I have a passion for killers in fiction because...well, they're just tons of fun if done right. At one point in my life, real \-life serial killers were very intriguing to me, and though that interest has wane a bit, I still have a strong appreciation for an interesting murderers in fiction. When writing my book, A Shepherd of Wolves, I was heavily influenced by a few works that featured serial killers in lead roles and showed them as complete people. The books I am recommending all had some sort of impact on the story I wanted to tell in my own work.
Edmund Glass has never fit in. His neighbors find him odd and few have ever gotten to truly know him. After years of tempering his appetite, he finally gives in to the beast, taking a life and consuming the victim. Soon, he can’t control himself, taking victim after victim and leaving what’s left of the remains scattered around the small town of St. Anna, South Carolina. Detective Raymond Wright didn’t think a serial killer would ever show up in his hometown, but as Edmund’s body count grows, the detective must question everyone and everything if he’s going to catch a killer who is committing unthinkable acts.
I think this book perfectly executes the task of having the main protagonist be somewhat a dubious and mildly despicable character yet intriguing and charming enough to make the reader want to stick with him. There’s a good reason the book spawned several sequels and a few film adaptations. Tom Ripley is quite the con artist and murderer, able to elude being captured numerous times. In this first book of the series, we get a fair understanding of what drives him and what may have made him the way he is.
It's here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith's five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a "sissy." Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley's fascination with Dickie's debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie's ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. "Sinister and strangely alluring"…
I must admit that I, and probably many other Nirvana fans, only read this book initially because Kurt Cobain supposedly cited it as his favorite book and the Nirvana song “Scentless Apprentice” was inspired by it. The main draw of the book is in the title; this is the story of a murderer, one who was born without a scent but possesses a strong sense of smell. It is this strong sensitivity to smell and an obsession with scent that drive the main character, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, to commit murders. I think most readers will sympathize and possibly cheer for the redemption of the killer because the book introduces us to him at the beginning of his life and delicately lets us into his world and mindset.
An erotic masterpiece of twentieth century fiction - a tale of sensual obsession and bloodlust in eighteenth century Paris
'An astonishing tour de force both in concept and execution' Guardian
In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today.
It is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, wickedness, but because his gifts…
This is one of my favorite books by Thompson. The thing that really hooked me in with this book is that the protagonist and killer in the book is a sheriff. On the surface he appears to be a dull, by-the-book law enforcer, but Lou Ford is harboring a dark side that has been with him since childhood. The idea of one who is supposed to protect probably being the most dangerous and violent person in town is quite intriguing to me. There is an extra element of danger added because of the killer’s profession. I also appreciate that Thompson connected the past with what is driving the killer to act out against his victims.
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texas town, patient and thoughtful. Some people think he's a little slow and boring but that's the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou calls his 'sickness'. It nearly got him put away when he was younger, but his adopted brother took the rap for that. But now the sickness that has been lying dormant for a while is about to surface again and the consequences are brutal and devastating. Tense and suspenseful, The Killer Inside Me is a brilliantly sustained masterpiece…
This one seems to be less successful than its follow-up, Silence of the Lambs, at least as far as film adaptations go and being known as well by the general public. Like Silence of the Lambs, this book features Hannibal Lector assisting the protagonist and serial killer who is on the loose. While the main character, an FBI agent, is trying to figure out the identity of the killer, the book reveals this character to us, the readers, and we are taken into their world for a good portion of the book. The book excels at bringing us two creepy killers who keep the reader compelled to find out how it will all play out.
From the author of "Silence of the Lambs" and "Black Sunday", this is the book that introduces the most famous serial killer of them all - Hannibal Lecter.
A classic movie and a classic book. Norman Bates is one of the most compelling fictional characters (yes, I know he was based on an actual person) to me. He’s a bit more pathetic in the novel, and we get a better insight into his deranged mind. Norman and his mother are quite the duo in this book, and this is a fairly short, quick, and captivating read. Like the original movie, there are sequels to the novel that don’t really do it justice in my opinion.
Mary Crane believes she has found shelter from the storm when she checks into the Bates Motel, but the knife-wielding owner, Norman Bates, soon rips her piece of mind to shreds and the nightmare begins.
The Hunt for the Peggy C is best described as Casablanca meets Das Boot. It is about an American smuggler who struggles to rescue a Jewish family on his rusty cargo ship, outraging his mutinous crew of misfits and provoking a hair-raising chase by a brutal Nazi U-boat captain bent on revenge.
During the nerve-wracking 3,000-mile escape, Rogers falls in love with the family’s eldest daughter, Miriam, a sweet medical student with a militant streak. Everything seems hopeless when Jake is badly wounded, and Miriam must prove she’s as tough as her rhetoric to put down a mutiny by some of Jake’s fed-up crew–just as the U-boat closes in for the kill.
The Hunt for the Peggy C: A World War II Maritime Thriller
John Winn Miller's THE HUNT FOR THE PEGGY C, a semifinalist in the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, captures the breathless suspense of early World War II in the North Atlantic. Captain Jake Rogers, experienced in running his tramp steamer through U-boat-infested waters to transport vital supplies and contraband to the highest bidder, takes on his most dangerous cargo yet after witnessing the oppression of Jews in Amsterdam: a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution.
The normally aloof Rogers finds himself drawn in by the family's warmth and faith, but he can't afford to let his guard down when Oberleutnant Viktor…
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