An American novelist, screenwriter, and cultural provocateur, Bret Easton Ellis rose to fame in the 1980s with his piercing, amoral portraits of alienation, privilege, and psychological rot. Born in Los Angeles in 1964, he became a literary enfant terrible with his debut Less Than Zero, written while still in college.

His work dissects consumer culture, masculinity, and emotional numbness with a scalpel—often one dipped in blood or cocaine. From the slick sociopathy of American Psycho to the sun-bleached despair of The Informers, Ellis writes characters who are empty by design, narrators who don’t ask for trust, and plots that unravel instead of resolve.

You don’t read him to find answers. You read him to feel exposed—to see the mask, then realise it was your reflection all along.