Glamorama is the latest twisted tale from Bret Easton Ellis, the man who brought us American Psycho and Rules of Attraction. If you've ever seen those movies, you are only getting a taste of what the books are like. With this story, he focuses on the fake and misleading world of celebrities and supermodels.

This book's main character, Victor Ward, is a model who is not quite super yet. He hangs out with actors and musicians, he is dating a real supermodel, yet his life is falling apart. Victor is running out of money and getting old, and his modelling years are nearly done. As the book opens up, he is trying to put together the grand opening of the trendiest new club in New York, and is doing his best to make sure that everybody who is anybody will be there. The first 120 pages of Glamorama are nothing but Victor and his people running their mouths constantly. I've never seen so much conversation in a novel before.

With Victor being short on cash, he is given an offer he can't refuse. Someone wants him to travel to Europe and find a model who seems to have disappeared. He is told that he used to date her, though he does not remember it. At first he is reluctant to accept, but an offer of $300,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Paris and London is pretty tough to turn down.

What follows is a series of bizarre meetings with individuals from all over the world. And then the murder begins. First its a few random people, tortured to death on video. Then terrorist activity. Buildings are destroyed, cars are blown up, and even a plane full of passengers is brought down. And this was written by a New Yorker not long before 9/11 happened.

Glamorama is a twisted, confusing story that pulls no stops and holds nothing back. Ellis is a fearless author who is not afraid to have his characters say or do anything. While I appreciated the originality of the story, I can't really say that I recommend it. I think my biggest problem is that it spends too much time developing the character, so much that it gets to be a little repetitive. I had almost lost interest by the time things started to happen. And when the action starts, it is so confusing that I am still not sure what exactly happened. All of this author's stories deal with criminal insanity, and Glamorama is no different.


Recommended: Yes