One of the coolest fictional Serial Killers is the one from "Messiah" by Boris Starling. It's one of the few books I've read several times. really awesome.

I also have always had a strange fascination with serial killers and what makes them tick.
A few of the that have intrigued me more than just the usual few you are probably used to hearing about are Andrei Chikatilo, Vasiliy Kulik, Harold Shipman and Henry Lee Lucas.

i haven't read it but have heard that douglas preston's "the monster of florence" is pretty wild.  http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Florence-Douglas-Preston/dp/0446581194

For me, it's always been Charles Manson ...
I think a lot of serial killers have such an addictive personality that they persuade others around them.. Ted Bundy used to flirt with a lot of women from what I hear, and I know someone who went on two dates with him who said he was very charming...

For me the fascination is what triggers someone to become a serial killer, what has made them tick, is it their home life or just a bad set of genetic coincidences?  I have a hard time buying it's the whole "My parents didn't love me" and such.  I mean, come on, a lot of us have had something traumatic happen in our lives but that doesn't make it ok to go chop someone up and store them in the crawlspace underneath your porch.

For me, I have a hard time picking my most interesting serial killer.  It's a toss up between Jack the Ripper, Zodiac and Albert Fish.  I've posted about both Zodiac and Albert Fish on a different topic, but Fish was a pedophile, cannibalistic and sadomasochistic.  One very sick and twisted individual.  Zodiac was brutal and taunting, his methods changed from time to time from knives to guns, etc. but very intelligent, never caught (although his identity has been speculated about for years) as well as Jack the Ripper.  He was very brutal in his killings, with a specific demographic of prostitutes who was also never caught but speculation remains of his identity.

Methodology, frequency, location, and choice of victims.
The only reason Jack the Ripper was never caught was the complete lack of competent forensic work and crime scene preservation on the part of the 19th century London constables. 
Serial Killers appeal and scare because they're the monsters that can hide in plain sight.
What's really repulsive are the people around them, who deny anything like that could be happening, like the police who returned a fleeing boy to Jeffery Dahlmer because they thought the two were having a lover's spat.
My interest is in the Butcher of Kingsbury Run, the killer that destroyed Elliot Ness' career, and possibly killed the Black Dahlia, but alot has been speculated about her as well.

I would have to say that The Zodiac Killer was my favorite serial killer. I think what intrigued me was how he was never caught and no one is 100% sure on who it is and also how he was so smart to change tactics so it seemed like some of the people that he killed could have been someone elses doing.

I love reading the true crime books that show theirthinking process and how the detectives decoded messages. I would love to decode messages for a job. Hence why im trying to get a radio communication intellegence job in the airforce

All those serial killers mentioned above are sick f***s.  But the one who stands out for me is Richard Speck. The psycho who killed those nurses-in-training.  If that one young woman hadn't hidden under the bed, he might never have been caught.  Speck was full of so much rage.  Cutting and stabbing his victims was brutal.  It amazes me how one man can take control of 9 nurses the way he did. 
I believe that serial killers deserve to have a slow and agonizing death. Why should innocent victims be made to suffer when their killer is put to death quickly.

The scariest thing about anyone who murders, for me, is when they are able to appear normal on the surface. The classic case is Ted Bundy, who was well known to crime writer Ann Rule. They worked a suicide hotline together, for goodness sake! It is chilling that someone can so successfully compartmentalize themselves. Sqweegel is visually disturbing here, but I don't fear him in reality, because someone is going to notice a neighbor who wears a white latex suit, buys vats of butter and walks like a spider! The control and intelligence to hold in impulses and conceal whole parts of one's self is very frightening.

Charles Manson is my favorite serial killer because he never actually killed anyone! However, he displays all of the characteristics of a psychopath: he's manipulative, charming, has a history of antisocial behavior, is callous, lacks empathy, etc. etc. What separates Manson from the rest was his ability to take a group of malleable young adults and turn them into remorseless killers, all with a little group sex and LSD. The average serial killer hunts alone, or occasionally, with a partner, and does so for a variety of reasons, but generally not with a political agenda in mind. Inevitable, Manson in no way fits the mold of a serial killer: he did not kill anyone, let alone at least three people, his crimes were politically motivated and they were carried out by his group of followers. However, you will find his face and his story in every Encyclopedia of Serial Killers and on every serial killer website. That's why he's my favorite!

I have been interested in serial killers and their minds for as long as I can remember.  It is something that has taken me to that level of my education.  I just can't wrap my mind around how anyones mind is so out of whack that they can plan the things they do and how they think about it.  Serial killers have a certain methodology to their way of thinking, the way they choose victims, the way that they plan to attack and kill.  Most are organized killers but some will fall into both classes of killing disorganized and organized.  Most of them also change their MO after the first few killings because they become more organized as they go.  It is fascinating in a morbid way.

It is not the case that Serial KIllers are memorable in and of themselves--they only become memorable if they are transformed into celebrities by the media. In other words, the media creates its own Star System of Serial KIllers. There is also the factors of the sheer enormity of the murders and the personality of the killers themselves. For example, Jeff Dahmer's murders were heinous to the nth degree because he not only conducted experiments on his victims but he also ate them. Unlike Bundy, however, Dahmer did not have a charismatic personality. For his own part, Bundy's fame is attributable to his alleged intelligence and his middle-class background. As well, the nortoriousness of his murderous savagery against women and his playing and shining before the cameras merited more than a casual nod in his direction. And then there is Gacy whose seeming normalcy coupled with his impersonation of a child's party clown and sex-torture of young men literally screams for him to be immemorilized within the public memory. But what about Gary Ridgeway? Although his victims were numerous, he lacked that public personality that could be packaged and sold by the media. For all intents and purposes, the Green River KIller is a non-entity. The same with Robert Pickton in Vancouver. While he had the gruesomeness of the crimes, he lacked all glamor and glitz. Put a mask on him or scar his face with deep incisions, and you might give him enough drama to make him memorable.

I think the most memorable serial killer depends on what the killer keeps of his victims.   What he/she treasures and why?  I personally would probably find some way to keep some of their bodily fluids(slurp, slurp, slurp), or their tongues.  To answer the question I guess it is the one that does not get caught.  Yes like Jack the Ripper!

THREAD KILLER Strikes Again!

I believe the most memorable thing about a serial killer isn't what makes him tick... it what doesn't. How he or she attaches their reality to ours. Things we percieve as ordinary and mundane are both traumatic and enlightening in some odd way to them. Whether or not this person bothers to exist in our daily routines doesn't necessarily matter, it's what "sets them off" that makes them unique.