For Pride Month, I want to write a review of a book I read recently — the Exquisite Corpse book by Poppy Z. Brite. The book centers around two serial killers: Andrew Compton and Jay Byrne. The two cross paths and immediately fall in love. And they need to kill. After killing a sickly junkie, they turn their attention to one young man named Tran. But little do they know, his ex-boyfriend, Luke, is still crazy in love with Tran — and is crazy enough to get in-between the killers’ plan.

Since this is a special review for Pride Month, I should discuss Poppy Z. Brite a little bit more. Brite is a transgender writer whose characters are either gay or bisexual. He also considers himself a gay man who was born in a female’s body.

I honestly loved how the book centered around gay characters. Many genres, but especially horror, are heteronormative. I’m a straight cisgender female, so I loved diving into this world of sex, love, drugs, and violence in the New Orleans gay community. It took me out of my own world and into someone else’s. The book also discussed many issues that the gay community faces, such as ostracization, marginalization, discrimination (specifically in Tran’s case, when his father kicked out him due to strict Vietnamese customs), and the HIV/AIDS virus that has corrupted the gay community and more for decades. That’s why I knew this was the perfect book to feature for Pride Month.

Exquisite Corpse Highlights

So I’ll try and not give away spoilers in this section.

The book starts off with Andrew Compton in jail. He recently discovered he’s HIV-positive and knows he will live out the rest of his mundane existence in his jail cell. That is until he’s able to play dead. Literally. He slows his pulse, heartbeat, and breathing until it’s no longer there. When the prison staff discovers his body, they transfer him to the mortuary. It’s here, while Andrew is about to go through an autopsy, is when he kills the mortuary staff and escapes.

From here, he’s outside of the hospital in London. He steals one of the staff member’s cars and escapes. He visits a pub, meets an American tourist, and kills him in a random bathroom. From here, Andrew steals his money and ID and buys a ticket to the US.

It’s here that we meet Tran and Jay. Jay buys drugs off of Tran and invites him to take some photos (yeah that doesn’t sound sketchy at all). Tran declines and says he’s going to a rave, but then explains that he is interested in Jay. After the characters part ways, we learn more about them.

Tran explains he was born in Vietnam but his parents fled to the US when he was young. There, he explains he has two lives: his family life and his other life in the French Quarter of New Orleans. We don’t learn too much about his family life, since his father kicked him out after discovering notes between him and Luke. It’s here we also learn about Luke, Tran’s ex-boyfriend who’s HIV-positive and a very dangerous man. At first, Luke was kind of a secondary character. But he emerges more and more throughout the book, from memories with Tran to his alter ago Lush Rimbaud, a radio show host where he complains about the “breeders” (heterosexual people) and other political topics.

Then we learn more about Jay. Soon after he buys LSD off of Tran, Jay meets a young man we only know as “Fido.” It didn’t take long for the boy to end up dead in his shower.

Fast forward to Andrew meeting Jay. They meet in a bar after Andrew shows up in New Orleans. Jay takes Andrew back to his house. After handcuffing him to the chair, Andrew proved how much more dangerous he is when he trapped Jay with his legs and held a corkscrew to his throat. It didn’t take long for the pair to realize they were meant to be together.

Andrew met Tran at a bar. He wanted Tran to be their victim, but Jay refused because he was a local. Instead, they picked up some homeless junkie. After killing him, they cut him open and notice he was diseased. They discarded his body and Jay agreed to pursue Tran.

And this is where the highlights end.

My Take on Exquisite Corpse

I have to say, I absolutely fell in love with this book. You know when the book is about to end and you don’t want it to? That’s what happened with me and this book. I’ll never forget when I read the ending. I was sitting in a sushi restaurant, reading as I was eating. I was on the last page and finished what I was eating to brace myself for the book’s ending. Except I was ecstatic when I saw there’s an epilogue!

Why did I love this book so much? From a writer’s standpoint, Brite has the most beautiful yet sinister way of writing. Even the most brutal scenes were written so poetically. He also knows the fine line between descriptive writing and getting to the point. Gosh, I envy him; I tend to simply get to the point, being as little descriptive as possible. I may use Exquisite Corpse as my guide to improving that aspect of my writing.

Not only that, but the reader develops a deep and complex connection with all of the characters. You’re rooting for Andrew and Jay, who want their victim so terribly bad. At the same time, you hope Tran gets away. And then there’s Luke; I felt wary about him at first, but I warmed up to him around the end of the book.

Exquisite Corpse also showcases an assortment of other depravities — for example, Luke witnesses a man killing himself and his corpse getting eaten by gators.

If you’re interested in reading some more Poppy Z. Brite books, he’s also known for Lost Souls and Drawing Blood. You can buy these books and more on his Amazon page. I personally read Exquisite Corpse on Apple Books.

I highly recommend Exquisite Corpse. This book has so much depth, more so than I could ever include in this review. But I suggest everyone reads Exquisite Corpse. You’ll never find another book so stunning yet so monstrous.

Rating: 9.5/10

Featured image credit: Amazon