1. American Psycho (1991)
Patrick Bateman leads a shallow Yuppie existence as an investment banker in 1980s New York. He engages in Yuppie talk with his fellow Yuppies in up scale restaurants and he even has a Yuppie girlfriend called Evelyn, whom naturally he doesn't love. At night, Patrick likes to vent his sadistic, murderous urges on the poor folk that cross his path. He kills Paul Owen - a work colleague - and descends into a hellish world of torture, mutilation, cannibalism and necrophilia - with each murder becoming progressively more bizarre and sadistic. Patrick never gets caught for what he does, and he takes to dropping in casual remarks about his murderous activities to his friends who just laugh at him. He confesses to killing Paul Owen but one of his fellow Yuppies says that he had dinner with Paul in London the other week. The novel ends as it begins - Patrick and his cronies making meaningless chat around a table in a New York restaurant. Apparently Patrick Bateman is based on Ellis' father. American Psycho is written in a stream of consciousness style and it raises the question of whether or not Bateman is a reliable narrator. Are the murders all a figment of a deranged mind? A sick man making up demented fantasies? Whatever your opinion on the veracity of Bateman's murderous behaviour, there is no doubt that the novel is not just a Masterpiece of Transgressive literature, but also a Masterpiece of Literary fiction. Bateman is one of the best baddies there has ever been in literature and the novel, although pretty repulsive in parts, is a compelling read. Everything in the novel fits together perfectly and creates a dastardly whole that has provoked the ire of many countries' censors. I would recommend not reading the book if you are a squeamish, sensitive soul. However, it remains Ellis' crowning glory - the best book he has written in his career so far.