Jacob Jakes

Plot

Jacob Jakes is a series of poems about a serial killer. The first three parts, formed an original trilogy telling the story, then I was asked to write more, so I extended the story. It now forms a three story series. The first part shows (spoiler) Jacob Jakes life in the womb and what he might grow up to be like. The premise is that as a child, paths of your life are plotted as you grow in the womb and, the minute you are born, you forget all these. The next phase shows him growing up, and making choices about whether he will follow the good or bad side which both are available. Obviously, he becomes a serial killer but he is always questioning what he has become. Finally the last phase shows his afterlife. He uses his house as a tomb for the people he kills, lining them in the walls, floors and even the chimney.

The poem is told through Jacob Jakes mind. Some parts include personal writings in his diary as well as his thoughts, as he explains what he does, and why.

Setting

England, outside, Jacob Jakes’ house, hospital, prison.

Characters

Jacob Jakes a man who becomes a serial killer, who enjoys it, especially those final moments. He lives off those moments, but soon discovers the monster he has become and wonders whether he could have been different, a constant struggle he loses.

Victims the people Jacob kills.

Klondike Kracker Jacobs first body, which he never killed but collected whilst at his first job as a cleaner of houses after people die.

Sneard a journalist, who reports and makes Jacob Jakes famous by writing about him. A no-nonsense journalist, who will do anything to get to a story.

The writer a writer, who writes a series of serial killer novels, which may have influenced Jacob Jakes to become a serial killer in the first place, as this book is given to him as a child from his abuses father to Jakes. This ponders the writer to question his involvement in society by what he writes.

Themes

The poem has many different elements: horror, murder, serial killing, politics, media involvement, predestined life, life after death, heaven, hell, society, life choices, struggle between right and wrong, morality, humanity and fear.