These violent delights A novel

Two young men from different backgrounds meet as college freshmen in Pittsburgh in the early 1970s. When the friendship between sensitive, insecure Paul Fleischer and nonchalantly charming Julian Fromme deepens into intimacy tinged with violence and eventually love, Paul's middle-class Jewish grandparents and widowed mother worry about the relationship, even urging Paul toward shiksas. It's different at Julian's family estate, where his father offers to buy Paul off while his mother warns Paul that he's just the latest of Julian's "boys." This spawns the pair's fantasy of a house fire that would kill Julian's entire family, a fantasy that morphs into a plan to commit a murder (or, as Julian calls it, an "endgame"). Selecting a victim with no ties to either of the two takes time, as does making a detailed plan, which soon is seen as critical to their future happiness. But even the best, most carefully detailed plan can go awry, with unexpected consequences. A debut novel, compelling in its plotting and characterizations, that plumbs emotional depths and evokes Meyer Levin's 1956 classic Compulsion, based on the Leopold and Loeb case.

Nemerever's dark, inspired debut depicts a Leopold and Loeb--like thrill killing committed by two gay Jewish college students in 1970s Pittsburgh. Sensitive Paul Fleischer, an artist, comes from a working-class family and is grieving his father's recent suicide. He easily falls under the spell of Julian Fromme, a rich psychology student who exudes wit and energy. As the young men become lovers, Paul's family worries about the amount of time he spends with Julian, and his mother pleads with him to hang out with girls, while Paul resigns himself to taking what he can get from the withholding Julian ("If Julian were to love him, it would feel like something he deigned to do. It meant more to be needed"). Julian's power over Paul becomes more intense after he uses Paul to break free of his own overbearing family. Soon the young men are imagining violent deaths ("How about a Helter Skelter kind of thing, wouldn't that be fun? We could paint gibberish in blood on the walls," Julian says), and they work their way up to kidnapping a stranger. The buildup digs into the why as much as the how, allowing Nemerever to chart an enthralling exploration of what drives these young men to violence. Fans of Patricia Highsmith will definitely want to take note of this promising writer. Agent: Caroline Eisenmann, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Sept.)