Letters to the Purple Satin Killer

Chaplinsky (The Paradox Twins) revises and expands his 2015 short story of the same name in this implausible horror novel recounting the life of a serial killer through a series of letters he receives in prison. Jonas Williker, "one of the most sadistic serial murderers of the modern era," raped and murdered 24 women in five states, and was dubbed the Purple Satin Killer for his hallmark, "a torn piece of fabric found on or inside the bodies of his victims." After his arrest in 2004, numerous people write to Williker, including his mother and the cop who unknowingly let him get away years earlier. Chaplinsky makes suspending disbelief difficult early on with the details of Williker's "audacious" first murder: "Both her mouth and anus stuffed with the soon-to-be eponymous cloth. When the coroner attempted to remove it, he discovered the two pieces were opposite ends of a single length, measuring over 30 yards." The identities of the letter writers are also frequently unlikely; for example, there's no logical reason why a former politician whose campaign Williker worked on would dignify Williker's request for him to be a character witness. These instances undermine Chaplinsky's attempt to make this read like true crime, complete with a foreword by a fictional FBI profiler. More is decidedly less here. (Aug.)

In the years between his arrest and execution, Jonas Williker received hundreds of letters in prison. Some were from friends and family, others were legal in nature, but the majority of them came from complete strangers--what you might call "fan" letters. Most people find it hard to believe the average citizen would want anything to do with someone who had committed such heinous acts, let alone correspond with them on a regular basis. They become even more incredulous when they find out a large number of these letters are more than congenial--are in fact romantic in nature. People assume the author of such a letter must be as sick as the person they are writing to, if not more so. Excerpted from Letters to the Purple Satin Killer by Joshua Chaplinsky All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.