To me, the difference is relatively clear. If the fictious perpetrator does
the killing in the performance of his professional duties -- thief, hitman,
spy, et al -- then I do not consider it a serial killer novel. If instead
the perpetrator does his/her killing for reasons that are instead more
personal and intimate -- psychotic/sociopathic deviancy (Thomas Harris'
books, Joyce Carol Oates' ZOMBIE, etc.), methodical elimination of
obstructionist rivals (THE AX), self-righteous delusions (BLACKBURN), and so
on -- then it is a serial killer novel. Obviously, this is a subjective
differentiation on my part, but that seems like an appropriate distinction.
Since Westlake's protagonist was committing his acts for intimate, personal
gain and not because the acts were part and parcel of his occupation, in my
mind that makes THE AX a serial killer novel.
Ron C.
> -----Original Message-----
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "davezeltserman" <Dave.Zeltserman@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > How about a Parker novel, like The Hunter, where Parker has to kill a
bunch of
> > people to get what he wants? Or really any hit man novel? I think of a
serial killer
> >novel as something where the killer is killing some other purpose than to
do a job,
> >and really the protagonist in The Axe is killing for the same sort of
purpose as a hit
> >man, except in the Ax the killer has more remorse than they typical hit
man,,
> >especially since he finds himself liking the people he needs to kill.
> >
> From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of jacquesdebierue
> Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 6:55 PM
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Moratorium on serial murderer mysteries?
>
>
> Good point. I wonder how many people Parker kills in the entire series. It
has got to
> be a very high number. Somehow the presentation of Parker as a
professional
> doing a job makes him look more like some type of soldier than a
psychopath.
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