2. Less Than Zero (1985), Bret Easton Ellis

The main character of Less Than Zero, Clay, is a college student simultaneously addicted to and imprisoned by his vacuous existence. Narrated in the first person, Clay moves detachedly through rich kid drug parties, sexual encounters, and all sorts of dark shit that I’m not going to spoil for you by mentioning here. Basically, dude and his friends are so spoiled by affluence that they continually engage in extremely subversive behavior in an effort to feel anything at all, and essentially ‘being’ one of the characters as you read it takes you to some pretty dark places. Warning: not for the faint of heart.