
The Shards
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Bret Easton Ellis
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A novel of sensational literary and psychological suspense from the best-selling author of Less Than Zero and American Psycho that tracks a group of privileged high school friends in a vibrantly fictionalized 1980s Los Angeles as a serial killer strikes across the city
“A thrilling page turner from Ellis, who revisits the world that made him a literary star with a stylish scary new story that doesn't disappoint.” –Town & Country
Bret Easton Ellis’s masterful new novel is a story about the end of innocence, and the perilous passage from adolescence into adulthood, set in a vibrantly fictionalized Los Angeles in 1981 as a serial killer begins targeting teenagers throughout the city.
Seventeen-year-old Bret is a senior at the exclusive Buckley prep school when a new student arrives with a mysterious past. Robert Mallory is bright, handsome, charismatic, and shielding a secret from Bret and his friends even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret’s obsession with Mallory is equaled only by his increasingly unsettling preoccupation with the Trawler, a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends, taunting them—and Bret in particular—with grotesque threats and horrific, sharply local acts of violence. The coincidences are uncanny, but they are also filtered through the imagination of a teenager whose gifts for constructing narrative from the filaments of his own life are about to make him one of the most explosive literary sensations of his generation. Can he trust his friends—or his own mind—to make sense of the danger they appear to be in? Thwarted by the world and by his own innate desires, buffeted by unhealthy fixations, he spirals into paranoia and isolation as the relationship between the Trawler and Robert Mallory hurtles inexorably toward a collision.
Set against the intensely vivid and nostalgic backdrop of pre-Less Than Zero L.A., The Shards is a mesmerizing fusing of fact and fiction, the real and the imagined, that brilliantly explores the emotional fabric of Bret’s life at seventeen—sex and jealousy, obsession and murderous rage. Gripping, sly, suspenseful, deeply haunting, and often darkly funny, The Shards is Ellis at his inimitable best.
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Critic reviews
“Ellis is a true literary craftsman, and the novel’s imagery is lush and gorgeous . . . there is an exciting new vulnerability in Ellis’s latest book, inviting the reader more profoundly into the emotional realm of the protagonist than he has with his previous characters.” —The New York Times Book Review
“It’s been a dozen years since Bret Easton Ellis published a novel. And his latest, The Shards . . . is worth the wait. Hermetic, paranoid, sleek, dark—and with brief explosions of the sex and violence that have characterized Ellis’ oeuvre—The Shards is a stark reminder that the American Psycho author is a genre unto himself.” —NPR
“Cleverly done . . . eerie . . . The Shards establishes a tricky two-step of sincerity and unreliability.” —The Wall Street Journal
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Overall
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Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and reenters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porsches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin.
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How one wishes this writer was without talent!
- By Darwin8u on 09-21-13
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The Informers
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer, Christian Rummel
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The time is the early '80s. The characters go to the same schools and eat at the same restaurants. Their voices enfold us as seamlessly as those of DJs heard over a car radio. They have sex with the same boys and girls and buy from the same dealers. In short, they are connected in the only way people can be in that city.
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Really Good
- By Tim G. on 06-06-09
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The Rules of Attraction
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Danny Gerard, Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Set at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan '80s, The Rules of Attraction is a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students with no plans for the future - or even the present - who become entangled in a curious romantic triangle.
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Not Ellis's best work
- By Amy on 03-31-16
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American Psycho
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: Pablo Schreiber
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.
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Fanntastic book but maybe not for everyone....
- By So Fain on 03-27-11
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American Psycho
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: David Nathan
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
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„‚American Psycho’ läuft drohend, grollend wie ein Unwetter an, und plötzlich schlägt der grausame Blitz ein: Die Banalität des Schrecklichen, die wir verdrängen wollen, trifft uns und zwingt uns, das Unerträgliche wahrzunehmen: die Oberflächlichkeit, die Brutalität, mit der wir uns abfinden. In einer Medienwelt, die jedes Thema lächelnd in drei Minuten abhandelt - vom Holocaust über die Salatbar zum Krieg – ist dieses Buch ein Schuss ins Herz, Picassos ‚Guernica’ vergleichbar.“ Elke Heidenreich.
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American Psycho (Spanish Edition)
- By: Bret Easton Ellis, Mariano Antolín Rato - translator
- Narrated by: Ricardo Tejedo
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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El sofisticado, inteligente y vanidoso Patrick Bateman trabaja en Wall Street, idolatra al joven magnate Donald Trump, cena en los restaurantes de moda de Nueva York y es capaz de distinguir un traje Armani a cincuenta metros de distancia. También le gusta violar, torturar, asesinar y desmembrar.
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De lo más viceral que he escuchado/leído en muchísimo tiempo
- By Eduardo Hernandez on 06-05-24
By: Bret Easton Ellis, and others
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Grey Dog
- By: Elliott Gish
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd―spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist―accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past―riddled with grief and shame―has never seemed so far away. But then Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun.
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Wonderfully told
- By Laura on 02-11-25
By: Elliott Gish
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These Violent Delights
- A Novel
- By: Micah Nemerever
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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When Paul enters university in early 1970s Pittsburgh, it’s with the hope of moving past the recent death of his father. Sensitive, insecure, and incomprehensible to his grieving family, Paul feels isolated and alone. When he meets the worldly Julian in his freshman ethics class, Paul is immediately drawn to his classmate’s effortless charm. Paul sees Julian as his sole intellectual equal — an ally against the conventional world he finds so suffocating.
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Excellent book. Hated it.
- By Abby on 06-18-21
By: Micah Nemerever
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Rant
- By: Chuck Palahniuk
- Narrated by: various
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the New York Times best-sellers Fight Club and Lullaby, is known for his edgy novels, and Rant is no exception. Palahniuk presents this fictional biography of Buster "Rant" Casey in a series of vignettes told by the people who knew him best. As intricate as a spider web, Rant succeeds in recounting the story of one man's life only through the eyes of others. But the question remains, "Who was Rant Casey?"
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Great on audiobook
- By Tessie on 09-10-09
By: Chuck Palahniuk
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Our Share of Night
- A Novel
- By: Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
- Length: 27 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.
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This Story Grew on Me
- By Nikki on 02-17-23
By: Mariana Enriquez, and others
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Fellow Travelers
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christian Barillas
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair.
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The tying together of the story threads at the end.
- By Oscar Davila on 12-29-23
By: Thomas Mallon
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Choke
- By: Chuck Palahniuk
- Narrated by: Chuck Palahniuk
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Victor Mancini, a medical school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: He pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him.
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Oh please, not another abridged!!!
- By Pamela on 10-26-03
By: Chuck Palahniuk
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Lazarus Man
- A Novel
- By: Richard Price
- Narrated by: Robb Moreira
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city’s rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day’s end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. In Lazarus Man, Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster.
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Did not hold together
- By M. Wagstaff on 12-02-24
By: Richard Price
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Boys in the Valley
- By: Philip Fracassi
- Narrated by: David Aaron Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys. Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania. Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future...a family. Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent's and the children within.
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Absolutely deserves five stars
- By wisconsinclark on 08-04-24
By: Philip Fracassi
What listeners say about The Shards
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- Beth
- 01-20-23
Excellent!
It is hard to sustain interest for 23 hours but this book manages it beautifully. I read this in about two days which gives an idea of how engrossing it was.I’m usually not a fan of authors narrating their own books but, again, he manages that too. I don’t get creeped out easily but this slow burn made my spine tingle and sent me double checking that my doors were locked.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Kathi
- 01-23-23
Narration
it took me quite a while to get used to the author's rambling narration but once I did I really got into the story line. I thought the book was quite wordy and could have been edited way back, but who knows if the novel would have had the same effect!
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1 person found this helpful
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- End User
- 03-14-23
Writer's gotta write
I didn't enjoy much about this book, but I liked it. Everything is unreliable: narrators, memories, our own realities. It doesn't mean that all is relative, there is a shared reality we are part of, but we are always renegotiating the way we inhabit it. Some art can activate the parts of your consciousness that are meant to keep tabs on this. This book belongs in that category.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Binyamin Ben Shlomo
- 02-04-23
Yes
Yes you should-Once you start- you won’t be able to sleep until Bret stops speaking
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- jesse slingerland
- 02-08-23
Great narration
I like the way this guy writes and the narration was great. The inflection in Bret’s voice reminds me of Christian Bale’s narration in parts of American Psycho, Makes me think that Ellis actually coached Bale on how he envisioned Bateman would speak or Bale took it upon himself to speak like Bret when playing Bateman. - this book went by too fast
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- Carly
- 02-18-23
Wow….my first Bret Easton Ellis indulgence
It’s rare that I finish a book and can’t really operate for 30 mins because I’m still trying to process it. It just fucked with me in the best way. Ellis is a bold and fearless writer and storyteller. The incessant jerking off and descriptive mental undressings of his friends (and trysts with his girlfriend’s father) felt overdone at some point and didn’t add anything to the story—until you realize that they do. Not just a quintessential depiction of a horny teenager, but you’re getting inside the head of a seemingly innocent adolescent that might just be the psychopath he’s so worried about protecting everyone from. But, like I said, still processing it. All in all, this is a brilliant piece of writing … something you keep visible on your bookshelf to remind you there is greatness out there. Consider me hooked.
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- Cayenne
- 03-09-23
If you know the author's books, you'll love it!
If you don't, then listen at your own risk. I love Bret Easton Ellis and I devoured (probably wrong word) all 23 hours and 4 minutes of this book. Just a wonderfully written novel and, because it touches a bit on Bret's own history (or what we think is his history re; writing of Less than Zero and American Psycho and Glamorama), it's even familiar in a sense. Graphic and dark and totally satisfying. Not for the weak of heart, but then, his books never are. And, totally cool that it was narrated by the author. I was so rapt by the ending I had to listen to the last couple hours immediately after finishing the book.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-27-23
Captivating / Anxiety Inducing
Beautifully written and performed, but proceed with caution if you’re unable to walk away from a great story even if it triggers anxiety.
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- T. Hart
- 12-01-23
I'll never regard Bret Easton Ellis the same way after reading The Shards.
I haven't read every novel by BEE, but The Shards is the best BEE novel I've ever read. Completely riveting and chilling. Not for kids.
I've published four books, but I'll never write anything as good as The Shards.
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- Karen E Freed
- 12-19-23
Brilliant and Fun
BEE may be the best living author today. Layers of meaning and satire and metaphors throughout - alongside a cheeky secret sincerity. This book functions on several levels at once. Incredibly fun to listen to a playlist of all the music he mentions while you read and/or listen to the book. Pitch perfect narration by the author in his tone of numbness from the “tangible participant.” Interesting to compare the feeling and memories of this time and place to today’s world.
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