Contents
Chapter 30
Overview
On the night of November 7, Susan is attacked in her home by a masked intruder; Thom rushes over and is grievously wounded. Robert arrives, drives them to the hospital, and then returns to his condo. Bret breaks in to confront him about Debbie, triggering a violent knife fight that spills across balconies. Robert, panicked and bleeding, attempts to escape downward and falls to his death, while Bret is severely injured and taken to the hospital.
Summary
On Saturday night, November 7, Susan Reynolds prepares to celebrate Robert Mallory’s eighteenth birthday at her parents’ empty house. Hearing unexplained noises, finding the backyard door open, and then discovering the phone lines cut, Susan confronts a masked intruder who slashes her breast and wounds her hand. In panic she calls Thom Wright; he races over, enters through the open slider, and is immediately attacked, his leg filleted by the intruder’s knife.
As Susan and Thom bleed on the living room floor, Robert arrives, gathers the gravely injured Thom and hysterical Susan, and speeds them to Cedars-Sinai. Their parents are notified. Robert leaves the hospital for his Century Towers condo, where staff witness him returning bloodstained with a duffel bag.
Bret, warned by Donald Reynolds, drives to Century Towers and secretly enters Robert’s condo using a key from Benedict Canyon. Bret disables the phones and front door, arms himself with a kitchen knife, and confronts Robert, demanding to know what happened to Debbie Schaffer. Robert, also armed with a knife, accuses Bret of being one of the “freaks” following him. The confrontation escalates into a knife fight, and both are slashed.
Robert flees to the balcony. Bret smashes the sliding door and tackles Robert on the glass-strewn tiles; both sustain further wounds. Robert drops to the balcony below; Bret follows and continues demanding Debbie’s whereabouts. The fight turns desperate, with choking and more stabs, until Robert tries to descend again to a lower balcony.
On the twenty-seventh-floor balcony, slick with their blood, Robert hangs from the railing, attempting to swing to the next level. Bret, fading and terrified, strikes Robert’s hands to stop him. Robert loses his grip and falls, his body shattering on the garage roof below.
Emergency responders reach Bret, who, weeping and in shock, insists Robert attacked friends and killed himself. Paramedics transport Bret as another stretcher carries Robert’s mangled remains. The night ends with Susan and Thom in emergency care, Robert dead, and Bret hospitalized.
Who Appears
- Bret Easton EllisNarrator; breaks into Robert’s condo to confront him about Debbie, disables phones, engages in a brutal knife fight, is badly injured.
- Robert MalloryPlans birthday with Susan, drives Susan and Thom to Cedars after the attack, then fights Bret across balconies and falls to his death.
- Susan ReynoldsAlone at home, senses an intruder, is slashed and terrorized; calls Thom; later taken to Cedars in shock.
- Thom WrightResponds to Susan’s plea, confronts the intruder, suffers a horrific leg wound, and is rushed to emergency surgery.
- Donald ReynoldsSusan’s father; calls Bret from the hospital with updates and confirms Robert’s role in transporting victims.
- Gayle ReynoldsSusan’s mother; returns from dinner and arrives at Cedars after the attack.
- Century Towers staffValet and doorman witness Robert returning bloodstained and later facilitate emergency access.