Serial Killers by the Book

American Psycho (1991)

Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Plot: Yuppie obsesses over clothes and dismemberment
Body count: 10 detailed, many others alluded to
Worst thing killer does to somebody: Nails victim to the floor, chews off her left thumb, stabs her, cuts off her tongue
Killers method: Power drills, chain saws, rats, nail guns
Killer's motive: None
Nickname: None
Hero: None
Description of killer: ''I am wearing pleated trousers by Hugo Boss, a shirt by Joseph Aboud and shoes from Brooks Brothers.''
Gore scale: Five skulls
Comments: Watching the killer cook victim sausage will make the bile rise in your throat — if you can slog through Ellis' virtually unreadable prose, that is. F

Silence of the Lambs (1988)

Author: Thomas Harris
Plot: FBI trainee pursues serial killer with advice from a cannibal
Body Count: Five
Worst thing killer does: Hannibal Lecter removes the face of a man
Killer's method: Skinning
Killer's motive: ''Billy thinks her wants to change. He's making a girl suit out of real girls''
Nickname: Buffalo Bill
Hero: Tormented agent Clarice Starling
Description of killer: ''A white male, probably under thirty-five and sizable. He's not a transsexual...He just thinks he is.''
Gore scale: Four skulls
Comments: With its hushed passages of suspense and eerie emotional balancing of Clarice and the two killers in her life, this may be the most frightening novel around. A

Red Dragon (1981)

Author: Thomas Harris
Plot: Investigator uses one serial killer to catch another.
Body Count: Roughly a dozen
Worst thing killer does to someone: Bites the lips off a reporter
Killer's method: Stabbing, strangulation
Killer's motive: ''A fantasy life'' that ''took him a step beyond Alone.''
Nickname: The Tooth Fairy
Hero: Tormented agent Will Graham
Description of killer: ''What particular body I currently occupy is trivia.''
Gore scale: Four skulls
Comment: After 10 years, it's a best-seller thanks to Lambs but stands on its own as both a fascinating drama of detection and an addictive psychological horror story. A-

By Reason Of Insanity (1979)

Author: Shane Stevens
Plot: Escaped mental patient goes on a rampage.
Body count: Too many to count (top daily total: 18)
Worst thing killer does to someone: Sticks mother into a wood stove and watches ''her body fry and burn to bleached bone.''
Killer's method: Stabbing, mutilation
Killer's motive: Genetics all the way. Mom — and possibly Dad — quite disturbed.
Nickname: Chess Man
Hero: Beleaguered reporter Adam Kenton
Description of killer: ''An authentic monster, with no true feelings except hatred and no real goals except destruction.''
Gore scale: Four skulls
Comments: One of the first, and finest, serial-killer novels. Stevens' ability to get inside the killer's head has been surpassed only by Harris. A