The Advent Killer Analysis
The Advent Killer is a crime novel about DI Antonia Hawkins’s fight against the serial killer who murders his victims each Sunday. A recurring theme within crime literature is that of underlying mental health issues triggering the killer’s lust for blood. But I don’t believe the use of mental illness is always necessary, as it is often used to create an unpredictable plot. The Advent Killer precisely demonstrates this trope. The killer’s actions were the effect of thoughts provoked by a very disturbing childhood. I will reflect in this chapter how Alastair Gunn has used mental illness to produce an exciting novel, presenting several instances of contradictions as a result.
The Advent Killer is about a man who, as said in my introduction, kills …show more content…
The definition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as: “[PTSD] is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events. Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt” (NHS Choices, 2016). Gunn’s killer frequently has dreams and flashbacks of the night his mother died. We can see from the quotation “He glanced along the hallway before he stepped back to the door and listened again. It sounded like somebody was in pain” (Gunn, p.102) that the dreams he has of that night are frightening and traumatising. Especially as Gunn fails to display the dream in its entirety in this extract. However, the images we witness in the dream make us pity the killer, as a child witnessing the brutal death of his mother is very disturbing. But this should not be the effect, as the crimes we read in the present day are not justifiable. Gunn has given this vicious man a distressing mental illness to justify his actions. But this is not wholly accurate, and rather contributes to the stigma of mental illness. The inaccuracy can be accepted if the reader is not wholly educated on the topic. As said by Maass in Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling, “Stories that stretch reality are okay if readers buy in” suggesting the possibility for manipulation
The Advent Killer is about a man who, as said in my introduction, kills …show more content…
The definition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as: “[PTSD] is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events. Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt” (NHS Choices, 2016). Gunn’s killer frequently has dreams and flashbacks of the night his mother died. We can see from the quotation “He glanced along the hallway before he stepped back to the door and listened again. It sounded like somebody was in pain” (Gunn, p.102) that the dreams he has of that night are frightening and traumatising. Especially as Gunn fails to display the dream in its entirety in this extract. However, the images we witness in the dream make us pity the killer, as a child witnessing the brutal death of his mother is very disturbing. But this should not be the effect, as the crimes we read in the present day are not justifiable. Gunn has given this vicious man a distressing mental illness to justify his actions. But this is not wholly accurate, and rather contributes to the stigma of mental illness. The inaccuracy can be accepted if the reader is not wholly educated on the topic. As said by Maass in Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling, “Stories that stretch reality are okay if readers buy in” suggesting the possibility for manipulation