Party Monster (formerly titled 'Disco Bloodbath')

In 1996, New York City drug dealer and "club kid" Angel Melendez was bludgeoned, injected with Drano, dismembered, and tossed into the river. James St. James was there when the killer, Michael Alig, flamboyant King of the Club Kids,  confessed, but before that, there were the clubs, the parties, the drugs, and the many fabulous (and some not so fabulous) outfits. Party Monster (originally titled Disco Bloodbath, but renamed after the film version starring Macauley Caulkin) is "celebutante" St. James's story, equal parts confession and attempt at closure. St. James is a drug-addled clubster who wears a wedding dress out on the town and invokes Judy Garland as he talks about the post-Warhol 80s New York party scene in which he and Melendez immersed themselves before the murder. His story, despite its gruesome subject matter and frequent, shocking lucidity, has a chatty and anecdotal quality that's compelling, endearing, and unrelentingly human.

Paperback, 288 Pages, Published 2003