Crime – Chris Carter

I’ve never been the biggest fan of crime in fiction but from time to time an author will catch my eye – Chris Carter is one of them.

I first read Chris Carter’s ‘The Executioner’ while on holiday in Mallorca under the recommendation of my mum and sisters. I’m very glad that I did! His way of writing is so detailed that you feel as if you are there alongside the officers (or victims) feeling all the same things they do.

I have found that a lot of crime novel authors tend to distance the reader from the characters, I find this disconcerting – I thought they were meant to have a strong, unbreakable connection to their characters that they want to share with the world? All I see is the authors dislike for their own creations. Pushing away their individuality, not letting a connection be formed.

When I asked a friend about this she suggested that the author may be attempting to protect the reader from all the nasty situations that inevitably show up in crime novel. Although she has a good point, I believe that this is wrong way to go about ‘protecting’ a reader and is probably the reason I don’t read more crime. By distancing the character and reader you are sacrificing the very reason many people pick up a book in the first place – the fantasy, the escape from the real world.

The best part of reading a work of fiction is the ability to immerse yourself in the world that has been created for you to enjoy…or fear in the case of crime/horror. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is a wonderful example of a novel which allows the reader to, not only visualise and enter his world, but gives us the space to use our own imaginations to expand on it.

But I digress, I read another of Chris Carter’s work on another holiday (apparently the only time I read crime is in another country…) “The Crucifix Killer” is the first in the Robert Hunter series. Check out the blurb:

In a derelict cottage in Los Angeles National Forest, a young woman is found savagely murdered. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the skin has been ripped from her face – while she was alive. On the nape of her neck is carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer.

But that’s not possible. Because, two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed.

Could this be the work of a copycat killer? Someone who has somehow accessed intricate details of the earlier murders – details that were never made public? Or is Homicide Detective Robert Hunter forced to face the unthinkable? Is the real Crucifix Killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Hunter with his inability to catch him?

Robert Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining, where there’s no such thing as a quick death.

Another reason I like Carter’s work is that he has written them as a series, but reading them out of order (like I did) does not spoil the story for you. The story was fast-paced, interesting, exciting and easy to read (always a plus on holiday, who wants to read something difficult while lounging at the poolside?)

I found a few scenes a little gory for my tastes, I had to put the book aside sometimes to catch my breath, but I just couldn’t stop reading. Over and over I attempted to work out who the killer was, what was going on but I just couldn’t do it. Every time I thought that I was close to an answer Carter would kill off the guy. I think that he has a personal vendetta against me. So, if you enjoy being surprised at the end of a novel and relish in infuriatingly clever characters then I suggest you pick up some of his work.