American Psycho

Ellis’s novel narrated by Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street mergers-and-acquisitions banker in late-1980s Manhattan whose obsession with business cards, restaurant reservations and brand names runs alongside accounts of murder the book never confirms.

Why it’s on the list: Named in the replies to @WillManidis asking for the single best book that explains an entire industry — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved. The reply treats a satire as the best available description of investment-banking status culture.

Page count omitted: editions vary widely and no single figure could be verified.

Where I saw it: In the replies to @WillManidis asking “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025). Kyle recovered the reply list by hand and saved it to his “Books To Read” Apple Note; the full transcribed list lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Language of Discourse — the portfolio idea this sits closest to: the book is almost entirely about the vocabulary of status.