African Psycho

Finalist for the Man Booker International Prize 2015

“The novel with which [Mabanckou] cemented his reputation as one of French-language fiction’s leading lights . . . Black as pitch and bitter as wormwood, a razor-sharp satire in which the trials of a would-be serial killer are played for laughs.” —Times Literary Supplement

Its title recalls Bret Easton Ellis’s infamous book, American Psycho. But while Ellis’s narrator was a blank slate, the protagonist of African Psycho is a quivering mass of lies, neuroses, and relentless internal chatter.

Gregoire Nakobomayo, a petty criminal, has decided to kill his girlfriend Germaine. He’s been planning the crime for some time. But the act of murder requires a bit of psychological and logistical preparation. Luckily, he has a mentor to call on, the far more accomplished serial killer Angoualima. The fact that Angoualima is dead doesn’t prevent Gregoire from holding lengthy conversations with him. Little by little, Gregoire interweaves Angoualima’s life and criminal exploits with his own.

Continuing with the plan despite a string of botched attempts and abject failures, Gregoire’s final shot at offing Germaine leads to his abrupt unraveling. Lauded in France for its fresh and witty style, African Psycho’s inventive use of language surprises and delights, relieving the reader through an injection of humor into a plainly disturbing subject.