlier (THE COLLECTOR, SILENCE OF... and BY
> REASON OF INSANITY). Ellroy's KILLER ON THE ROAD (aka SILENT TERROR) might
> take up the fifth spot...but I haven't yet reconciled if it's as good as I
> think it is or not.
>
The problem is that somebody like Hannibal Lecter cannot exist. He's a fantasy. Perfectly acceptable as a fantasy story, but not as a realistic one. Dave Zeltserman, in his novel Bad Thoughts, went Harris one further and achieved what I suspect is a comic sendup of the entire genre.
> Actually, I take that back...Ellroy can have the sixth spot. I just
> remembered a terrific serial killer book: Bradley Denton's BLACKBURN. Loved
> that book. Since BLACKBURN stretches the thematic confines of the serial
> killer novel, I'll throw out another one that does as well and, like
> BLACKBURN, is highly recommended: Westlake's THE AX. Like Jimmy Blackburn,
> Westlake's protagonist kills for reasons that he sees as perfectly
> legitimate...reasons that also become all too comprehensible for the reader.
> For that reason, these latter two might be the most frightening books of the
> bunch.
>
I agree that The Ax is frightening because it is realistic. No fantasy there, just a pretty sensational revenge, you might say...
Best,
mrt
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 19 Aug 2010 EDT