American Psycho

American Psycho is a black comedy horror novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, and vain Manhattan investment banker who lives a double life as a serial killer. Alison Kelly of The Observer notes that while "some countries [deem it] so potentially disturbing that it can only be sold shrink-wrapped", "critics rave about it" and "academics revel in its transgressive and postmodern qualities".

A film adaptation starring Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman was released in 2000 to generally favorable reviews. Producers David Johnson and Jesse Singer developed a musical adaptation for Broadway. The musical premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London in December 2013.

The book has garnered notoriety for its graphic violence and has led to it being censored in multiple countries.





== Development ==

Bateman was crazy the same way I was. He did not come out of me sitting down and wanting to write a grand sweeping indictment of yuppie culture. It initiated because of my own isolation and alienation at a point in my life.