Home › Gay › Frisk

Frisk

by Dennis Cooper

Images, obsession, and the limits of knowledge

Regular price $17.92 USD
Regular price $29.87 USD Sale price $17.92 USD
Save 40%

Paperback New

Delivery to your door
In stock·Dispatches in 1–2 business days
Standard shipping* from $4.35
Standard shipping transit* 5–8 business days after dispatch

Faster options are available.

Rates and delivery estimates depend on your destination and item quantity. Estimates are informational only; the final shipping method and rate are selected at checkout.

Secure checkout
American Express Apple Pay DiscoverGoogle Pay Mastercard PayPalVisa
30-day eligible returns Returns & refunds policy

Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Los Angeles Times Book Review says Frisk is “Destined to classic status”

    Described as destined to achieve classic status.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Images, obsession, and the limits of knowledge

In the second novel of Dennis Cooper’s George Miles Cycle, a disturbing set of photographs becomes the point of departure for an inquiry into violence, desire, and the stories people build around what they cannot understand. Years after first seeing the images, Dennis encounters the boy who posed for them and travels to Europe, pursuing what they might reveal about death and the body. The novel places that search amid sexual desolation, disease, and the public fascination with horror. Its central questions concern the power of fantasy and faith, and the boundary between physical existence and spirit.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in fiction about obsession, fantasy, and the search for meaning.
  • Readers comfortable with explicit, disturbing subject matter involving violence, death, and sexuality.
  • Readers exploring LGBTQ+ gay fiction or the George Miles Cycle.

Themes

Obsession and desireViolence, death, and the bodyFantasy and faithThe limits of knowledgeLGBTQ+ experience

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Second in the award-winning George Miles Cycle, "as intense a dissection of human relationships and obsession that modern literature has ever attempted" (The Guardian).

When Dennis is thirteen, he sees a series of photographs of a boy apparently unimaginably mutilated. Dennis is not shocked but stunned by their mystery and their power; their glimpse at the reality of death. Some years later, Dennis meets the boy who posed for the photographs. He did it for love.

Surrounded by images of violence, the celebrity of horror, news of disease, a wasteland of sex, Dennis flies to Europe, having discovered some clues about the photographs: "I see these criminals on the news who've killed someone methodically, and they're free. They know something amazing. You can just tell." An isolated windmill in Holland provides the perfect setting for Dennis to find out more about bodies--of which there are many--and what is inside them.

In Frisk, as in the award-winning Closer, Dennis Cooper explores the limits of our knowledge and the dividing line between the body and the spirit. Frisk is a novel about the power of fantasy and faith, about the ecstasy and horror of being human.

"A significant work of fiction. Cooper . . . wants to lead us into the wormy heart of the murderous impulse."--Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours

"Destined to classic status."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Dennis Cooper, a disturbing and transcendent artist, enters the mind of a killer and comes out with genuine revelation." --Michael Silverblatt, host of Bookworm

"An electrifying study in carnage."--The Sunday Times

Shipping & returnsShipping options, delivery timing, and our return policy.

In-stock items normally dispatch within 1–2 business days. The ZIP-code estimator on this page is informational only; the final shipping method, price, and availability are confirmed at checkout for your full order.

For the initial delivery estimate we use these transit windows after dispatch: Standard 5–8 business days, Expedited 2–4 business days, and Priority 1–2 business days. Holiday delays are not included.

Eligible items can be returned within 30 days in accordance with our return policy.

Customer reviews