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This collection aims to meet the need for critical work on Lecter, characterized in Daniel O'Brien's Foreword as an "archetypal nightmare figure" (5), particularly in Harris's novels which stand as landmarks of recent horror fiction in developing the serial killer as antihero. Szumskyj's introduction credits Harris with the creation of one of the best fictional villains of all time, pointing to his use of real-life serial killers and forensics in establishing a realistic subgenre of the crime thriller. The chapters vary in tone here, resulting in a diverse yet uneven read.
Scholarly chapters focus on genre, with Peter Messent analysing Harris's Gothic in terms of liminality, his "peculiar type of crime fiction" (14) blending Gothic and horror as well as high and low art. Gothic's liminality allows recognition of repressed appetites with the...