Letters To The Purple Satin Killer

An epistolary novel that explores the darkest aspects of serial killer fan culture.

I'm not usually a fan of epistolary novels - novels written through a series of letters - but when I saw this book, the premise sounded fascinating: telling the story of a serial killer through the letters wirtten to him in prison. The novel separates the letters into sections: the time after Jonas Williker is caught, during the trial, after the verdict is handed down, and leading up to his executions.

In these letters you find a pretty interesting cast of characters: Jonas' mother, a bubbly woman unable to come to terms with the gravity of her son's situation; Staci Satin, the porn star hoping to cash in on his noteriety; Billy, the childhood friend who is coming to terms with his sexuality and the fact that his first crush turned out to be a monster; these characters and many others bare their souls through their letters, and through their thoughts we get a fuller picture of Jonas and how he came to the monster he was.

There are some characters who only write one or two letters, and some whose stories stretch from capture to execution. There are serial killer fanatics who want to use Jonas to promote their latest projects, or hope to score collectibles that they can sell to true crime fans for a hasty profit. There is the woman who invents a whole relationship with Jonas through her letters, and the woman who meets Jonas under the auspices of academic research and ends up his wife. There is the woman Jonas dated and her daughter, the relationship he had right before his murder spree started. And so many more.

I loved the way Chaplinsky would drop in little details that the characters writing the letters were oblivious to, but that gave little hints at things hiding in plain sight. Is there a copycat murderer, or does Jonas have an accomplice out there who has never been caught? Are there other crimes that he committed that haven't beed tied to him? Are there any victims out there who escaped, and what has become of them?

The book is dense, but the pace is easy to manage with most letters lasting only a single page, allowing you to drop in and out of the story as needed. I need to keep an eye out for his other books and see how he handles a story in a more traditional narrative format. But for now, I'm glad that I picked up this book and I would highly recommend it, especially for those who grapple with the ethics of our culture's glorification of serial killers.