American Psycho

Bateman is talking with McDermott and Van Patten in the Yale Club gentleman’s club. He tries to tell them about “Leatherface,” a fictional serial killer in the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre whom he is obsessed with. Luis Carruthers is sat at a nearby table, and Bateman mulls over murdering him. He wonders “would Courtney like me less if Luis was dead?” (151). When Luis gets up to go to the bathroom, Bateman follows him. Luis is at a urinal and Bateman approaches him from behind, putting his hands on his neck to strangle him. Luis mistakes Bateman’s actions for a sexual come-on and kisses his wrist. Paralyzed with shock, Bateman is unable to follow through with the murder. After a moment, he hurriedly leaves the bathroom and the club.

Patrick describes how he makes “obscene phone calls” to girls whose numbers he finds in a phone registry he stole (155). Then, after a trip to D’Agostino’s for groceries, he walks the streets looking for victims. He notices a gay man with a small dog and initiates a conversation by complimenting his pet. The man asks Bateman if he is a model or an actor before Bateman grabs the dog and cuts its stomach open.