The Serial Killers Club Book Report

The Serial Killers Club Book Report

When one faces the dilemma of not belonging, how are they to act? Do they continue to travel the overgrown path or do they follow the nice paved one while throwing their own personal beliefs out the window? In The Serial Killers Club by Jeff Povey, Douglas finds it an easy decision. He decides to follow somewhere in the middle where the weeds are not so bad but it is still not smooth sailing.

The life of a serial killer is not something a person normally thinks about, but after Douglas becomes a victim of one, he decides not just to think about it, but to live it. He takes the identity of the serial killer he had killed and joins the serial killers club. The only problem is that Douglas is not actually a killer, so four years later with no new kills, the other members start to get suspicious. When Douglas is confronted by each of the members, he decides the only way to keep them quiet is to kill them.This is how Agent Wade finds him. Douglas then makes a deal with Agent Wade that if Douglas were to kill the rest of the club members, Agent Wade would let him live for two more months. The further down the line of kills, the more Douglas starts doubting Agent Wade's intentions.

The setting takes place in Chicago, mainly in a restaurant called Grillers as well as Douglas' apartment. The apartment is just a normal, nice and orderly place to rent, at least until Agent Wade comes to live with him. The restaurant is an old run down place with old decorations. "Grillers was one of those all-wooden affairs- mahogany benches running along under windows, teak paneling covering every square centimeter of wall, a worn and unpolished floor, maybe room enough for 80 diners, a large bar in the middle of the restaurant, again made from wood- it was like they'd used half the rain forest to build this place" (p.6). Not many people go so it's a wonderful place for killers to sit and talk about their latest victim.

Douglas is definitely a different character, it's almost as if he is bipolar. When he had been confronted by Agent Wade and told to kill the other members in the club, Douglas resents the agent for making him kill his friends. He denies being a serial killer every time Agent Wade brings the topic up - and even gets a little mad when it arises. The only thing that seems a little fishy is that Douglas enjoys the kill. He even carries some of the characteristics of a serial killer. "I don't help Agent Wade drag Cher into the living room because I'm too busy looking for a memento" (p.183). A serial killer normally takes some sort of souvenir from the kill. Ed Gein kept skin, Jeffrey Dahmer took photos- everyone has a tell. Douglas went for random things that people had on them- fake eyebrows, a wallet, and things like that. As Douglas kills more of the members, Agent Wade begins to get more and more involved to the point where Douglas