Would you read a book where.....

[Whereismyblind]

The main protagonist/POV is a serial killer who has killed in the past, but has committed to not killing any more because he knows it's wrong, and also he is finding it increasingly difficult to hide his double life from his teenage daughter and everyone else.

He meets a woman and falls in love with her, which is a huge revelation to him as he thought it was impossible for him to feel such depth of emotion.

Obviously, some form of truth will out in the end.

So, would you read something like this??

Post your own imagined book plot for feedback here too please

I wouldn’t, no although it sounds like something you would see on TV.

I don’t have any plots, sorry.

Hmmm yes maybe it would work better as a gripping TV drama with a hot male lead like Jamie Dornan or Tom Hardy

I can see that. Where you feel conflicted because you know you shouldn’t fancy him as he’s a psychopath.

I wouldn’t. I need to feel some liking for the main protagonist (assuming he is) and there’s no way I could for a serial killer. Not sure anyone like that can just decide to stop anyway - the repressed urge is going to come out again sooner or later, isn’t it?

If the main character was the woman he fell in love with, though, who bit by bit started to have her suspicions….. That would be a different matter. He’d have to get his comeuppance in the end, though.

Yes I agree, there's no avoiding the eventual comeuppance there!

I always thought that I wouldn't be able to read book where I didn't like any of the characters but I've actually read a few like that recently, and thoroughly enjoyed them. I think the key is to give your unlikeable character some human traits and redeeming qualities (though this obvs isn't possible with a serial killer) that a reader would identify with, even if they continue to hate them.

A sexual serial killer of women and or children?

Or a serial killer where he bumps off people for money?

The Charmer with Nigel Havers is an example of a man being the central character as a villain but whom the viewer sympathises with.

I don't think there's enough of a hook to draw me in.

but has committed to not killing any more because he knows it's wrong

This isn' t very strong/convincing. Something needs to have happened to change his outlook - you don't just decide to stop killing people because you 'know it's wrong'. If you are a serial killer you either know it's wrong but do it anyway because of some compulsion or simply not caring; or you justify it to yourself in some way - the people you kill 'deserve' it in your (twisted) reality.

He'd have to have a good reason for the killings, like Dexter for example who was meant to be an avenging angel.

People have to like/identify with the main character and that's a bit of a stretch with a serial killer.

It's quite similar to Dexter? Where we're directed to have sympathy for the serial killer as he only kills 'baddies' who escape justice?

Xpost with @dayswithaY!

IMO this is a bit of a weak plot.

Serial killers, as far as I know, don't get a 'road to Damascus' moment and mend their ways.
Their killing escalates (as they need ever more stimulation to feed their obsession) until they get caught.

So I would leave this one on the shelf as well.

These days I watch and read as little as possible anything involving violence and murder of women. And I am too cynical about violent men’s hatred and contempt of women, their deep seated issues that present as misogyny, that I wouldn’t believe for one moment a serial killer who ‘realised’ it was wrong. And if it was a man who had accidentally killed a woman , for example, I am sick of us all being expected to feel sorry for ‘fallen men’ and men generally being at the centre of women’s universe, in fiction, in the news, in our local neighbourhood, on MN, in our homes.

I wouldn't. I have no interest in reading about fictional killers and psychos when there are plenty of real ones.

Very Dexter!

Just finished listening to an audio book with a similar plot. Can't remember what it's called but it was okay.

Sweetpea does this well, with a female serial killer. Hilarious trilogy of books, she enjoys killing though!

Dexter!

Hmmm yes i did think the 'road to damascus' aspect would need a lot of work to make it believable 🤔 But a huge part of the character would be his ongoing struggle with the compulsion.

I guess he would be a murderer of women, because murdering men wouldn't really line up with falling in love with a woman? And being a woman killer would make it all the harder to make him identifiable.

Dexter is a good benchmark, though I don't think I could copy the 'bad guy' thing without it being totally identical. And I'm not sure there are any other mitigating factors that would make anyone feel sympathy for a serial killer 🤔

Finding more plot holes as I go along here

Sorry but you’ve described a plot which is very similar to the reboot of Dexter.

oldtinhat do let me know if you remember please!

Oh I didn't know that Dexter was having a revival/reboot! May be able to get this plot out of my head by watching that 👍

Seriously though, does anyone else get stories like this stuck in their head??

I guess he would be a murderer of women, because murdering men wouldn't really line up with falling in love with a woman?

You don't seem to have a very clear vision of this character.

Why does he murder women (or anyone)? What started him off as a serial killer?

depends who is killing, if it's bad guys then it's ok

Sounds like the poundland version of Killing Eve

I do have a clear vision of his character, and I think the urge to kill stems from a traumatic childhood and being raised in a religious cult, which he managed to escape from as a teen (yup, more and more high drama )