I have no interest in serial killers or indeed murder generally. Am I abnormal?

[whataboutbob]

Just getting it off my chest. Any book premised around the deliberate ending of a humans life by another human is a turn off. If the victim is a woman ( and the perpetrator a man), if there’s mutilation, grief porn etc I want to know even less. But judging by TV, radio dramas, bookshops etc I sometimes feel like I’m a misfit. Anyone else want to join me?

Wow @Stonehopper, that's both fascinating and depressing. I kind of get it, I used to live in Berlin where all the main tourist attractions are war or genocide or Stasi related, and I guess if you treat these things like tourist sites, you will get tourist critiques.

(sorry for derailing the thread a bit here!)

I'm actually interested to see so many people say they like watching/reading crime stories in order to understand why people do these terrible things.

I'm just curious, what sorts of answers have you found? How do these stories help explain things?

I tend to just see gruesome killers as sick fucks and leave it at that. What am I missing?

I used to live in Berlin where all the main tourist attractions are war or genocide or Stasi related

But there are all the museums in the Museumsinsel, galleries for all sorts of art, lots of things about the 18th century... having said, Berlin's 20th century history has been very important to European and World history and is in living memory for many people, so it's not a surprise it is prominent. But I think it only needs to be dominant if you let it. I have been to Berlin a number of times as a tourist, and it's been a completely different experience each time. (I have also done the 20th century history stuff, because I studied it at A-level and degree, but it certainly hasn't dominated my visits.)

@dreamingbohemian

I'm actually interested to see so many people say they like watching/reading crime stories in order to understand why people do these terrible things.

I'm just curious, what sorts of answers have you found? How do these stories help explain things?

I tend to just see gruesome killers as sick fucks and leave it at that. What am I missing?

They are sick fucks but there's generally a pretty horrific backstory and it's interesting to know what they have in common, etc. I suppose. And how they were seen by other people and what they themselves say about what they've done.

But if someone had a horrid background they don’t necessarily become murderers. I worry there’s some justification in hindsight going on. Likewise killers may have had fairly ordinary backstories.
As for the reviews of Dachau and Auschwitz on Tripadvisor I’m reminded of Hannah Arendt’s comment about the banality of evil. On watching top Nazi Adolf Eichman’s trial in Israel she found him unremarkable, dull, not particularly intelligent. This man who had masterminded the industrial liquidation of 100s of 1000s of people was in person, plain boring. All the murder and serial killer fiction is mostly written to sell to the biggest numbers possible, and has a vested interest in pitching an exciting angle wherever possible. Otherwise it would be an academic study and that probably wouldn’t sell much.

No, most people who have a shit time don't become murderers which I guess is also partly why people are so interested. I have never heard anyone justify the actions of a serial killer.

I think it’s odd, particularly those people who follow forums in unsolved murders.

Why is that? I read two books last year which focussed on crowdsourced murder investigations and they were fascinating. The dedication many of the people have, to bring closure to victims and their relatives, is quite incredible.

In my head I would have made an excellent detective so I would love to help out with this stuff but sadly I don’t have the time!

You are definitely not alone in this

I don’t even consider that entire section of the book market. Nope, not for me.

With very very rare exceptions (Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News? Which isn’t graphic about anything so it’s really more the intrigue than anything).

Agree, I just can’t watch this stuff on TV either, I don’t understand people who love all this misery!

I find it a bit one dimensional and sensationalist and really hate the fact that generally it’s women copping it.

Also hate the “no daddy no!” Misery lit which was so famous a few years ago. It just feels lazy.

Part of it in me being a parent now though which has basically removed a layer of my skin so everything feels more painful.

Also hate the “no daddy no!” Misery lit which was so famous a few years ago

Me too. If it helps survivors to tell their stories then more power to them, but the way an entire genre of misery memoirs sprung up, each with a more "no daddy no" type title than the past, really bothered me.

I hate crime and thriller books, even more so since I had DD. I can't bear about harm coming to people, especially girls and women - and it's ALWAYS girls and women.

Same with podcasts. So much true crime.

It’s bloody weird, there are whole Reddit threads dedicated to obsessing over the victims. What sort of person enjoys that as a bit of downtime?

I don't like anything with gratuitous violence or anything too graphic. I can't read crime books that are written from the pov of the perpetrator or the witness.

I do enjoy reading/ watching murder investigation books/ shows when the focus is on the police procedure, and the protagonist is the Detective. I find it fascinating how they use forensics and pull all the evidence together.

Not my genre either. It worries me the proportion of the population who seem to have an appetite for ‘entertainment’ which involves dead children. Truly grim.

Me too, I dont understand the fascination. I think its all too grim, reading fiction is about escapism to me so why on earth everyone seems to want to read about murder is baffling. Likewise with TV.

I'll go even further: I don't generally have much interest in crime altogether. There can be exceptions (there was a fabulous book on art forgery), but I'd never seek something out specifically to read about crime in general.

I can definitely understand that point of view, and respect it. I personally enjoy reading about or watching real-life crime, but I completely see why somebody wouldn't.

For me I hate any kind of sexual torture-porn in horror films. It sickens me that there are people that want to watch this for entertainment. But, that is acted and pretend, and the real life crime I like to read, isn't. So each to their own I guess