The Serial Killers Club

April 3, 2006
British author Povey, who has written for such TV shows as the BBC's Eastenders
, makes a real splash with his first novel, a darkly comic spoof of the serial killer genre. When the anonymous narrator, who combines a blithe Bertie Wooster–like innocence with a psychopathic taste for slaughter, "accidentally" kills a mass murderer, he assumes the man's identity. An odd set of personal advertisements lure the narrator to Chicago, where he encounters the club of the book's title. Since the club's members adopt the names of movie stars as aliases, he decides to become Douglas Fairbanks Jr. "Doug" quickly moves from shock and fear to preying on his fellow club members, attracting the notice of a bizarre FBI agent, who offers to let him off the hook if he finishes off the rest of them. This satirical black comedy won't be to everyone's taste, but many will find it a refreshing change from the paint-by-the-numbers profiler vs. psychotic fiend offerings.

May 1, 2006
It didn't take long for Jeff Lindsay's " Darkly Dreaming Dexter " (2004) to spawn an imitator. Povey's first novel features a nameless narrator who falls in with a group of serial killers who have adopted the names of celebrities: Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Chuck Norris, Errol Flynn. They call themselves "skillers," too, a portmanteau word that does not exactly roll off the tongue. Anyway, our hero joins the group, calling himself Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It's the best time he's ever had, the only time he's ever truly felt a part of anything, until an FBI agent comes out of the shadows and gives Dougie an ultimatum: you kill the killers, or we put you away for a very long time. It's a clever idea for a novel, and the author executes it fairly well, although we never really feel the bond with Dougie that's necessary to get to the emotional payoff. Not a complete success but well worth a look. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)