There are killers, serial killers and mass killers -- murderers all. The police make a distinction, a different branch designated for each. Mass killers bring in the FBI to assist. While all killers are regarded as psychopaths, mass killers are sociopaths.
Sociopaths are insane yet, ironically, they may have the IQ of geniuses. Tracking them down requires detectives on the IQ genius level. This is the background of I Am Death by Yank crime thriller novelist Chris Carter.
Calling Robert Hunter a genius underrates him. A child prodigy, he flew through schools with top marks in record time, amassing PhDs. His amazing analytical ability brings him to the attention of the FBI. For reasons not clearly explained, he prefers to join the LAPD.
In short order, the detective is put in charge of Homocide's Ultra Violent section, bright Carlos Garcia his right-hand man. The cases they handle are beyond sadistic. Young woman in and around Los Angeles are abducted, raped, tortured, only a few turning up as corpses.
The author gets off on describing the tortures -- mechanically sandpapering the skin off the body, eviscerating the still alive victim, etc. An 11-year-old boy is beaten and sodomised.
Calling himself "The Monster", the mass killer can't resist boasting of his atrocities to the police, Hunter in particular, who takes it in his stride. Not so Carlos, who's ready to transfer to a benign branch. He stays on, however, and the killings and search continue.
Detective Sanders in charge of Missing Persons joins the team, tracking down other killers. They are still at it six years later with a few clues. Hunter follows up and finds himself in the clothes of his nemesis. The conclusion, full of twists and turns, moving back and fast-forwarding, is the weakest part of the plot. Say what?
This reviewer suggests that I Am Death is not for women. It makes their worst fears likely. The author makes clear that "monster" predators are among us, unrecognisable until they pounce.
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult Hodder and Stoughton 471pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 595 baht
Racism still exists
I don't know how it originated, but for millennia it was an accepted fact in the West that to be white was to be superior. Beneath them were a jumble of races which missed out. In more recent times, Abraham Lincoln drove a stake through that by declaring all men equal.
Negroids? Mongols? Redskins? Catholics? Protestants? Hindus? Jews? Muslims? Buddhists? Yes, the lot. We are all God's children. What do race, creed and colour matter? The whites were in conflict, saying they believed in equality but not practicing it.
In the century after Lincoln and the constitutional amendments, racism eased, but didn't end. African Americans were given decent employment, but were blamed if things went wrong. And whites wouldn't marry them. Discrimination isn't dead.
Yank author Jodi Picoult is white, but feels ashamed about ongoing racism. She makes this clear in her 25th fictional novel Small Great Things. Set in the Big Apple at the present time, it focuses on Ruth (black). Born into an ordinary family with no expectations, she's determined to better herself.
It's a tough grind, with no encouragement, but she makes it as a registered nurse. In a small upstate hospital, her uncomplaining hard work earns her the praise of her colleagues, but her superiors are standoffish. Alas, a white supremacist complains about the "nigger" touching his wife and baby.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Ruth looks after them, and the baby dies. The redneck accuses Ruth of murder. She's fired and arrested. Her public defender advises against playing the race card. Judge and jury would be offended. Didn't Lincoln end racism in the United States?
Several chapters are devoted to the trial. Picoult is no John Grisham, but she clearly brushed up on the American criminal justice system. Surprisingly, the finish is satisfactory.
Not surprising, given the theme, is the number of black people robbed, raped and killed by black people. Be that as it may, the author's point is well taken.
