Since Bret Easton Ellis hasn’t written anything in the last couple of years to quench the thirst of the bloodthirsty, drug addled minds of his fans, many are looking elsewhere. That’s where newcomer John Niven, Scottish writer and ex-London music industry executive, comes in.

Nivens second novel, Kill Your Friends, takes the reader through the daily life of an A&R agent, or record company talent scout. The music festivals, the drunken luncheons, the prostitutes, the long nights spent hovering over a mirror in a hotel room running up a room service bill longer than the average human’s arm.

All of these scenes are just pieces of what makes Niven’s novel so good. Add the fact that his character Steven Stelfox is constantly giving insight into the workings of the record industry; revealing how greedy and out of touch the people who work in it are. Throw in the occasional graphic homicide and Niven’s got himself a potential best seller.

But two or three hundred words in a college paper won’t do this book as much justice as the quote taken from the pages and displayed on the back of the book.

“It’s not dog-eat-dog around here… it’s dog-gang-rapes-dog-then-tortures-him-for- five-days-before-burying-him-alive-and-taking-out-everyone-mother******-the-dog-has-ever-known.”

So for anyone looking for a writer to give them the bloody murders, the drug-crazed characters and the sarcasm so many other writers are going for now a days please pick up a copy of Kill Your Friends.

Niven has also written Music From Big Pink and plans to release another novel in early 2009.