The age of the “Feminist American Psycho” thriller has arrived.

Are they battling patriarchy, or are they the symptoms of it? Is the serial killer a rebel, or the new pick me girl? That’s the tension that drives a wave of new thrillers. The lack of women serial killers in fiction is often a source for 90s-style feminist outrage—an extreme version of anything you can do, I can do better—but the female serial killers that do pepper crime fiction have, up till recently, been rather cardboard cutouts of their male counterparts, mostly around for shock value. I shudder to think of one popular tale-turned-film in which the woman committing the crimes was merely carrying on for her father (the acceptable form of taking a man’s job). Women serial killers in fiction have, in effect, been the twist—a hat trick from an author who believes too much in the inherent kindness of women to realize why women might be tempted to kill (and kill again, and again). Ever since Gone Girl, women’s rage has been considered marketable ground for psychological thrillers, and fiction has been far more likely to embrace the angry woman as a main character since the #metoo movement began, but she must still be Wronged in an Acceptable Manner (usually the twist with the angry woman is that she is, in fact, justified in her rage, or has at least been manipulated into her actions, and is never just the cheerful psycho. But I digress…). Now, the fiery rage is transforming into cool-blooded killings, as an army of Patricia Batemans rises to eviscerate those who annoy them, providing plenty of detailed product recommendations and pop culture references along the way. Uniting all of the following protagonists is their vanity and self-centeredness, although they vary in their theoretical “right” to be unhinged. All have great outfits, perfect makeup, and deranged taste in music. Here are several works from this and recent years featuring women with Ripley-level amorality and the body counts to prove it. Many of the characters in these novels appear to be begging for someone to stop them, which also makes for a fascinating exploration of […]

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