Dragon Tattoo

A serial murderer in The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larrson as translated by Reg Keeland:

"I'm more a serial rapist than a serial murderer. In fact, most of all I'm a serial kidnapper. The killing is a natural consequence because I have to hide my crime. Ofcourse my actions aren't socially acceptable but my crime is first and foremost a crime against the conventions of society.

Death doesn't come until the end of my guest's visits here (his personal torture chamber) after I've grown weary of them. Its always so fascinating to see their disappointment. They imagine that if they please me they will live. They adapt to my rules. They start to trust me and develop a certain camaraderie with me, hoping to the very end that this camaraderie means something. The disappointment comes when they finally realize that they've been well and truly screwed. ..."

Now ofcourse we need not accept the currently very popular Scandinavian crime fiction as the ultimate truth in the world of sleuthdom, but consider this: what happens when you do not have concealment and do not have a serial killer? Wouldn't the SOAS revoke the membership card of JonBenet's killer? (SOAS=Society of American Sadists). I mean two lousy jolts from a stun gun? What sort of sadism is that? Kidnapping? Sure in a legalistic and technical sense perhaps its kidnapping but under the common law there was no asportation, so it sure ain't much of a kidnapping. Now is there the humiliation, the subjugation, the development of trust and the betrayal of trust? Well, we sure don't know how long all this took but it was at the very longest about five hours and quite frankly many sleuths feel it was indeed quite shorter than that. So again, we must surely yank this guys membership card!

A crime against societal convention? Ah, ... yes indeed. Though one instance hardly makes him a victor over society. He was a victor over a helpless six year old girl. Not much of a victory there.

Ah... I know. You want to say: "Well, atleast he had his development of camaraderie and its resultant disappointment." Unfortunately, here again we must revoke his membership in the Society of American Sadists for surely no self-respecting sadist would derive much pleasure from the interpersonal dynamics of one lousy session consisting of at the longest five hours and more likely consisting of less than three hours. Sure, he had some enjoyment during that brief time, but hardly enough for him to be worthy of being a card-carrying sadist. Bondage, you say? Heck, he probably spent more time getting the bondage gear onto her than he did in actually using it or enjoying it.

BDSM? Nah, ... not even the fictionalized version of it. Its all hooey. Right from the start... its all hooey!

So... what say you?