Everything you need to understand or teach Meeting Evil by Thomas Berger.
The novel unites three recurring themes in Berger's work: the apparently random but utterly devastating impact of violence in modern American life; the general spirit of bad manners and surliness which prevails in much of American social life, and which motivates Richie's murders; and the psychological strength of the innocent Berger hero, after he recognizes the nature of the crisis he is in. The first theme had emerged as early in Berger's work...