The review for a story "Deaths for a Happy Box" by @adsactly from @mgaft1
Deaths for a Happy Box
The review for a story "Deaths for a Happy Box" by @adsactly
What kind of movies could typically make a person step over the line and kill another human being? The main motivator is money. It’s either inheritance that could go to the “wrong” hands or a partner in a company that is jeopardies to sell his share package or the money for life insurance policy. Also, the situation could involve a bank robber when the gang member does not want to leave witnesses, or if someone dares to resists. There could also be a hired gun, who kills on assignment. Assassins handle many of political murders. Along the same line, there could be a murder executed by an enemy spy or a religious zealot.
Another type of motivator is jealousy. A husband/boyfriend discovers his wife in bed with another man or vise versa.
Finally, there is a category of mentally sick people – serial killers, who kill and torture for pleasure.
I am sure I possibly missed some borderline situations that could produce additional motivations. Yet, as I stated above, motivation is the key component of the investigation. If a detective understands the motive of the murder it is much easier then to calculate who is the murderer.
The author of this story used a quite different innovative approach. She introduces a character (let’s call him Mr. Strong Hands) who is the principal killer in this story, of whose motives a reader knows absolutely nothing to the very end of the story. The only thing we know is that he enjoys the fact of him committing the murder without being discovered. Incidentally, in calling the owner of strong hands a “Mister,” I made a sexist assumption. It is possible that the killer was a lady.
Thus, it is not clear why Strong Hands penetrated Lucy’s apartment that night and what was his motive in committing this crime. More so, it is not clear why he also killed Mr. Happy Box, considering the fact that Mr. Happy Box appeared unexpectedly. It is conceivable to assume that the second murder was to remove the unwilling witness. Yet, Mr. Happy Box did not discover the presence of Strong Hands. In fact, more likely he, despite the disappointment, would have left, having discovered that someone else already accomplished the task at hands.
The bottom line is as a reader I left feeling completely stupefied. My only guess is Strong Hands belonged to the author, as someone must have punished Mr. Happy Box for his wrong approach to life. Otherwise, God forbid, it is not fair.
Now let’s come back to Mr. Happy Box and assess what was his motivations for murders. According to the author:
He was a man who controlled everything in his world. He had just the perfect mix of power, respect and money to do that. He liked to think he had control over the lives of the persons in his employ.
So, my guess is Mr. Happy Box is the owner of a mid-size production company – larger than a “mom and pop” shop as he “kept them happy with fat cheques.” Owners of mom and pop shops usually cannot afford to give fat checks to their employees. At the same time, this cannot be a very large company. In a large company, an owner/CEO does not deal with employee’s issues directly. A company like this would have a personnel department.
For a successful company, it is a smart policy to keep its employees happy. It’s a well-known fact that a happy cow gives more milk.
In terms of happiness, a human being didn’t advance so much father from the cow in that sense. Social unrest happens when people are scared for their future or owners do not pay to the workers enough to cover their everyday needs.
So, in my estimate, Mr. Happy Box did everything correctly in order to have a successful and competitive business. More so, he showed himself as somewhat humane and generous person.
He had given her two weeks off work to get over it hopeful that she would resume her gay self once more but she hadn't. She had come back with a constant frown and defeated shoulders. Heck, he had given Sarah just two months, which proved that he had been overly patient with Lucy.
Then, without any intermediate thoughts, he goes from being a Mr. Nice Guy to a murderer. That made my eyebrows raise. Try to put yourself in his position. You have a company to run in a modern competitive world. That means that every worker has to do his or her share of work. Surely, there are force major circumstances that could justify the absence of a worker at her workplace for some reasonable time. Thus, surely, if the absenteeism becomes too long a boss is obligated to think about replacing the worker. But murder? Why murder if you can simply fire the worker and take on its place someone who can handle her personal issues?
More so, we find out Lucy wasn’t Mr. Happy Boxes’ first attempted victim. The story mentions Sara as his first victim and implies that murders for him were a common practice. To murder the employees just because of their misconduct? It’s like shooting a fly from a cannon.
In addition, this is dangerous. If employees were to start disappearing from the same company under similar circumstances, with each murder having the same signature, any police department would get on red alert if such a thing would happen in their jurisdiction. They would immediately appoint a detective for such a case and if this detective is not a complete idiot, he or she would calculate the murderer in no time.
Yet, despite all these considerations, Mr. Happy Box continued to murder the girls in the same manner – by choking them in bed. However, that assumption is also not working well.
A serial killer doesn’t kill because a worker missed a day or two at work. A serial killer kills because he or she has the urge to kill. I would advise the author to watch an HBO serial “Dexter.” This show discloses the internal makeup of a serial killer very vividly and in details.
Thus, let me now speculate about how this story was written.
A happy pretty girl, much like the author of this story, if not her herself, works in a company doing some tedious, monotonous work. Her boss (who is a real square), often picks on her when she’s talking with her friends or her boyfriend during the work or painting her nails. He doesn’t understand her delicate soul and her need for communication and venting and in general that she’s an alive person and not a box. Many times this girl wished that she would get to him, but all she can do is, at times, to throw a sharp or snide remark in his face.
So, the author imagines how she can rid herself of this hated Mr. Happy Square. He, the killer of the free spirit of many happy girls, should also be killed. But by who and why? Ah, does it really matter? As long as it will be strong hands. I could have even done it myself for all those free-spirited girls that he fired. Like this, like this, like this… here’s for you - son of a motherless goat!
Respectfully, @mgaft1.
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