So firstly:
What the fuck did I just read?
Secondly:
What the FUCK did I just read?
Listen, I'm familiar with Bret Easton Ellis. So far, I've read 5 of his books (The Shards included) so I know how his novels get in my head and twist my brain around, but this book… Holy shit. This book was the ultimate mindfuck.
The first thing I wanna say is that I loved it. This is unlike any novel I've ever read in my entire life. It sucks so hard that I don't have any freinds who've read it because this is a book that DEMANDS discussion.
This book effectively scared the shit out of me with every single scene beyond page 500. I had this immense sense of dread that seaped through my entire body. I know Lunar Park exists (still need to read it!) but God, Bret Easton Ellis needs to commit to horror novels. He writes horror masterfully.
Alright fuck it, you aren't here for a review.
Who do we think was The Trawler? And who do we think was the attacker of Susan and Thom?
Let's look at this for a second. Bret has an insane obsession with Robert Malloray. When he sees that boy in the cinema who he thinks is Robert, he calls the boy "This God".
The Trawler, when sending the letters towards the end, refers to Robert as "Their God".
We also know that Bret is a completely unreliable narrator. So we don't know whether we can trust him or not. We know that a person weeping is seen after every break in that the Trawler commits, and Bret weeps after leaving Matt Kellner.
Also, Matt was definitely murdered. Idk if the interaction with his father was real, but if so, Matt was definitely murdered. He had bruises, his cat was mutilated. He was a victim.
And also, let's call the interaction with Bret and Robert what it was: Premeditated murder. Bret makes it so that Robert can't escape, can't call for help, and goades him into attacking first so he can justify it. He then completely lies about how it happened. I think he killed Robert out of revenge for Robert insulting Bret for being gay and tricking him.
Susan states that Bret has bite marks on his arm, the same that she remembers from her attacker. In the description of when Susan bites the attacker, it describes her having fragments of flesh in her mouth. Brets arm is described as "purple and yellow bruising". Which is… Interesting. That doesn't sound like a fleshy thing, more like a puncture or a sharp bite. I don't know. You'd think there'd be a description on how Susan also notices the dried, open flesh wound on Brets arm but she doesn't.
There's Steven saying "You've been warned". Now, Steven has always been kind of a shady character to me. He warns Bret about Terry and is also pretty sarcastic and almost rude to him in a way. Like he's trying push Bret away from this.
Then there's the horse, which is part of the Trawlers MO. Debbie is now a target. So if Bret was the Trawler, why Debbie? Is he just that insane? He admits that Debbie deserves better than him so that kind of makes it seem like, on some level, he cares about her.
I honestly can't come ton any viable conclusion. I don't know who's who and what's what. Was Susan part of the cult? Was any of it real?
Honestly, I don't know, but I'd love to see what everyone else thinks of the book and what other theories people have.
by EmilyIsNotALesbian