Frisk (novel)

Plot summary

Frisk is narrated by Dennis, who had a troubled childhood. In 1969, aged 13, he was regularly allowed to read pornographic magazines and was particularly affected by snuff pornography, even though he later learns that the pictures were faked. He recognises that Henry, now aged 17, was the 13/14-year-old boy portrayed in the pictures.

Dennis is gay and a drug-taker and is devastated when his boyfriend Julian leaves him to go off to France. Dennis takes up with Julian’s younger brother Kevin. The boy is psychologically troubled, yet 18-year-old Dennis involves him in drugs and starts a sexual relationship.

In 1989, Julian receives a letter from Dennis describing how he embarked on a sadistic killing spree in Amsterdam. The descriptions in the letter are explicit and the torture and sadism are described in graphic terms. Dennis then meets up with two Germans, tells them what he has done, and they join forces to commit a series of random, motiveless murders. One of the serial killer’s most recent victims was an 11-year-old boy, whom they tortured before mutilating and murdering in Dennis’ home, a converted windmill, two weeks before the letter was written.

Julian travels to Amsterdam with Kevin to find out if the murders in the letters are true or just a cruel fantasy.