Confessions of a Flesh-Eater

Author: David Madsen

Cover illustration: David Smith  

Reviews

Set in the present, the tale has all the grim foreboding of a genuine Gothic work. Its tone and emphasis owe much to James Hogg's Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, except that the touch is lighter. Fans of body horror will find more visceral lusciousness here than in most synthetic US nasties. One of Crispe's talents is the ability to call up synaesthesia: the mixture of sense impressions. I liked the comparison of beef to brass in music and to 'the sexual potency of young men before it had been squandered'. Orlando Crispe's gusto for copulating with carcasses retrieved from his restaurant's cold store, then serving them, is only rivalled by his heartfelt loathing for female flesh itself. Women are more fondly regarded by the chef as marinades for his masterpieces.

Chris Savage King in The Independent - Book of the Week

Admirers of David Madsen's extraordinary first novel Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf will not be disappointed by his second. Confessions of a Flesh-Eater, in which, once again, erudition is combined with eroticism to create a book both highly diverting and drolly informative. An unmissable treat about a stylish monster.

Gay Times Book of the Month