Love in the Time of Serial Killers

by Alicia Thompson

And it’s about true crime as a genre,”

“The relationship between author and subject, our fascination with serial killers as a culture. That kind of thing.”

Things got so much more complicated when you actually cared if someone sent you a text, or accepted an invitation, or wanted to hang out.

didn’t want to have a fling with my neighbor. Just like I didn’t want a cat, I didn’t want to be friends with Alison again, I didn’t want to stay here any longer than I had to. It was exhausting, not wanting things.

The pulsing heartbeat of true crime, of all human stories when you got right down to it, was we all wanted and hoped and dreamed and loved, but we had no control over what happened in the end.

“These books promise closure and justice,” I said to Lenore, scratching her under the chin. “But ultimately they reinforce the reality that so many lives are interrupted, so many dreams unfulfilled.”