Re: RARA-AVIS: don't killers know how to close doors?

From: Stephen Burridge (stephen.burridge@gmail.com)
Date: 10 Aug 2009

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    Nothing to do with irritating cliches, but this made me think of the beginning of "Anatomy of a Killer" by Peter Rabe, which I read recently. The novel begins with a professional killer conscientiously closing the door of his victim's room -- but failing because the dead man's arm is in the way. Then there is a brief encounter with one of the neighbours, before the killer is able to move the arm out of the way, get the door closed, and leave. He's shaken by the incident; apparently he's never touched the corpse of one his victims before. It is a memorable scene and an interesting way to start the book.

    I suppose a justification for the cliche of the door that swings open at a knock is that the killer may not have been cool and careful at all, but panicked, so the improperly closed door may be the natural result of an understandable psychological state on the killer's part, besides being a cliche'd signal that something is wrong. Stephen On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Mark Sullivan <DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net> wrote:

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    > I'm just watching last week's Dark Blue. Yet again, a cop knocks on the
    > door and it creaks open just a bit. Of course, we all know this signals that
    > there's a dead body inside. What the hell? Even if the door wasn't locked,
    > it would not swing open at a knock (unless it had been kicked in, but there
    > was no indication that the jamb was broken).
    > So, anyone else got a cliche they're tired of?
    > Mark
    >
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