If I asked you to describe the personality of a serial killer in just a few words, what would you come up with? Evil, bloodthirsty and twisted? Depraved, inhuman and soulless? Loathsome, despicable and incomprehensible? Well, I would have agreed with any of those descriptions if I hadn't watched the series Dexter on TV several years ago, which showed a more ... let's say positive ... type of serial killer. Yes, he spilled a lot of blood and killed off numerous people, but only the bad guys. It certainly didn't make him into a saint but it seemed somehow vaguely justifiable when you looked at how bad and evil (or I should say even MORE bad and evil than him) the victims were. The guy who beat up the old lady on the corner and stole all her family heirlooms? A convicted sex offender who has just got a job in a primary school and is making lots of new little friends? Well, maybe we could let him off for getting rid of THOSE guys? But then your mind catches up with you and you think about what you're actually condoning ! This is exactly the kind of mindset that this book throws you into.
Time to bring in Jez. Even the name sounds fun, jaunty and endearing. Not scary and evil at all. He's married to Maxine but is having a bit on the side - one point immediately goes up against his name on the bad side. He is a devoted and protective father to Jamie though, so that pretty much evens things up. He has a good job as a university professor and he's a pro-vice chancellor for research. I'd have him down as an overall good guy with an overactive sex drive and/or a low set of morals. He could basically be any man on the street and I could imagine myself working with him or associating with him.
But he does have this deep, dark void in his personality. He will be talking to people while imagining (and sharing with us) his very violent, uncensored thoughts, some of which will make your stomach churn. He is a music lover and is working on putting together his top 40 hits to enhance his whole killing routine. There's something utterly terrifying about imagining this man, swaying and humming happily along to a tune as he clears up his blood-soaked murder scenes. He's totally sexist, completely unfazed by his kills and ... somehow still managed to make me smirk as he told his tale.
It's a book that would be great to read and discuss at a book club as I'm sure you'd either (slightly) love or absolutely abhor him. You might want to avoid reading it before you sit down to eat your tea though as the gore and violence might put you off your food !
star rating : 4/5
- Publisher : RedDoor Press (10 Feb. 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1913062848
- ISBN-13 : 978-1913062842
- Dimensions : 33.7 x 2.3 x 18.5 cm
Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.
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