Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was up to midnight last night, because I was on the last few chapters and couldn't stop.

Exquisite Corpse is like American Psycho and Interview with the Vampire mashed together.

Some background. This is one of those books I'd been circling around for years. I was obsessed with American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and re-read it a dozen times when I was a teenager. I watched and re-watched the movie. Same with Interview, which I just re-read recently.

The setting is 90s gay subculture in New Orleans. The characters are all white gay males, except for Tran, a young Vietnamese man who is finding his way in this dangerous world. There are two serial killers, one from England and one from NOLA. There worlds collide in a horrifying and beautiful explosion of ultra-violence, passion, and erotic sex play. On top of this is the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is being antagonized by the US Government and society in general.

In this tangled web of fatal intercourse, social mayhem, and roiling hate, our characters (Jay, Arthur/Andrew, Lucas, and Tran) crash into each other with a ferocity and need, likely only seen in a Cronenburg film. They are all lonely, in their own twisted way, feeling ostracized and punished from every direction. When they seek solace in one another, it's with disastrous consequences.

Do I even need to say the trigger warnings? Because there are a LOT OF THEM, and you should not read this book if you are in any way squeamish. If you could read The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum and not throw the book across the room, then you can read Exquisite Corpse. More than once I had to put the book down and take a break.

Anything bad that could happen to someone happens in this book. Your worst nightmares. Young, vulenerable, gay men go home with well to do strangers in hopes of a bed for the night, to score some drugs, a meal in exchange for some physical intimacy. And what do they get? Either raped, murdered, left for dead, or infected. Probably all of those at once if you live in the tortured world of Exquisite Corpse.

All of this aside, the book is beautifully written, and is a masterclass in writing horror with social and political commentary. A lot of horror writers think that the splatter is the thing, missing the point that you should have something to say if you're going to shock and disgust the reader. Make them think while recoiling!

You'll enjoy this novel if you like: Kathe Koja, Cronenberg's films Dead Ringers or Crash, and as mentioned above Interview, American Psycho, and The Girl Next Door.

TW: necrophilia, graphic sexual violence, suicide, suicidal ideation, graphic depiction of AIDS, graphic sex scenes, BDSM, brief mentions of incest, animal cruelty



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