To catch a serial killer often requires a highly skilled collection of professional teams across multiple agencies. Their expertise often ranges in areas of forensics, behavioral analysis, profiling, violent crimes, to even technical skills related to the location where the crime was committed. People are murdered by other people and so we can surmise the killers are operating within a certain framework of physical rules.
For example, someone who murdered another person would be expected to have physically left that crime scene by certain means of transportation or on foot. A killer, while they can get creative with tools and techniques, can be expected to have murdered their victim with a tool that can likely be either identified or generalized during an autopsy. There are also biological rules in play with the expectations that a suspected killer can only live a certain number of years, and so there is a ticking time clock in which authorities have to capture them.
Yet, what if a serial killer is operating by rules that violate the spectrum of our scientific knowledge? How can someone, or something, be stopped by authorities if their existence breaks the laws of physics? Below are 5 novels that explore supernatural serial killers.
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Harper Curtis is a time traveling serial killer whose mission it is to end the life of the last shining girl. Chicago Sun-Times research assistant Kirby Mazrachi, is a shining girl, a woman who burns so bright with potential that only Curtis can detect. Beukes’ novel, which has been adapted for the screen, is an innovative approach set in a somewhat modern-day Chicago with scenes taking place in the Depression-era. Kirby survives a near fatal attack by an unknown assailant who is never caught. The novel follows Kirby’s research trying to find a pattern on the unsolved murders of a number of murdered women. We then follow Harper, the curiosities around his house, which is a shrine to murdered women, and his goal – to kill Mazrachi. There are chapters back and forth in time highlighting Harper’s other murders of shining girls. How can someone stop a killer that slips through reality only to return again and again? The novel is chaotic in the best way, mesmerizing, and emotional considering the underlying themes of trauma and its effects.
The Angelmaker by Alex North
Katie Shaw grew up in a wonderful home with a loving family. One day that all changed when her brother Chris was attacked by a stranger. As a result, Chris developed a number of issues and eventually separated from his family. Nearly two decades later, Katie now has a family of her own, but the traumatic events of her childhood linger. Then one day, Chris goes missing. Simultaneously, Detectives Laurence Page and Detective Caroline Pettifer are investigating the murder of a professor and during their search, Chris becomes connected to the case. The serial killer here is Jack Lock, who claims he can see into the future. This is a genre blending, multi-layered novel with breadth and depth. A number of issues are explored including religious fanaticism and philosophy. So how easy is it to stop a serial killer who claims to know events to come? Read The Angelmaker to find out.
Daphne by Josh Malerman
Josh Malerman provides us with a supernatural slasher meets coming-of-age story. Kit Lamb is enjoying the last summer with her high school basketball friends before they all move on with their new lives when a story is told that can’t be untold. Kit’s friend tells her the story about Daphne, a girl who went to their school and was killed. Some say she was murdered. Others say she took her own life. No one really knows. What they do know is that if you think about Daphne she will appear, and whatever you do, don’t think about Daphne or she’ll kill you. Kit has anxiety, and being told not to think about something when you have anxiety can sometimes generate more anxiety. Daphne soon appears and Kit’s friends start to die, one by one. This is also a great meditation on anxiety, our thoughts, and how powerful they can be.
The Outsider by Stephen King
Stephen King’s The Outsider is a supernatural thriller that incorporates devices of police procedural, crime noir and horror. Detective Ralph Anderson is called to the scene of a brutally murdered young boy in a park. Even with all of Anderson’s experience, the crime is so shocking it even stuns him. Evidence points to local English teacher, Terri Maitland, but he has a firm alibi. As the investigation unfolds, with witness testimony, we’re eventually given a spotlight into who the killer is, and it’s not human, and it certainly has murdered before and has intentions on killing again and again. King weaves in the realistic expectations of a procedural with the elements of the supernatural.
The Nightmare Man by J.H. Market
Best-selling horror author Ben Bookman grew up on a dark and eerie estate known as Blackwood. He returns home to finish his latest novel, The Scarecrow. The events of that stay are mysterious, and Ben can’t really explain them, but the novel was completed. Before the novel is released, tragic events similar to those he wrote seem to be slipping off the page and taking place in real life. Detective Mills and Detective Blue begin investigating a series of murders known as the Scarecrow Crimes, and Ben becomes the primary target. This novel blends crime investigation and the supernatural to produce a fantastic horror experience that makes you wonder who, or what, is the killer.
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