RARA-AVIS: Re: Moratorium on serial murderer mysteries?

From: davezeltserman (Dave.Zeltserman@gmail.com)
Date: 19 Aug 2010

  • Next message: davezeltserman: "RARA-AVIS: Re: Moratorium on serial murderer mysteries?"

    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.

    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Ron Clinton" <clinton65@...> wrote:
    >
    > Indeed, THE AX seemed to me much more goal-centric & micro-focused than
    > revenge-oriented and macro focused.
    >
    > I'll also stick w/ my contention that THE AX is a serial killer novel. An
    > unorthodox one, to be sure, but his actions of killing in a sequential,
    > serial fashion seems to fit under the definition's umbrella.
    >
    > Ron C.
    >
    >
    > > -----Original Message-----
    > > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
    > > Behalf Of Mark Sullivan
    > > Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 3:40 PM
    > > To: rara-avis
    > > Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Re: Moratorium on serial murderer mysteries?
    > >
    > >
    > > I see your point, but I never got the sense he was thinking that globally.
    > I think he
    > > saw a problem and, once he set aside morality, came up with a very simple,
    > > practical solution that he followed. It's that practicality, that
    > coldness, that lack of
    > > any emotion like revenge that I found so disturbing, because it made
    > absolute
    > > perfect sense. For instance, I found it far more chilling than the
    > somewhat similar
    > > movie A Shock to the System, as there was some sort of personal animosity
    > in
    > > many of the movie's murders, but not in The Ax. He did not seek revenge
    > against
    > > those who had downsized him, he systematically took out those who stood in
    > his
    > > way. In other words, he became the cold system that had downsized him,
    > > downsized others preemptively. Ultimately, he wanted nothing more than to
    > return
    > > to the system. Now that I think of it, this is the downsizing version of
    > the Flitcraft
    > > story.Mark
    > >
    > > > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
    > > > From: jacquesdebierue@...
    > > > Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:22:47 +0000
    > > > Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Moratorium on serial murderer mysteries?
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Mark Sullivan <DJ-Anonyme@>
    > wrote:
    > > > >
    > > > >
    > > > > Is The Ax a revenge novel? Whom was he avenging? I saw it as a very
    > > practical means to an end, coldly pursued.
    > > > > Mark
    > > > >
    > > >
    > > > I see it as a revenge on the system. This guy is creating his own
    > "personal
    > > strategy" to defeat the system and, I think, exact revenge on it. The guys
    > he deletes
    > > are incidental. He reformulates concepts of "redundant" and "downsizing"
    > in a very
    > > personal and concrete way.
    > > >
    > > > Best,
    > > >
    > > > mrt
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > ------------------------------------
    > > >
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    > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > > >
    > > >
    > > >
    > >
    > >
    > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > ------------------------------------
    > >
    > > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
    > > Yahoo! Groups Links
    > >
    > >
    > >
    >



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