I picked this up at a bookstore in Skaneateles, unable to resist the cover or the premise, but I have not seen much about it otherwise. I’m so glad I did, as I couldn’t put it down. It is deeply toxic. I will warn you that there is a trigger for sexual abuse. It is the nineties in New York, and Doughty has arrived, fresh out of BC. He is, simply put, a total monster. He’s managed to climb his way from sleeping in a bed at the YMCA to living with a book editor in her forties, in her posh Soho loft. Meanwhile, he’s actively pursuing a relationship with a bartender. He’s entitled and delusional, and tells both women that he is pursuing a career in real estate. Meanwhile, he spends his days watching VHS comedy specials (he has a real thing for George Carlin), or in the park, smoking crack. He abuses both women physically and emotionally… It’s horrible, and some scenes are really hard to read!. Still, I could not put it down. This book is compulsively readable. If you like dark and toxic, you’ll like this a lot.
Read this if you liked: Tell Me Lies (and you thought Stephen DeMarco was the worst person in the world — Daughty makes him look like a puppy), You. It also, in a very abstract way, reminded me a bit of The Guest.
