A terrifying novel of love and slaughter set in London and New Orleans. To serial killer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from a life sentence in prison, he makes his way to America with the intention of bringing his art to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, he inadvertently joins forced with Jay, a dissolute playboy. They set their sights on a young Vietnamese-American runaway, whom they deem to be the perfect victim. Moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadences of New Orleans' French Quarter, Poppy Z Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a serial killer in this riveting, unforgettable masterpiece of horror.