To scare yourself, nothing better than a horror novel! Psycho Killer is a thriller full of dark humor and references to horror cinema. A dive into a crazy and frightening universe.
The small town of B Movie Hell, in the United States, is not a city like any other. His name is already a clue. It takes it from its owner, Silvio Mellencamp. Silvio is a Hollywood film producer who made his fortune in the industry. In his city, Silvio Mellencamp takes care of his shopkeepers and inhabitants. Some would say that the money he gives them is mainly used to silence them. The city allows the producer to carry out all kinds of more or less legal actions (pimping, kidnapping…). One day, a mad killer arrives in town. Nicknamed The Iroquois (because of the red crest on his mask), the man sows terror at B Movie Hell. The Iroquois has come to retrieve someone from Mellencamp and will kill anyone who stands in his way.
Novel or film?
Psycho Killer is a novel closely linked to cinema. The author multiplies references to Hollywood classics (Halloween, Terminator, Dirty Dancing) and B movies (as the name of the city suggests). This link with cinema is felt in the writing. A rumor persists on the web, attesting that the mysterious author Anonymous would be Quentin Tarantino. A theory that quickly loses its footing when we know that the writer is British. The novel offers very visual scenes. The descriptions, the action, the atmosphere give the reader the impression of living this adventure alongside the characters. This is especially true at the end, when the Iroquois fight with music in the city's brothel. This book is almost a movie script in itself. It is therefore understandable that Tobey Maguire and Alexandra Milchan wanted to produce a film based on the novel. After this announcement in 2014, the film project seems to have been abandoned.
A piece of the puzzle
Psycho Killer is the fifth novel in a series of seven novels and one short story, published between 2006 and 2017. This saga is called the Bourbon Kid and begins with The Book Without a Name. To read Psycho Killer, however, it is not necessary to have read the previous installments. If the series revolves around the Bourbon Kid, a serial killer with supernatural abilities, the Iroquois is the key character of the fifth novel. Psycho Killer introduces its own universe and new characters that can be found in the rest of the saga. These characters are all deeply damaged. We will pass on the many vices of Silvio Mellencamp, the great villain of history. The police lie, ignore their superiors, settle their personal scores. The prostitutes held by Mellencamp try their best to survive in this dangerous world.
Psycho Killer is a mixture of violence, black humor and sometimes questionable cinema. For the less sensitive among you, Anonymous' novel is available in paperback from 7€30.
