Elegy, an elegy of human nature - Xu Ran's social mystery novel "Killer Elegy"

"Killer Elegy" is a speculative novel, but it is not the same as ordinary speculative fiction. General speculative detective novels are preset murder events, the murderer is unknown, and then from the perspective of a detective or policeman to search for clues, check the suspects, and finally the truth of the case is revealed, to find out the real culprit hidden behind the scenes.

And "Killer Elegy" is not this way at all, the author took a different path, choosing the "killer" as the perspective of the narrative, from the first page of the novel to tell you who is the killer, how he killed, and in order to cover up his crimes, what means were made, and how to design a certificate that was not present. Let the reader experience several murders in a "substitution" way. Therefore, what attracts readers to "Killer Elegy" is neither the true face of the murderer nor the way of killing, but the motive of the crime - the "real reason" why the killer became a killer. The preposition of the murderer's identity does not make the novel lose suspense, but rather creates another suspense: how the murderer was finally caught, and why he killed people.

The novel is called "Killer Elegy", in fact, there is compassion for Luo Fei as a murderer, he committed an unforgivable crime, and was eventually punished for this, but he is not a vicious murderer, he is like us, a small white-collar worker who works hard in the workplace, and an ordinary migrant worker with similar troubles to us. He was selfish, vicious, jealous, and self-centered, but how many people in the world weren't like that?

Through Luo Fei's murderous motive, the author ruthlessly presents the darkness of society and the ugliness of human nature: the superficial relationship is harmonious and happy, but in fact, you are dead and alive in the workplace; the female secretary is sinister and well versed in the unspoken rules of the workplace, and good friends can turn against each other for a "seat"; cousins with good relations want to intimidate each other at key moments for their own interests, and even want to get rid of them quickly; Mu Lianjiang is inhumane but willing to molest young girls, and sells his own girls for a little pocket money; the surface is pure, In fact, she is a vain and arrogant female white-collar worker; Luo Meixue, as a high school student who distorts almost perverted values, coerces her peers for her own selfish desires; the nanny Yu Qinghua not only sacrifices herself but also her daughter in order to covet her master's property; and there is a taxi driver with cold social relations and selfishness... They all reflect the humility and ugliness of human nature in a materialistic society. Selfishness, greed, indulgence, excessive pursuit of power, everyone trapped in the net of their own desires, deceitful, killing each other, makes people feel depressed when reading.

"Killer Elegy" allows us to see the morality and distorted humanity that have long been degraded under the control of materialism and money, which is lamentable. Maybe there are no extreme killers like Luo Fei around us, but there is definitely no shortage of people like Luo Fei. If such a story were to play out in ourselves, how would we treat ourselves?