Winter 2004
15 Serial Killers
Harold Jaffe
Raw Dog Screaming Press
Hyattsville, MD
176 pp. $13.95
Harold Jaffe is nothing if not a
straight shooter, and in 15 Serial Killers, his latest series of “docufictions,”
he hits his targets with regularity, aplomb, and armor-piercing bullets.
I should admit
upfront that we at ALR are not generally fond of fiction based on serial
killers. We have found that scores of younger writers raised on the o'erwealth
of cinematic representations of this subset of humanity often go straight for
the genre thinking it the profoundest way to shock. The truth of the matter is
that profundity and shock tend to issue from life and its details, seldom from
fanciful fictional constructions. Jaffe's collection of shorts succeeds where so
many others fail because it springs from the true-life reality of these diseased
and twisted human beings; and though he does often utilize devices of fiction,
the author has clearly done his journalistic research, relating the horrifying
actions and thoughts of a wide range of the usual suspects—Dahmer, Berkowitz,
Speck, Bundy, Gein, Aileen Wuornos of Monster fame, among others.
However, not willing to stop at the vicious, typical motley, he adds a few
debatable characters as well, like Jack Kevorkian and Henry Kissinger. For most
of the standard killers above, the interest springs from their acts more than
the mind behind them, and Jaffe does a spectacular job of laying the details
before us in chilling and straightforward reportage. There is no need for
florid or poetic language here; all drama (and it is high drama)
originates from the almost ineffable horror of truth.
Many of the other
docufictions put the reader in the cell with the killer, employing a Q&A
format, wherein the killers get to lay out there views and obsessions. While
this is chilling as well, it also gives rise to occasional humor—such as Ed
Gein's “true” story of banging First Lady Rosalyn Carter back in the day.
Jaffe's wit, when he chooses to employ it, is dry, morbid and pertinent. The
matter between the covers of 15 Serial Killers is undeniably brutal and
profane—not for children or even teenagers. (I think it's safe to say that the
high number of incidences of anal sex with corpses, beheaded and otherwise,
will, by itself, probably keep this book out of the running for the Newberry
Award.) While I had one or two picayune niggles with Jaffe (the use of the “human
bean” euphemism in the mouth of more than one serial killer, and the odd
appearance of pop icon Madonna on more than one occasion), I have to say that 15
Serial Killers is probably the most encompassing and compelling work on the
subject you're likely to read—a genuine pleasure (though given the subject
matter I use that term lightly). Recommended without hesitation to those with
the constitution for such
fare.
