Female Psycho Killers - whats bad for the goose, is worse for the gander

Psycho killers are hugely popular in the US. I guess maybe it started with Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' but I think it really took off with the movies 'Seven' and Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs". Suddenly there were tons of movies about 'brilliant', 'deranged' sociopaths who play by their own rules and love to engage the police in games of cat and mouse. I think to this day, there is an assumption that mass-murderers are of above-average intelligence though honestly if they are so smart, why do they get caught? Why do people even know they exist? How hard is it to commit a crime with no apparent motive that ties you to the crime? I would think that is the easiest kind of crime to commit.

Anyhow, so we have movies, books (every bestseller is about 'Beautiful, talented Special Agent Kimber is on the trail of a psychotic genius who may be closer than she thinks' - blah and even tv series (Criminal Minds, Dexter,...).

And although these killers are often happy to kill, they are usually especially happy to kill women. Especially 'sluts', 'whores' and 'bitches'. Again, is it especially impressive for a strong man to be able to abduct, control and kill a girl of his choosing? I mean, I dont want to totally dismiss the psychological and intellectual value of examining the mind of a person who has no empathy or feelings for human life. But you know...men aren't all that good at expressing themselves so I think that all this fascination with male serial killers is misplaced, we should be looking at female serial killers. Why aren't there so many? Probably because they don't get caught.

On that note, here is the book I am reading now. I'll update with a review when I'm done:
Portrait of the Psychopath as a Young Woman by Lee and Steffen

Yep, its about a psychotic killer. I'm sure it will be uncomfortable to read but since I have read plenty of books about male killers, I think I should be able to stomach it.

Update/ReviewWell, I was right in that the scenes in this book would make me very uncomfortable, even squeamish. Somehow, even with a piece of fiction, the imagining of the actions almost give it a reality and the reader can almost feel guilty for indulging the fantasy. Such was the case here, especially because the killing/torture are so targeted to the male of the species and so becomes that more personal and frightening. At the same time, I couldn't help be impressed with the knowledge and tactics of the killer. They were much more believable that these sophomoric flicks where the killer virtually teleports into a house, grabs their prey and suddenly has them in the countryside. Ah, the rest of the characters were boring, but the Killer, now that was a character you won't forget.