Is Crime Fiction Entertainment?

I belong to several online readers groups, and that question has been coming up
frequently, lately.

I’m glad to see it being discussed. For me – no. I DON’T read crime fiction for
entertainment. When I pick up a crime novel as a reader, I want to see
intelligent treatment of societal evils that focuses on bringing awareness to
problems and proposing activist solutions.

That’s my goal as an author, too.

My Huntress Moon series is intense, page-turning psychological and procedural suspense. I worked as a Hollywood screenwriter for ten years before I wrote my first novel, and I’m well aware that I need to deliver a satisfying genre experience to my readers. If they’re not biting their nails and staying up way past their bedtimes, I’m not doing my job.

But within the context of a ripping thriller, I am writing about issues I care
passionately about and want to eradicate for good – meaning the good of everyone
on the planet. Violence against women. Child sexual abuse. Human trafficking.

After this stunning, horrific election, more than ever these are evils I am
committed to fighting against.

The last thing I want to do is show these scenes in a way that anyone could get
pleasure out of. The few times I show anything on the page, it’s very brief and
absolutely not there for entertainment. And I am very suspicious of any book
that starts with a beautiful woman obviously being set up to be raped and
tortured. Sexualizing rape and torture is not solving any problem – it’s
actually contributing to the atrocity of sexual abuse. Personally I won’t
support any book or author that sexualizes scenes of abuse.

I suppose as an author you can avoid these tough issues by writing cozies, or
another genre entirely. But I don’t read cozies, and I wouldn’t know how to
write one. I used to teach in the Los Angeles County prison system. I want to
explore the roots of crime, not soft-pedal it. For better or worse, my core
theme as a writer is “What can good people do about the evil in the world?”

So my choice is to confront the issue head on.

The fact is, one reason crime novels and film and TV so often depict women as
victims is because it’s reality. Since the beginning of time, women haven’t been
the predators – we’re the prey. Personally, I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

But after all those years (centuries, millennia) of women being victims of the most heinous crimes out there… wouldn’t you think that someone would finally say – “Enough”?

And maybe even strike back?

Well, that’s a story, isn’t it?

So my Huntress Moon series is about just that.

The books take the reader on an interstate manhunt with a haunted FBI agent on
the track of what he thinks may be that most rare of criminals – a female serial
killer.

And here’s what’s really interesting. Arguably there’s never been any such thing
as a female serial killer in real life. The women that the media holds up as
serial killers operate from a completely different psychology from the men who
commit what the FBI calls “sexual homicide” (including most of the famous serial
killers you know of: Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and yes, Jack the Ripper…)

So what’s that about? Why do men do it and women don’t? Women rarely kill, compared to men — but when it happens, what does make a woman kill? Because another pet peeve I have about crime fiction is the way so many authors present serial killers for entertainment – seemingly having no clue what a serial killer actually does. What we see on the page is criminal masterminds who stage their murders like artistic masterpieces or leave poetic clues in a cat-and-mouse game they're playing with the cops or FBI.

What serial killers actually do is rape, torture and kill for their own
gratification. They are NOT masterminds. There is NO art or poetry to their sadism.

Within the context of my Huntress series I can explore the psychological and sociological questions that most trouble me, and invite my readers to ask – Why? I can realistically bring light to crimes that I consider pretty much the essence of evil – and turn the tables on the perpetrators.

And I’ve created a female character who breaks the mold – but in a way that
makes psychological sense for the overwhelming majority of people who read the
books. I am thrilled when readers find themselves as conflicted about the
Huntress as Roarke is.

One of the profilers says in the book: “I’ve always wondered why we don’t see
more women acting out this way. God knows enough of them have reason.”

For me, that's a question that's worth exploring.

Alexandra Sokoloff

This month you can get the first three Huntress books on Amazon US for just $1.99 each. Amazon Prime members can read Book 1, Huntress Moon, for free.

The Huntress / FBI

Huntress Moon #1 Kindle

Blood Moon #2 Amazon.com

Cold Moon #3 Amazon.com