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The Shards

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The Shards

By: Bret Easton Ellis
Narrated by: Bret Easton Ellis
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About this listen

A sensational new novel from the bestselling author of Less Than Zero and American Psycho that tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city. His first novel in 13 years, The Shards is Bret Easton Ellis at his inimitable best.

Los Angeles, 1981–17-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, handsome, charismatic, and shielding a secret from Bret and his friends, even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret's obsession with Mallory is equalled only by his increasingly 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.

Can he trust his friends–or his own mind–to make sense of the danger they appear to be in? Thwarted by the world and by his own innate desires, buffeted by unhealthy fixations, Bret spirals into paranoia and isolation as the relationship between The Trawler and Robert Mallory hurtles inexorably toward a collision.

Gripping, sly, suspenseful, deeply haunting and often darkly funny, The Shards is a mesmerizing fusing of fact and fiction that brilliantly explores the emotional fabric of Bret's life at 17–sex and jealousy, obsession and murderous rage.

©2023 Bret Easton Ellis (P)2023 Random House Audio
Coming of Age Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Exciting Scary

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Captivating

The book was long, but it hooked me and I was totally invested in the characters and story. There was one particular scene that was so shocking it floored me.

Brett narrates brilliantly - I am sure that his voice telling his story adds so much to it. Gives it a unique and powerful dimension.

The story is raw and honest. A triumph.

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Wow!

This is brilliant. Favourite book of 2023 so far. Great character development.
Completely addictive. The descriptions of animal cruelty were tough. The rest is mesmerising and punchy. Better than American Psycho

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amazing stuff there

it's just great audiobook product. great author. and him reading his own work, well i can't imagine anyone could have done it better. thumbs up big time.

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3 people found this helpful

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The great American novelist

Bret Easton Ellis has always been good but sometimes, notably with Lunar Park and now The Shards, he is the absolute pinnacle of American fiction. He narrates really well too.

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Bret* still great

Loved this. Bret’s voice made it all the more enjoyable and I was totally absorbed by the story and characters.

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Excellent and compelling

Great book, hooks you very early on with plenty of mystery and intrigue. Very well performed also.

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Great.

I really enjoyed the story and narration. I’d love an audiobook version of American Psycho narrated by the author.

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Amazing in every way.

Story=perfect
Narration=incredible
Feelings=relatable
Film-worthy=definitely so long as Bret involved.
I loved this audible book 🌟

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Can't Wait to Reread

This was the first BEE book that I've ever listened to and I loved it! A really gripping story though sometimes I felt things were repeated unnecessarily. It's a book I think you'll discover more threads the more you read it

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Superb slice of classic BEE auto fiction

Back to 1981 again for a murder mystery set in Bret’s privileged LA school days. It’s compelling and masterly. Loved it

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