The Stalker (Paperback or Softback)

An Untalented Mr. Ripley, a Dumb American Psycho: A young man combines boundless self-confidence with perpetual failure and ineptitude as he tries to manipulate his way into a better life, preying on women in New York City in the early ’90s.

Robert Doughten Savile, a.k.a. “Doughty,” is the son of a once-wealthy, now hard-up family from Darien, Connecticut. Convinced of his own genius, Doughty lives in a perpetual cloud of delusion, cruising through life on the sheer force of his own sense of entitlement. After a brief, lackluster stint in college, he heads to the New York City of the early ’90s to make his fortune.

He cons his way from a bed at the YMCA into the posh Soho loft of a middle-aged book editor, even as he pursues a young bartender, and abuses and gaslights both women. He spins elaborate tales about his imaginary high-power job in real estate while, in reality, he passes his days watching comedy specials on VHS, smoking crack in Tompkins Square Park, and engaging in occasional sex work in the restrooms of Grand Central Station. His many failures, however, only serve to sharpen his one true gift: Doughty is a skilled predator, and the damage he inflicts on the women around him is savage and remorseless.

Paula Bomer iis the author of the novels Tante Eva and Nine Months and the story collections Inside Madeleine and Baby and Other Stories, as well as the essay collection Mystery and Mortality. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including New York Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, BOMB, Fiction, and The Mississippi Review.