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
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > >
> > > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
> > > 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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