Sociopaths In Love

by Andersen Prunty

Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They move in together and start a new life. They're beautiful and they have new things, expensive things, the best of everything, whatever they want. But that's only the surface. Beneath the surface is something much different. Something much darker. Theirs is a love like no other and only one of them will survive it.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Bizarro Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2013

About the author

Andersen Prunty lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He writes novels and short stories. Visit him at notandersenprunty.com, where he posts a free story every Friday.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Andersen Prunty's work. I was really looking forward to reading this one, but the overkill (pun intended) became a bit repetitive for me. This will not stop me from from reading more of A.P.'s work, however. Quite the opposite; I eagerly await his upcoming book.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know why I pick up books like these. It’s some strange compulsion that I cannot ignore. Some are better than others. This one falls right about in the middle but scores all the points for the gross-out.

An unhinged man enters the home of a young lady caring for her ill granny. He’s not there to make friends and have some tea either! He’s a dude who takes what he wants and walks away. He can do this because he has some sort of power that allows him to remain unseen once he walks away from the scene of his atrocities. I can’t fully wrap my head around that concept but I kept reading to find anyhow. So you can probably guess he is there for rapiness but he ends up finding more. Erica figures she’s not going to fight this guy because it will only be worse for her and she’s a little intrigued by the excitement of it all. After some extremely dubious con sex occurs Walt realizes she shares his super power and they head off into the sunset and live happily ever after doing whatever the heck they want without consequence.

Well, not really.

Love isn’t exactly easy when you’re a murderous sociopath who likes to eat people and glory in your own filth.

What follows is a horribly gross, murderous and twisted road trip filled with wicked turns and cruel acts that were nearly too much even for me. I’m talking poop covered mattresses, a poop filled room, poop piles tinged with blood. There is poop. There is too much poop! Poop isn’t something I like very much. I see enough poop. I raised two kids and currently have five pets. I need no more poop in my life.

Anyhow, what this book is really about is a narcissistic psycho who gets increasingly more depraved page by page. To be honest, I found it a little boring in spots. There was much debauchery but spending time in these peoples heads was sometimes tedious. They weren’t very interesting to me and I’m not quite sure what compelled me to finish so please don’t ask. I do not know what is wrong with me but I do feel like I need my brain scrubbed right now.

If you’re a similar weirdo and think you might want to push your limits this book will mostly likely do that for you!

The copy I listened to was narrated by the author who reads this tale of deviant deeds in a dead tone that suits the monsters inhabiting the story.

[Matthew Vaughn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like Prunty's American Psycho. Like all of his work, its really good, well written and entertaining. Some of the reviews for this are pretty funny, I think it was too disturbing for some people haha.

[a_reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRUTAL AND SHOCKING. This book traumatized me. When I started reading there were no reviews on GR so all I had to rely on was the very vague summary blurb that detailed a love story that did not end well. Okay, sounds good I thought. But what I did not expect is what was waiting for me starting from the very first sentence. Walt and Erica are not your ordinary couple. Remember that the title of this book is Sociopaths in Love and this isn’t referring to someone with a shopping addiction or drinking problem. These two people need to be removed from the general population and disposed of properly.

**WARNING** If you are sensitive to scenes depicting torture, rape, gruesome murder, disembowelment, cannibalism and necrophilia you should stop right now and hit the back button on your browser. This book is not for you. It is a vicious gore fest throughout and nothing is sugar coated.

To be perfectly honest this was very difficult for me to read as a woman. I am not easily offended at all but this book certainly tested my boundaries. The scene where Erica accompanies Walt on one of his trips really disturbed me. They stalk a young woman in a Walmart parking lot. They follow her in their truck and at a stop light they rear end her car. When the girl gets out to inspect the damage Walt abducts her and takes her back to their apartment where he tortures her, murders her, fucks her then eats her in that order. Walt is my worst nightmare.

I would have abandoned ship early but there is more going on here than just the extreme violence. I don’t believe Andersen Prunty wrote this book just to shock and offend his audience. I finished the book for a couple reasons. I wanted to learn more about this world that Prunty created in which Walt and Erica have an unexplained gift that they are “seen but not observed”. They can do what they want without any retaliation from others or society at large. They can steal and kill in broad daylight and just walk away. Lastly I wanted to finish the book just to see what would happen to Walt. He is a sick sadistic motherfucker and I was cheering for his demise.

I am rating this five stars in spite of the subject matter. I will never claim that this is one of my favorite books for obvious reasons and I will probably never recommend this to others but it is well written and it did have a profound effect on me - good or bad.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the new writers in the past five years, Andersen Prunty is the one that most impresses me. Writing in the indie ghetto called Bizarro. Prunty has the unique talent of being able to be off-the-wall in a surrealistic Dali sort of way yet can grab onto the readers' emotions and show parts of themselves they may have never accepted. He has one foot in Psycho Land and one foot in Everyman's earthly angst. He is the only writer that I can read and yell "WTF!" while simultaneously thinking, "Yeah man, I hear you!". He's a weird cross between Vonnegut, Kafka, and Wiley Coyote.

Sociopaths in Love is a good example of his work. We are introduced to a rather boring girl named Erica who takes care of her invalid grandmother. Walt enters her apartment, rapes her, shoots Grandma in the head and Erica falls instantly in love ready to follow him into what he promises to be a liberating experience. His mantra is "I can do anything I want" and that anything will include rape, murder, cannibalism, and a few other perversions we won't go into now.

Are you still with me? You haven't ran away in disgust? Good. Because this is one book where a brief description of the plot doesn't do it justice. Walt has the ability to go unnoticed which allows him to steal, eat in restaurants without paying and kill with impunity. Erica discovers she has the same ability. In one instance, he wheels a wheelbarrow with a corpse in it through a hotel lobby without anyone raising an eyebrow. This is the sort of thing that can only happen in Prunty's world. Walt's ability to be ignored, to be almost invisible, seems to copy a sociological condition called Alienation; the state or experience of being isolated from the society to which one should belong or in which one should be involved. Walt has turned alienation into a life style...no..an art form...in which he does the most repulsive thing with no real disfavor or emotion. Erica is pulled into this world with some hesitation, at time being repulsed but also being intrigued. This is falling in love with the bad boy taken to the ultimate extreme. Prunty is doing his thing by turning an understandable dilemma into the grotesque and unspeakable.

This is not for everyone. I think most people will be disgusted by the excess gore and violence. In fact, the reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because I felt the extreme violence of the story did go overboard at times in the extent that it causes the reader to lose the connection with Erica and Walt. They may be unlikable but there is something magnetic about their relationship. Maybe you can't identify with having a boy friend that eats people but I bet you can think of a past relationship you had in which you stayed too long with the only reason to stay being "I love him".

Prunty's strength is that he takes these human dilemmas to extremes and puts them in a surreal universe where the weirder it is, the more acceptable it becomes. Horror novels, and perhaps Bizarro, is all about placing yourself in an environment you never want to be and allowing it to be a cathartic release. But great horror also uses that cathartic release to allow you to see something in yourself or your environment that you can now deal in a more positive state of awareness. Sociopaths in Love is great horror.

[Jaymie · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, the one star thing. NOT about the content. Obviously with a book about sociopaths you're going to have some questionable and intense bloody stinky gross murdery content. So I mean..people shocked by that, I just don't know what you were expecting. I've had a few hours to digest the book as a whole and without spoilers, I'll just say I'm left disappointed. All this time and all this detail into all this stuff and you have to rush the ending. I mean the book read so smoothly, and yet the end is choppy and breaks apart. The ONE plot line I found to be the most curious just got compacted into a few vague sentences which is wholly disappointing when you've got a whole book of detail you don't even really want but it paints this horrific natural born killers esque story, and you're like oh yeah and PS all those daydreams were really about ice cream just like you thought but i'm going to leave out all information on that even though the whole book talks about it, you get the gist, which is all you needed. So with that in mind, this book could have ended just as sufficiently in 25 pages.

((sigh))

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the most tediously shit book I have ever read.

[David Eccles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic, disturbing, brutal and, at times, taboo-breaking book that will leave the reader enthralled and yet disgusted, thoroughly entertained (if that's the correct word to use; maybe I'm just as sick as Walt Haha, the male half of this unusual pairing) and yet wondering just how to carry on "turning the page" to find out what happens next.
Erica and Walt's "relationship" is a strange beast, and as soon as you begin to read, you just know it's going to end badly, and it really does end badly, though I won't say how.
Recommended reading, if only just to see what the human animal is capable of.
This book is a real eye-opener, and I'm surprised that I've not read other works by Andersen Prunty before now. It seems like I've been missing out on so much; it's a mistake I'll be remedying asap!

[Camden Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off really strong, opening up with an SA scene. This sets the tone for the rest of this extreme horror novel. From what I’ve read so far, I do enjoy Andersen Prunty’s writing style so I enjoyed this book as much as I could with the subject matter. I think the second half of the book was definitely strong and I was invested in knowing what would happen to Erica in the end. There are some questions that linger after reading this, but I feel as though that just adds to this bizarre read.

[Pedro Proença · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erica is living alone with her sick, elderly Granny, when one day Walt comes along, rapes her (and she sort of likes it), shoots her Granny in the head (after saying that she was already dead and Erica was in denial), and takes her away. That's just the beginning of one sick ride Mr. Prunty takes us.
Walt has the ability to do whatever he wants, because people can't see him. He can walk in any restaurant, order a meal, smoke as he pleases, get up and walk away. And he tells Erica she can do the same thing, and she can. They start living together, spending their days killing and shoplifting.

This book is really intense, and I found it to be extremely well written, as do all of Mr. Prunty's book I've read. I interpreted as a commentary on the lifestyle of the bored and vain upper middle class. It's a strong book, powerful and shocking. I wasn't affected by the heavier stuff on this book, but I guess I'm a exception.

It's a great book, by one of the masters of the genre.

[Mark Balson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I normally like Prunty. He is off beat, unconventional but… He naturally pushes limits and I can honestly say this is beyond the pale. It is disgusting for the sake of disgusting, evil for the sake of evil and cruel to plumb the depths of cruelty. Why. If it is to outline that there is evil in the world, don't we already know that?

[Suzyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read a book once that said being a Sociopath is boring because Sociopaths don't care about anything. This book was really boring for the same reason.

It's like this: http://www.theonion.com/articles/sm-c...

But with serial killing.

[Ami Kismet · Rating 2 out of 5]

writing isnt very good. there is a lot of repetitive phrases. characters are flat. parts of it were extremely banal. i felt like the author may have bee trying too hard. or not hard enough. meh.

[Nicole D'Settēmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

SOCIOPATHS IN LOVE By Andersen Prunty
A Review By Nicole D'Settemi

Interesting Enough for Entertainment-spoilers alert!

As a fairly "choosy" reader, I'm not often satisfied with fiction, but this book held my interest, though the gore was a little redundant and also under played, which I think is the only real flaw.
I think if a reader is looking for gore and craves shock value-esqe type of work, then this is gratifying. This is not important to me, personally, though if approached from the right angle can help to create a brilliant piece of fiction (i.e. invisible monsters) however, it was really over the top in this book, and again, I feel like it was almost TOO casual.
I love psycho-dramas, and from a psychological aspect "socio's..." reads well. Its interesting that he depicted them as invisible, also.
I was disappointed in the ending. This seems to happen with many great writers, and for me, a lot of my favorite books. Its as if the book is fascinating, bordering on orgasmic, figuratively speaking, until the last two pages, but there's no real climax or orgasm, its like reaching for one and losing it at the last minute, as if it's this amazing ride the whole way through, but right as one is about to "climax," it folds before ones eyes, and one is left thirsty for more, and also a bit confused.
As a writer myself, I'd say Prunty's a writers writer, not a readers writer, if that makes sense. His prose flows beautifully, and his narrator was a well painted portrait, but I was disappointed in Walt's demise--why not describe it? I feel the reader earned that much, having to stomach his awful and disgusting actions, the whole entire book.
Over all, he is a talented, entertainingly well-written man, and I will read Prunty again.

[Camille · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to be honest that I'm thoroughly pissed. All the build up, for what? I was hunkering down on the last 20 % of the book because I just knew all the shitty, vomity lead up was going to come to a hyper aware, sanity questioning conclusion. I'm confused. I am more confused about what the hell just happened than I am about quantum physics and I was a Communications major. I'm confused. Remember that time I read this book and was confused? Oh, I forgot to mention that I might have been looking at a bird feeder and was still confused about how this ended. Yup, just like that. That last sentence is how the ending of this book felt.

[Tiny Bat :[ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nearly five stars but the ending was a wee bit of a let down. The first 80% is BRILLIANT though.

[Jay Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you’re reading a book entitled “Sociopaths in Love,” you tend to try to hide the cover of the book from other prying eyes that might be wondering “what kind of a sicko is reading *that* book. Ugh, can’t he just read some Max Lucado? He is a pastor after all…” It doesn’t help when you explain to inquiring minds that the book at least touches taboo topics like cannibalism, sado-masochism, and avant-garde fashion. When I explained the book’s content to my wife, it included statements like, “I hope all of this gore isn’t just for shock value…” and “I totally can’t believe he actually wrote this…” No wonder the genre that Prunty writes in is called “bizarro fiction.”

But Prunty’s disturbing (seriously disturbing) novel is filled with just enough debasement to prove that much of what we call our collective “culture” in the United States is un-gentrifiable. Prunty holds up the funhouse mirror to our existence together, making us shudder at the distortion that we see, only to look in a normal mirror and finding that we don’t look quite normal in that one either - the distortion simply acting as a foil for what is legitimately distorted in all of us.

That said, the ending of the book is a little unsatisfying. It seems like it could have ended with a much bigger pop before everything seems to return back to normal…but maybe that was intentional to make us wonder what is really normal after all.

[Heather Sabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really say this is a good book because there is nothing to like about any of the characters, their behavior, or the world they live in. I can't even say that they got what they deserved at the end because it was vague as to what happened to Walt and it seemed like it would be more of the same for Erika. I wish there had been more detail about what happened to Walt but it was written from Erika's point of view and she did not see it.

I think the writing was good and there was not so much gore that I had to stop reading but it was not pleasant to read what was happening. I thought there might be some value in seeing the world through the eyes of someone who feels nothing to see why they would do horrible things but all I got was I do things because I want to. I guess I should not expect any more from someone with that level of selfishness.

I did think the idea of absolute invisibility to the world, to do whatever you wanted was an interesting concept but they chose to steal, rape, kill, torture and eat human flesh. Correction. Walt choose to do all those things and Erika did not stop him.She did not have any empathy for the victims only to become a victim herself. No one learned any lessons here but I suppose that all got what was coming to them.

[Debumere · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that was intended to shock its readers with brute, gore and the rest.

It contains some brutal scenes but have to admit I found it quite 'meh' at the best of times.

The story starts well, Erica looking after her Granny, who turns out to be dead (bit of 'Psycho' there) and the arrival of Walt, out of the blue, who takes her on a rather odd journey. Walt was a sociopath, without a doubt, but was Erica?

Seemingly invisible to the heinous crimes they commit, no one bats an eyelid when body parts are chucked off a balcony etc, it didn't answer any of the questions I had about WHY did they never get caught? What was it that made them immune to reaction from the normal people......the ending was a let down. The story lost its fizz half way through. The plot was not really there but I persevered in the hope it would pick up.

It didn't.

It wasn't a total waste of time but I won't be raving about it either.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of my favorite books this year. I found the "special ability" of the two main characters to be so unique. It really gave the book a fresh perspective. Walt and Erica seemed to have found something special together. The progression of their relationship certainly kept me intrigued, though I had a feeling that it would not end well. While many will likely focus on the shocking nature of what goes on in the book, and that certainly added to the appeal for me, this was not just shock for the sake of it. The author has written another powerful, fearless story with plenty of depth.

[Mike Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can understand where the author was going with this, but sometimes you can get there a better way. Book started out good, and the first half i was thinking four stars, but kinda fizzled out near the end for me. This book is NASTY folks, so be warned. some of the nastiness was maybe a little over the top....but Bizarro fiction i guess you can expect some of that. this is the first book from Prunty i have read, i have a bunch more, but will have to read them over time, not going to be reading a bunch at once.

[Jennifer (wildling_manor) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this concept of being so lackluster you could disappear and by doing so, gain the greatest power. But what do you do with that power? What happens to the kind of people the world forgets, who then can do anything they want?

[Seshie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down

This book was so dark and disturbing, at times I couldn't stomach what I was reading--- but I couldn't put it down. It's well written and engaging but completely unlike anything else I've read.

[Kim the Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this was gloriously fucked up!

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the oddest books I've ever read but it is so good.

[Amcii Cullum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was not surprisingly demented but I would rate it at least PG-13 or R.

[Linnea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obscenity and gore just don‘t replace a good plot.

[Ken Sodemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would happen if society became so apathetic that you could get away with whatever you want without being noticed?

What is left to experience if you really have no one to share the experience with?

What would you do if other people really did exist for your own amusement?

Can sociopaths actually feel love?

Are people really all that tasty?

Things to think about while reading this book. As per normal for Andersen Prunty's work, the story starts well, and explores some interesting questions about life, though it gets a tad ridiculous and unimaginative in certain spots seemingly being just over-the-top for the point of being over-the-top. Despite that, though, the story is strong and engaging with an interesting ending.

Of the Prunty books I have read, this is probably my second favorite with Morning is Dead being my easy favorite by far.

[trashkitten (scoobsboobs) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Some scenes were a little difficult to get through still even as desensitized as I am to reading about some of the horrible things that this book contains. I get the argument from some people that certain scenes don't need to be so extreme, but as a victim to assault myself I'm drawn to see how shit plays out with a plot if I enjoy the writing style or other books by the same author.
I preferred the writing style to the plot. I've seen some reviews saying some characters are dry, but to me at least that seems more realistic to real people. Or at least myself. I don't think they were "too dry"
Another thing I've seen people say is that there's a lot of weird shit in this book and many others that just don't seem like something that would actually happen, and well yeah it's a book, but from my own experience with trauma, shit also is just like that at times. Sometimes you find chaos and weirdness just follows you too after a certain point.

[Njogu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book in an attempt to diversify the genres I read. While it has been more than six months since I finished reading it, the gore imagery is still etched in my mind. The hallmark of a well written book, I believe, is the ability of the writer to evoke emotion in you. While majority of the book evokes only fear and disgust, one cannot help but pity Erica and hope for the elusive "justice" that is meted out in the "happy ending."
The only flaw is a bit of repetitiveness of the despicable actions of the characters. In spite of this I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who can stomach cannibalism, necrophilia and unrestrained murder.