The killer-profiler relation in thriller novels

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2 (B), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Institute for Anglistics/American Studies), course: PS Madness & Literature, language: English, abstract: The relation between the hero, often a forensic profiler or behavioural psychologist, and the killer is one of the key elements in many thriller novels. The other parts of the story are put around these two interdependent characters.

Even if they are completely unrelated in the beginning of the book, one can presume that in the developing story the killer will be a threat to the profiler himself/herself or a person near to him/her, which makes for the personal connection.

In this paper, I will try to analyse the psychological effects of this special bonding, primarily focusing on the profiler. When looking at the killer, I will mainly describe the reaction to the interference of the profiler and partly, hence, the personal motive. The analysis is based on "The Body Farm" and "Point of Origin" by Patricia Cornwell, and "Killing the Shadows" by Val McDermid.