Choke

Victor Mancini has devised a complicated scam to pay for his mother's hospital care: pretend to be choking on a piece of food in a restaurant and the person who 'saves you' will feel responsible for you for the rest of their lives.

Palahniuk's grotesque, exaggerated portrait of American society certainly isn't pretty, but it grips like a vice all the same

A wonderful writer with a raw take on modern woes

Mining a dark vein opened by Bret Easton Ellis and George Saunders, Palahniuk specialises in producing nightmarish visions of American society that manage to be both repugnant and hilarious - the reckless brilliance of his imagination keeps you turning the pages

A raw and vital book, punctuated with outrageous, off-the-wall moments

The pungent imagery, the witty twists, the chunky rhythms are great

Chuck Palahniuk is the bestselling author of fifteen fictional works, including Fight Club , Invisible Monsters , Survivor , Choke , Lullaby , Diary , Haunted , Rant , Pygmy , Tell-All , Damned , Doomed , Beautiful You , and most recently Make Something Up . He lives in the Pacific Northwest.