Could "Killings" be seen as both a love story and a murder story?
I would argue that there are a couple of ways in which “Killings” could be construed as a love story. For starters, look at the tenderness displayed between Matt and Ruth in the aftermath of their son’s murder. Matt turned down his first invitation to play poker at Willis Trottier’s home in deference for his wife’s feelings, being unwilling to leave her at home alone in light of what they had gone through.
When the second poker invitation comes, it is Ruth who shows love, telling her husband to go and that she was all right. After the poker game, Willis invites Matt back inside for a drink, and Matt only agrees because he knows his wife will be asleep and not missing him.
The other kind of love we encounter in this story is the love that everyone in Frank’s family had for their murdered son and...
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brother. It is due to this love that they are tormented by seeing Frank’s murderer on the streets after he has been released on bail. It is as a result of this love that Matt starts carrying a weapon and hoping for a situation to develop in which it would be justifiable for him to murder Richard Strout. Ultimately, it is his love for his son that makes it impossible for Matt to wait and allow the courts to dole out their version of justice to Richard.
One could also argue that it is through a twisted form of love that Richard was motivated to murder Frank. Frank had been dating Richard’s ex-wife, and the jealousy inspired by Richard’s twisted love for his former spouse meant that he wanted Frank out of the picture.
Do you consider "Killings" to be a love story?
While a love story is certainly not the first description that would come to my mind when reading "Killings," I can see how one might classify it that way. Matt and Ruth Fowler's son, Frank, has been shot and killed by the ex-husband of Frank's lover, Mary Ann. They bury Frank, but Ruth continues to be haunted, because the murderer, Richard Strout, is free, walking around town. Ruth cannot escape seeing him as he does his errands and so on, awaiting his trial. She is so troubled by him, in fact, that this seems to prompt Matt to formulate a plan to kill Strout and free Ruth from the tyranny of Strout's existence. In the end, Matt and Ruth share an intimate moment—she knows what he has done without him ever telling her—and she loves him all the more because of his act.