As an avid reader of gay fiction I was anxious to delve into my first Dennis Cooper piece. The title attracted my attention as well as the cover art. The cover even stated that The Village Voice had selected this title as one of the top 25 books of 2004. (Shame on the Voice)! So the story began. I liked the way the author relayed the events through chat room discussions. However, as the book progressed some of the violent sex acts reported were a complete turn-off for me. If you like reading about interesting sexual encounters this book certainly has its fill, but when we start getting into castration and the killing of male escorts this is where I have to draw the line for myself. If this sort of thing gets you going I highly recommend this piece, otherwise, forget it! Needless to say I don't think I will be reading any other of Dennis Cooper's titles.