Six of the most polarizing mystery and crime books ever written

Jeffrey Davies is a professional introvert and writer with imposter syndrome whose work spans the worlds of pop culture, books, music, feminism, and mental health. His work has appeared on HuffPost, CBC Arts, Collider, Slant Magazine, PopMatters, and other places.

At Book Riot Davis tagged six of the most polarizing mystery and crime books. One title on the list:

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

As an author, Cormac McCarthy was known for his graphic descriptions of violence, and as far as crime fiction goes, this one is pretty twisted. Set in the Appalachian hills, Child of God follows Lester Ballard, a man falsely accused of rape, as he is released from jail. Ballard is, however, a serial killer and necrophiliac, and the reader is invited into his mind to understand how it works, as townspeople’s perspectives on how he grew up offer insight into how he might’ve ended up this way.

Child of God was polarizing, to say the least, immediately upon its original publication in 1973. Readers found it deeply troubling, yet it has continued to be the subject of both literary and academic analysis, with scholars describing it as an early entry into the late-20th century obsession with serial killers and how they operate. The most notable controversy associated with Child of God, however, came in 2007 when a ninth-grader in Texas chose the book for an assigned book report. The student’s mother objected to the material to the point where the teacher was under investigation for providing harmful material to a minor. So, just how twisted is Child of God? Once again, maybe you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Child of God is among Kaytie Norman's seven top books about Appalachia, Laura Benedict's nine "unlikeable" protagonists in literature, and Glenn Skwerer's ten top real-life monsters in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue