Review

Told from the perspective of Dennis, who as a young teen in the 60s surrounds his life by images of violence and with an equally troubled childhood, is freely allowed to read pornography and becomes particularly affected by snuff. Into the 80s, devastated by his boyfriend Julian leaving him to go to France, he eventually ventures out to Europe to find him himself, though ultimately ends up staying in Holland where he embarks on a sadistic killing-spree having joined a pair of two Germans to commit a series of random, senseless, motiveless murders.

In 1989, Julian receives a letter from Dennis describing his murders and torturing in explicit detail.

As Paul Bryant said it, “Frisk is the gay American Psycho.”

I didn’t particularly love the book, but there was enough content that proved the value of Cooper’s writing; akin to something of Bram Stoker or Salinger’s style. His verb descriptions are always nice (‘fondled down the hallway,’ eg;) Now, having read the Marbled Swarm, I will say I liked Frisk a whole lot more - the former is more humorous than anything, superfluous gore and sex frankly so ungrounded it’s hard to take seriously! Had me in near-stitches. Not a bad thing, of course, (there’s a weird market for that kind of thing, anyway - just look at American Psycho’s popularity with that infamous rat..) It’s just so that it became a real slog trying to get through after a while.

So, to Frisk’s credit, despite being a much older of Cooper’s works, handles death and sex with enough macabre and erotica (though to be fair, all the rape in The Marbled Swan probably shouldnt be salacious) to still be interesting and not under the guise of plain shock value. Though I will absolutely give that to Cooper - while maybe not being the best storyteller, in terms of erotic fiction, he certainly writes to illicit; something most authors don’t tend to excel at. Well, okay, since I’m not a gay necrophiliac I wasn’t exactly aroused, I mean, but good writing’s still good writing and I think his use of sensory imagery shines best in that department as well.

Overall, a well-written and enjoyable read with only enough bumps to keep me from particularly investing deeper. Comparable maybe to, Mysterious Skin - a personal favourite of mine. Though I should make it clear - this is quite the intense novel. I can’t say it didn’t disturb or at least unsettle me; it’s funny really, Cooper’s almost YA style of writing.

(Though I do wonder if Dennis in the book is some kind of a self-insert to Cooper himself, haha.) .