Ratings11
Average rating3.8
Darkly comic and genuinely horrific in places, this novel is Ellis's best work since his debut, Less Than Zero. Writing in the first person as a bizarre alcoholic, drug-addicted parody of himself, Ellis takes us on a dark journey into his celebrity lifestyle: married to an A-list Hollywood actress, father of a son he's estranged from, living in upstate New York
There are various plot strands ranging from Ellis's troubled relationship with his dead father, the disappearance of a number of boys from his son's school, to the activities of a serial killer who is apparently copying the killings from Ellis's earlier novel American Psycho.
The book is a fantastic read, easily the most enjoyable Ellis novel I've read. Yes his trademark cynicism is there along with the sense of fear and dislocation, but there is a new maturity to some of his writing, especially at the end, which is both moving and elegiac.
This is not a novel for a first timer to dive into. You'd be better off starting at the beginning with Less Than Zero. But for those who have read his earlier stuff, I'd recommend this.