When I think about the best books I have read over the past decade, the ones that stand out the most are those that you finish and can’t stop thinking about for days afterwards. This is not a common occurrence, but this book falls into that category. This is an absolutely brilliant book, and a masterful tribute to time and place in 1981 Los Angeles.

Bret Easton Ellis (BEE) approaches this book in semi-autobiographical fashion, from a 17-year old Bret’s perspective and is (allegedly) recounted as a true story of the events that occurred in his last year of high school at the prestigious Buckley School in Los Angeles, in the fall of 1981. Bret and his friends live a privileged life, and spend their weekends immersed in the music and cinema of the period (which are masterfully recounted). When a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory arrives in Buckley, Bret is instantly enthralled. Robert is handsome, smart and effortlessly integrates himself into Bret’s friendship group. He’s also a liar. Bret senses danger mixed with obsession with the newcomer. In parallel, Bret starts to draw threads between Robert Mallory and The Trawler – a serial killer who operated in 1980s Los Angeles. What is the link between the two – or indeed, is there even a link? As Bret and his friends are well aware, these thoughts are stemming from a person who is known to embellish the truth as one of his primary literary devices – the early development of the up-and-coming author who will soon give rise to “Less than Zero” and “American Psycho”.

As you work your way through the book, recurring themes and repetition are used as devices to both highlight the exuberance of the teenagers, and Bret’s increasing paranoia – examples include “the empty house on Mulholland”, the “designer sunglasses” the teenagers all wear, the feeling of “being watched” and the sense of “numbness” key characters adopt. One aspect of the writing that was quite striking to me as we work through the book (which is, by the way, the longest BEE novel to date), is that we start to see cracks, or breaks in the narrative Bret is recounting. These are often subtle inconsistencies which can be easy to miss, but cumulatively give rise to the idea that Bret is, perhaps, the unreliable narrator. Without going into detail, it’s important to pay close attention to these inconsistencies as they are important to the overall story.

The Shards is by far the best book I have read this year, and rates highly with my all-time favorite books – The Secret History by Donna Tartt comes to mind when thinking of this book. The ability to capture time and place is absolutely next-to-none (1980s film, music references aplenty), the writing urgent, personal and emotive, and the plot is simply masterful and enthralling. Yes, there is a lot of graphic sexual depictions (in true BEE style), it’s a bit repetitive and a bit long – but these things are not really flaws. A must read. Very grateful to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, which is due out in January 2023.

P.S – This is the written version of the story serialized on the BEE Podcast. I highly recommend reading the book FIRST, then going back to listen to the story on the podcast. I feel this order is beneficial as BEE provides in-depth context to many of the key scenes of the book and some questions I had were resolved in this way.

Bret Easton Ellis is back ! If you are a fan, this is great addition to his work. In The Shards, Bret is cast as a 17 year old in an exclusive prep school. A new student joins the class and 17 years old Bret is entrances. Robert Mallory is secretive and intriguing. Bret becomes obsess. All the while, a known serial killer, "The Trawler" is loose on the streets of L.A. Slowly and violently, the ante is raised and Bret and his friends are caught in a nightmare of death, trying to get to the bottom of the mysteries at hand. If you like Bret Easton Ellis, love a violent mystery, or just want a page turner noir, The Shards is for you! #Knopf #Pantheon

Bret Easton Ellis writes like Bret Easton Ellis, which is a compliment to this author's work. This travel through time has suspense, emotion, and the edge that I've come to expect from this author. A thrilling read.

Visceral writing, and convincing characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this bizarre book from one of my favorite writers.

I confess. I have never finished a Brett Easton Ellis novel, but the description of “The Shards” sounded too tasty to miss. This might be the one to do it!

But it wasn’t. I’m trying to analyze what it is that pushes me away from his work. There’s a calculation, a chill that makes it hard to engage with the characters. You can admire the writing without empathizing enough with the characters to finish the book.

I’m disappointed because I wanted to to understand better why Ellis is so esteemed. It remains a mystery to me. I do like the title, though.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for access to “The Shards” in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was absolutely amazing and truly addictive. Being a huge fan of Bret Easton Ellis, I was beyond grateful to have an early access to this copy. I was not disappointed.

Ellis’s style is unique, gory and addictive. I had to stop living for a couple days just to make sure I could stay 100% focus on this story. To be honest, I hated 95% of the characters, truly, but I will remember this story for the rest of my life. It’s brilliant, every single detail has a purpose for the plot.

Bret Easton Ellis is a genius. This book is everything you would expect from him and more. One of the best reads of 2022.

There are some authors who have a voice so unique that their books simply couldn’t be written by anyone else. Bret Easton Ellis is one of those and this is one of the most Bret Easton Ellis books I’ve ever read lol.

I say this because if you’ve read him before and hated him, you’ll hate this. If you’ve loved him, you should love this one.

Now, I went into this completely unfamiliar with the podcast – and that didn’t matter at all. I was immediately thrust into the world of elite private schools, the people who haunt them, and a serial killer who was haunting L.A.

I confess that I went to a school that wanted to be one of the elite – and my kid goes to one that actually is – so certain things really hit home for me. And I absolutely loved being brought back to the L.A. of the 80’s, though I was extremely young during the time period this is set in.

The serial killer story is fantastic (yes, I took to the web to find out the real story) and the coming of age aspect of the novel is painful, real and compelling.

I loved this one!

• ARC via Net Galley

I was able to read this as an e-ARC and was drawn to this because I'm a fan of BEE. I'd say it's a good mashup of Less Than Zero and American Psycho. Lots of rich kids having sex and doing drugs and a good dose of blood and murder. What really drew me in to the book was that Bret made himself as a character. As with his other books, you can't help but wonder how much of his story telling is memoir or fiction. The book itself was quite long, and was a bit of a slow read for me, but overall I liked it.

To second the thoughts of another reviewer, I too am so glad BEE is back writing fiction. This was a fascinating and excellent read. Brought to mind the best elements of Lunar Park and Less than Zero. Strange, enigmatic, and love the fact that Ellis has inserted himself into the story.

The Shards
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 1/17/23
Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 608
GR: 4.30

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Knopf and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 17-year-old Bret is a senior at the exclusive Buckley prep school when a new student arrives with a mysterious past. Robert Mallory is bright, and shielding a secret from Bret and his friends even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret’s unsettling preoccupation with the Trawler, a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends, taunting them with grotesque threats and horrific, sharply local acts of violence. The coincidences are uncanny. Can he trust his friends—or his own mind—to make sense of the danger they appear to be in?

My Thoughts: This was originally published in a podcast over several episodes, I believe something like 27-30. It’s a tad long for my liking and there is some repetitiveness, however, the repetitiveness does work for this story. This novel is sexually explicit but I would expect nothing less coming from the author of American Psycho. This has the makings of a great novel: high school in the 1980’s + tremendous pop culture references + a serial killer on the loose. I believe those who love Ellis’s work will really love this, it ventures into the cold and clinical. It is disturbing and dark, with a twist of dark humor. It is gripping, suspenseful, haunting, even a bit sly. Bret’s character was interesting, he was deceptive, manipulative, drama-filled, and in extreme paranoia, was not very likable, but that is probably the point. While it is great to have this in print, I think the BEE podcast would be the best way to read this book.

The Shards is a very long novel. At first I thought that the author badly needed an editor, and now, having finished the 600 some pages I forgot all about that. Bret Easton Ellis had me captivated with his story about seniors at the exclusive Buckley School in Los Angeles. Their lives of privilege, sex and drugs brought more horror to their lives than seemed fair. As narrated by a character representing the author, the story evolves slowly at first. Bret Easton Ellis has a knack for writing about sex, of which there is plenty in The Shards, but he also shows a good knack for violence. All of this with teen characters and irresponsible adults fleshed out to be credible in all of their flaws. I didn't feel drawn to the characters, but I definitely enjoyed reading about them.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was excited to read this ARC as I am a fan of Less Than Zero and American Psycho. It has all the things I like- the 80s, serial killer, messed up teens….but I guess maybe this kind of book is behind me now as I didn’t like it at all. I couldn’t finish it. I’m sure it’s wonderful for true die hards of BEE but I guess I’m not one of them.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Bret Easton Ellis's potentially autobiographical masterpiece LUNAR PARK has been topped. This is a true work of the times, a true work of art, of genius, of absolute iconic brilliance. Playing on current tropes of true crime, as well as leaning into the "beforetimes" biography that Lunar Park neglected but that could also potentially be completely fabricated whole cloth. Ellis has written a novel in which monsters are real and all around us. A horror story where the scariest things lurk in the mirror. This is a monstrous, tense as a knife blade to the throat, work of art.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary ARC in exchange for a review.

I wish I could quit Bret Easton Ellis books. I keep trying them and I keep coming up dry. I thought The Shards would be the one to break my dry spell since American Psycho because it had all the things that would make an exciting story: high school in the 80's, great pop culture references, and a serial killer at large. How could this not be great?! I once again fell victim to his writing style which tends to veer into the cold and clinical. Since this did start out as a podcast, I may give that a go since perhaps the author reading it might lend some color to it.

I'm sure I won't stop trying, but this one wasn't for me.

Absolutely loved THE SHARDS. Ellis's most ambitious book since GLAMORAMA, in 1998, but (without disparaging that one) it's also probably rivaled only by LUNAR PARK for its compassion and vulnerability.

That being said: probably the scariest novel I've read since RED DRAGON. He's incredibly savvy at weaving story threads together, creating suspense, then escalating that suspense into dread. One of the few novels I've read this year where I actually backed out of evening plans in order to stay with it.

Incredibly graphic, in some places gratuitously so, but it's in keeping with the book's sensibility.

The Shards starts out feeling like Bret Easton Ellis is narrating his '80s Spotify playlist while driving through various L.A. neighborhoods and endlessly name-dropping people I have never heard of. Somewhere within that narrative, a serial killer mutilates some people and you discover the real story as it all comes to a head.

Always a fan of his odd work. I spent half the time wondering if each section was true to his life or fictional. Very interesting take on a memoir.

The Shards follows Bret Ellis through parts of 1981 when he is a senior at Buckley High school. He is a pretty unreliable narrator because of his chronic drug and alcohol use. Anyway, the story follows him suspecting a new classmate is a serial killer which leads him to basically stalk the guy. The book seems to repeat itself with parties, sex, following Robert, rinse and repeat. A bit of a warning for animal torture and abuse, it's pretty awful. The serial killer in the book was actually a real person during that time, you can read more about him online, While it is very long, over 600 pages I think, it does go by fairly quickly. The middle is slow with the repeat partying, but the end really ramps up and leads to a thrilling conclusion.

A coming of age novel that followers a group of friends dealing with a serial killer that is attacking teens in their city.

It was terrifying, incredible and horrifying all in one go. I loved how ellis placed himself within the novel, it gave a really unique view point, something that I adored.