The End Of Alice

This is the second novel I've read by A.M. Homes. The first was This Book Will Change Your Life which I liked a lot. The End Of Alice is narrated by a pedophile who has been in prison for 23 years for the rape and murder of a twelve year old girl. He corresponds with a college girl who has the hots for a little boy and is a pedophilia groupie. I found this book to be deeply disturbing. It's not because of the subject matter. I worked for many years as a child protection worker in the days when sexual abuse of children was only beginning to be taken seriously and have heard some horrific stories. I know that there are people out there who have despicable appetites.  It takes more than this to shock me but when I was about half way through I put the book down. Homes is a good writer but she seems to be trying to channel Nabokov, right down to the butterfly on the book cover.  In real life even people who have committed the most heinous acts possess some humanity but the characters in this novel are profoundly distasteful. I did not like this book and threw it in the garbage.