The Rapist introduces us to Truman Ferris Pinter, an amoral man occupying a prison cell for a heinous crime committed years earlier. Master storyteller Les Edgerton guides us on a haunting journey inside the criminal mind to show that no matter how depraved a person appears to be, there might still exist a spark of humanity.
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### Review
Anthony Neil Smith gave 5 stars to: *The Rapist* by Les Edgerton
This is brave literary pulp of the highest order. Dark, dark stuff. No celebration here. It's going to get under your skin. Deserves all the awards next year.
From Goodreads
### From the Inside Flap
So, I'm reading Les Edgerton's *The Rapist*. The title has already made me uneasy.
Five pages in and I can hardly breathe.
Ten and I'm nauseous.
For the next 50, I'm a mixture of all of the above, but most of all, angry.
I feel like ringing my feminist friends and confessing: *Sisters, I'm reading something you will kill me for reading.*
I feel like ringing my ex colleagues - parole officers and psychologists who work with sex offenders in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow - and asking them if they think it's helpful to publish an honest and explicit transcript which shows the cognitive distortions of a callous, grandiose, articulate sex offender; one which illustrates his inability to have a relationship with a woman and his complete lack of empathy?
I'm thinking I don't know what I should be thinking.
Will it turn sex offenders on?
Should we listen to this guy?
Is it possible to separate the person from the offence, and to empathise with him as he waits to die?
I don't ring anyone.
I read on.
And the breathlessness, nausea, anger and confusion increase all the way to the end, at which point all I know is that the book is genius.
**Helen FitzGerald, author, *Dead Lovely, Bloody Women, The Devil's Staircase, The Donor* and others.
** 'I live in a small, dark realm which I fill out'. Jean Genet's words in "Miracle Of the Rose". And like Genet, Edgerton writes with lyricism and a sense of history of things that disturb, balancing through his superb style themes that may otherwise unsettle the narrative. Edgerton's brilliant archaeological dig into the motivations of a rapist is an unflinching look at the darker recesses of the human psyche. There is nothing gratuitous here and it takes a command to achieve a narrative pull in such territory. It reminded me of John Burnside's "The Locust Room" but it's better written. Edgerton voices the demonic forces at work within his narrator's head. He embeds the story with the protagonist's need for redemption set against the backdrop of his life. "The Rapist" is confessional, poetic, unrelenting, and as real as the newspaper lying before you. It challenges the assumption that fictions need to censor the things people read every day in what is deemed factual. It is told in a style that situates it among the classics of transgressive fictions.
**Richard Godwin, *Apostle Rising, Mr Glamour***
* * *
What a . . .I mean, it's so . . . wow. Damn. Seriously.
**Eric Beetner, author of The Devil Doesn't Want Me**
Description:
The Rapist introduces us to Truman Ferris Pinter, an amoral man occupying a prison cell for a heinous crime committed years earlier. Master storyteller Les Edgerton guides us on a haunting journey inside the criminal mind to show that no matter how depraved a person appears to be, there might still exist a spark of humanity. ** ### Review Anthony Neil Smith gave 5 stars to: *The Rapist* by Les Edgerton This is brave literary pulp of the highest order. Dark, dark stuff. No celebration here. It's going to get under your skin. Deserves all the awards next year. From Goodreads ### From the Inside Flap So, I'm reading Les Edgerton's *The Rapist*. The title has already made me uneasy. Five pages in and I can hardly breathe. Ten and I'm nauseous. For the next 50, I'm a mixture of all of the above, but most of all, angry. I feel like ringing my feminist friends and confessing: *Sisters, I'm reading something you will kill me for reading.* I feel like ringing my ex colleagues - parole officers and psychologists who work with sex offenders in Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow - and asking them if they think it's helpful to publish an honest and explicit transcript which shows the cognitive distortions of a callous, grandiose, articulate sex offender; one which illustrates his inability to have a relationship with a woman and his complete lack of empathy? I'm thinking I don't know what I should be thinking. Will it turn sex offenders on? Should we listen to this guy? Is it possible to separate the person from the offence, and to empathise with him as he waits to die? I don't ring anyone. I read on. And the breathlessness, nausea, anger and confusion increase all the way to the end, at which point all I know is that the book is genius. **Helen FitzGerald, author, *Dead Lovely, Bloody Women, The Devil's Staircase, The Donor* and others. ** 'I live in a small, dark realm which I fill out'. Jean Genet's words in "Miracle Of the Rose". And like Genet, Edgerton writes with lyricism and a sense of history of things that disturb, balancing through his superb style themes that may otherwise unsettle the narrative. Edgerton's brilliant archaeological dig into the motivations of a rapist is an unflinching look at the darker recesses of the human psyche. There is nothing gratuitous here and it takes a command to achieve a narrative pull in such territory. It reminded me of John Burnside's "The Locust Room" but it's better written. Edgerton voices the demonic forces at work within his narrator's head. He embeds the story with the protagonist's need for redemption set against the backdrop of his life. "The Rapist" is confessional, poetic, unrelenting, and as real as the newspaper lying before you. It challenges the assumption that fictions need to censor the things people read every day in what is deemed factual. It is told in a style that situates it among the classics of transgressive fictions. **Richard Godwin, *Apostle Rising, Mr Glamour*** * * * What a . . .I mean, it's so . . . wow. Damn. Seriously. **Eric Beetner, author of The Devil Doesn't Want Me**