I won this book over @ so many books, so little time. Thanks Alison!
An Absolute Gentleman by R. M. Kinder
rated: 4 out of 5
'Meet Arthur Blume: charming guy, small-town college English professor, struggling writer, and occasional murderer. In this chilling debut novel, acclaimed author R.M. Kinder draws on her firsthand experience of dating a convicted murderer to brilliantly channel the voice of a polite, even sympathetic man who just happens to be a serial killer.'
This book is about fifty-something, serial killer Arthur Blume, an English professor who has just moved to the town of Mason to begin a new teaching position at a university. While there, Arthur becomes involved with one of his co-workers, Grace.
The story is narrated by Arthur, and goes from present time to the past. When he speaks about his mother, who is obvisouly mentally disturbed, it is very creepy.
She raised him by herself, and the town knew she had 'problems' yet they let her have custody of Arthur.
"My mother and I have never discussed her illness, at least not directly. She'd apologize to me sometimes for not being a 'normal mother', but she was referring to the wild fancies that beset her for days, the frenzies that racked her and actually hurt her worse than they did me. She'd forget to eat, be unable to sleep, as if she were scaling castle walls or fighting witches and demons, or saving Christ-one of her dominant delusions-from the pit."
When Arthur moves to Mason and becomes involved with Grace, a fellow professor, you feel scared for her. She has no idea what he is at first. And there is a scary part where she is asleep, and he is watching her, wanting to kill her but not allowing himself.
"One day and night gone but lasting too long still. And there she lies, resting for the morrow, for another long passage of nothing fun. Arthur this. Arthur that. Arthur. While on her back she lies. He comes to the bed and bends down to see who exactly is lying there. Is that his mother? No. Of course not his mother. He puts one hand scant inches above her parted lips. He can feel her life in his own palm, very faint, a weak little life. She might wake and say something wrong, something ugly, or stupid or just something. He wants for her to do that. He remembers having to stand still for so long his body hurt."
Once I began reading, I found this book hard to put down.
It was very creepy, Arthur reminds me of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho".
Arthur is softspoken and intelligent, but he is also terrifying. At first I didn't know what to expect from this book, because I didn't want to hear details from a killer, but he doesn't go into any gory details. He actually tells his story almost politely. And believe it or not, I kind of like Arthur, he's almost a nice guy, except for the murdering of course. I felt bad for how his mother treated him, she created a serial killer.
"We may be spectacular in our dreams, but our doings diminish us."
visit the authors website
this read has been part of the following challenges:
