by Paula Bomer
First published 2025
Robert Doughten Savile believes he deserves wealth and status. His Connecticut family once had money but lost it. Now Doughty drifts through early 1990s New York City, spinning lies about his nonexistent real estate career. He talks his way from a YMCA bed into a book editor's Soho loft. He pursues and abuses a young bartender with elaborate manipulation tactics. His days pass watching comedy videos, using drugs in Tompkins Square Park, and selling sex in Grand Central restrooms. College dropout turned predator, Doughty fails at everything except hurting women. His delusions grow stronger with each setback. He cannot judge his own abilities but his sense of entitlement carries him forward. The women around him pay the price for his relentless selfishness.
Genres: drama, american-fiction, crime, contemporary, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, disturbing, gritty, introspective, morally-complex, unsettling
Tropes: cycle-of-abuse, descent-into-darkness, predatory-protagonist, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Connecticut, New York City, Soho, Tompkins Square Park, Grand Central
Period: Early 1990s
256 pages · Paperback · Soho Press
Content warnings: abuse, drug-use, emotional-abuse, sexual-assault