Perhaps this is due to having Dahmer and Nielsen’s crimes as reference points, or perhaps it is a growing confidence with his third novel to push the boat out. While his previous novels, Lost Souls and Drawing Blood, touched on these themes, Exquisite Corpse turns the dial up to eleven. Ultimately, the reader is seduced into their world just as much as their victims.īrite does not shy away from intense and lengthy depictions of gore, sex, and where these two intersect in the novel. Entering the mind of a serial killer is something Brite excels at writing, and his skill at capturing the dark charisma of these characters is unparalleled. Nevertheless, the reader wants Tran to escape their clutches and survive, resulting in this odd experience where you side with both the villains and the heroes.īrite succeeds in this by using the four viewpoints of Andrew, Jay, Tran and Lucas, with Andrew’s being the primary focus. Andrew and Jay’s crimes are truly sickening and vile, as is to be expected, but as the reader becomes more and more immersed in their world and their romance, you can’t help but find yourself, however unwillingly, rooting for their relationship to succeed. But Lucas, seeking to reunite with Tran, may get in the pair’s way, leading to a devastating climax.īrite’s mastery in this novel is how he makes the reader empathise with utter monsters. Escaping his UK prison for New Orleans by entering a cataleptic trance, Andrew meets and fixates himself on Byrne, becoming his lover, and the two select Tran as the perfect victim of their depravity. Inspired by the true life murders of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen, the story follows four characters: English killer and cannibal Andrew Compton (inspired by Nilsen), Jay Byrne (inspired by Dahmer), a fellow cannibal and necrophiliac, Vietnamese runaway Tran, and Tran’s pirate radio host lover Lucas.

Andrew compton exquisite corpse