Exquisite Corpse

Though not generally recognized as a contemporary genre, Gothic novels are alive and well. The most exciting Goth writing today is the young Poppy Z Brite. She is very lively and intelligent, and writes with an almost scholarly understanding of Goth literary traditions and eccentricities. Her books are full of drugs and sex and bands. She writes about sex so well from the male standpoint that many readers find it difficult to believe she really is a woman. Her best book is Exquisite Corpse, describing the torrid and melodramatic affair between two serial killers, one an escaped convict, the other a playboy, who target a young boy as their next victim. Their characters are based upon the Englishman Dennis Nilsen and the American Jeffrey Dahmer. It is as erotic as Gothic gets and as repellent as possible - I can't recommend it to the squeamish. Review by Richard Davenport-Hines, whose books include 'Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin' (Kirkus UK)