The Shards

Contents Cover Other Titles Title Page Copyright Contents Dedication Epigraph Introduction FALL/1981 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Author's Note A Note About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List b iii iv v vii 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 
 
 
 
 
 Also by Bret Easton Ellis
 White
 Imperial Bedrooms
 Lunar Park
 Glamorama
 The Informers
 American Psycho
 The Rules of Attraction
 Less Than Zero
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
 PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
 Copyright © 2023 by Bret Easton Ellis Corporation
 All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.
 www.aaknopf.com
 Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
 Hal Leonard LLC: Excerpt from “Vienna,” words and music by Warren Cann, Christopher Allen, William Currie, and Midge Ure. Copyright © 1981 by Hot Food Music Ltd., Sing Sing Songs Ltd., Jump-Jet Music Ltd., and Mood Music Ltd. All rights in the U.S. and Canada administered by Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard LLC. ∙ Peermusic (UK) Ltd.: Excerpt from “Beach Baby” by John Shakespeare and Gillian Irene Shakespeare. Copyright © 1974 by Peermusic (UK) Ltd., copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Peermusic (UK) Ltd.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Ellis, Bret Easton, author.
 Title: The shards / Bret Easton Ellis.
 Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. | “This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf”—Title page verso.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022014761 (print) | LCCN 2022014762 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593535608 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593535615 (ebook) | ISBN 9781524712426 (open market)
 Subjects: LCGFT: Novels. | Thrillers (Fiction).
 Classification: LCC PS3555.L5937 S53 2023 (print) | LCC PS3555.L5937 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23/eng/20220406
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022014761
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022014762
 Ebook ISBN 9780593535615
 This is a