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Extreme literature is a rare breed.  Sure you can find horror novels anywhere but books that aren’t dealing with vampires, werewolves and other mythical creatures and look at the human monster are a rare breed.  The best example of this is the excellent American Psycho.  Never before has man’s inhumanity to man been captured man’s in a book.  Patrick Bateman doesn’t place judgments on what he does, he just does it.  In his mind it’s for because he is pure ego and very representative of the ‘me’ culture of the time.

British author Jonny Glynn has provided a modern version of Patrick Bateman in his new novel The Seven Days of Peter Crumb.  Peter Crumb represents the chaos that inhabits everyone these days.  On the one hand we like to think we’re smarter, wittier and more intelligent than our predecessors.  On the other hand, we’re still the same savages that crawled out of the muck to first find fire.  Crumb decides he has seven days to live and he’s going to succumb to all those base instincts we civilized individuals stuff deep down inside.

Peter Crumb has given himself seven days to live.  During those seven days he’s going to see how far he can sink.  Hopped up on opium and ketamine, Crumb and his Hyde-ish alter-ego set out to rape, torture, murder and whore as much as they can.  Crumb has never come to terms with the tragic death of his daughter and decides to sink into the abyss before killing himself.  Each day brings new horrors for the reader and by the time the novel is over, it’s not clear if it’s Crumb or his alter-ego that is the true monster.

Told in first person, The Seven Days of Peter Crumb relies on a very untrustworthy narrator.  Due to his split psyche, the novel can veer wildly in any given direction at a moment’s notice.  Crumb is reluctant at first but the more downhill he slides; the more his second voice eggs him on.  Often times, Crumb is as much along for the ride as the reader as he has little control over his movements when his other self takes over.  The book flows in a bizarre stream of consciousness that is tender at one moment then violently disturbing the next.

What makes this book a must read is Crumbs attention to detail. From the vivid daily description of his bowel movement to dismembering a woman he meets at a hotel, he leaves nothing to the imagination.  The saving grace of the novel is that Crumb isn’t totally unlikeable.  Aside from the sadistic streak, he seems like a normal person just trying to make sense of the world around him.  Author Glynn doesn’t make his hero a complete monster.  By grounding Crumb, it makes him relatable even if we’ve never dismembered someone.  Even as he graphically details the dissection of a neighbor, Glynn keeps the moment humorous and witty but doesn’t skimp on the gruesome details.

Glynn uses Crumb to reflect society’s appetite for sensationalized violence.  One moment he’s killing a person the next he’s outraged at how callous people are to a man captured in Iraq pleading for his life on television. Glynn leads the reader into the trap of being complicit in Crumbs actions.  At times you’ll ask yourself, “Am I really any better than this poor soul?”

While Glynn certainly draws parallels between current events and the actions of Crumb, he doesn’t give Crumb a social agenda.  Crumb simply is.  That reality is scarier than any crusade because there is not method to the madness.  The Seven Days of Peter Crumb is a violent, disturbing, provocative and thought-provoking book.  It’s clearly not for everyone the same way American Psycho isn’t.  Those daring enough to read it will find a very satisfying read.

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