Peter Crumb is a disturbed individual, led through life by the voice in his head, his alter ego. The Seven Days of Peter Crumb by Jonny Glynn chronicles the last week of Crumb’s life. Crumb takes these last seven days and fills them with mayhem. An overpowering urge to kill a clerk at a newsstand overtakes him. He picks up a wrecked prostitute and beats the crap out of him, just because he had never done that before. He brutally slaughters the neighbors and rapes the wife while she is dying because they are vaguely annoying.
Crumb is best compared to Patrick Bateman from Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho. He kills indiscriminately, brutally, with little remorse and little reason. Throughout the book, you can piece together that Crumb once had a wife and daughter, but the marriage ended because she blamed him for their daughter’s death. No other info is given, no other background, no motivation. It is not even known if his daughter’s death set him off on his rampage.
The Seven Days of Peter Crumb is tough to get into. Glynn is a British writer, and he uses so much British slang that, as an American, I had no idea what he meant. Crumb is not a relatable character. Patrick Bateman at least had a life outside his psychosis. You see no more than those seven days. That week is no more than a blur of violent outbursts, arguments with his other self, and semi-philosophical ramblings. There is no real reason given for Crumb to be set off. I went with the whole “lost his family” thing, though when he visits his estranged wife, Glynn intimates that their daughter’s death happened many years prior. I won’t ruin the end for you, but suffice it to say, it is a total cop-out.
Overall, The Seven Days of Peter Crumb is a respectable debut novel, but it is very obviously a debut novel. I am interested to see where Glynn’s career goes from here.
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