Saturday, July 09, 2016

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Top 10 novels about deranged killers

7 comments:

Deb said...

First of all, isn't the character in Silence of the Lambs called Buffalo Bob? Hello, Editor!

I had never heard of Pete Dexter's PARIS TROUT until I read a biography of Flannery O'Connor and it was mentioned there. The book was based on an actual incident in O'Connor's hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. Sadly, a depressingly familiar story: a man's escalating domestic violence explodes in carnage.

I've mentioned that I found 2066 for a buck at a used book sale. I wonder if I'll ever read it.

Unknown said...

I love the Buffalo Bob bit. I read Paris Trout soon after it was published. I'd read some rave reviews. I found the book really depressing.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I read Paris Trout too, and found it as depressing as Bill said. It was adapted into a film, with Dennis Hopper playing the title role, with Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris.

Deb said...

Wow--I totally missed the movie adaptation, but I don't think it would have been my cup of tea. The old, depressing story of violence running amok. Just a few days ago I attended the funeral of a co-worker's 33-year-old daughter, murdered by her ex (against whom she had a restraining order)...a depressingly familiar tragedy in a week of awful tragedies.

Rick said...

The killer in Dennis Lehane's "Darkness Take My Hand" is the most terrifying embodiment of evil I've ever read. It's part of Lehane's Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro p.i. series.

Randy Clark said...

Kind of hard to give this list any credibility without a Jim Thompson novel being included. Surely there was a spot for The Killer Inside Me.

Dan said...

I quite agree Randy!