>Keith Deutsch wrote:
>Every time I see another Prey cover for sale in
drugstores, and strip mall
emporiums (which
>is often) I wonder what the series has that attracts
the mass audience.
There are a lot of mass audience favorites out there that are
totally inexplicable, but I think I've got this one figured.
As was mentioned, the Prey books are comics for adults and we
like comics whether we care to admit it or not. More
important, and this is key - all of the Prey books, and the
Cornwell-Scarpeta books, and 98% of the mystery bestsellers
are about psycho serial killers. No writer ever went broke
(or had to stay up late working out plots) by following the
Jack the Ripper formula. Why? As any actor can tell you, it's
the bad guy roles that get the notices. Bad guys are more
fun, more exciting. In the past, writers like Chandler and
Hammett and Macdonald often had villains who committed
multiple murders but they were usually motivated by greed or
jealousy or anger. Believable things. And they never upstaged
the detective. These books required a talent for
characterization and an ability to portray crime in a
somewhat realistic manner. By using the Ripper formula, you
don't have to concern yourself with realism. Who needs a
fully dimensional murderer? Just make him a wacky genius with
a particular tic. He likes to poke out eyes because he saw
Mommie kissing Santa Claus. He likes to remove livers from
brunette females because his older sister would steal the
liver off his breakfast plate. His deeds don't need a lot of
motivation as long as they're oddball and gaudy. And these
neo-Rippers never have to worry about mundane things like bad
luck or witnesses or natural occurrences upsetting their
intricate schemes. How did Chandler put it? God sits in their
lap. These books have much more in common with cozies than
they do with realistic or hardboiled novels. Patricia
Cornwell recently took a newspaper to task for reviewing her
latest novel in the "Mysteries" column. She considers her
books crime novels. Actually, she's the new Agatha Christie
and should be pleased as punch to have fit into such
expensive shoes. Dick Lochte
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