How Like A God

E-001: The Vanguard Press. Good+. 1929. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. The Vanguard Press. 1929. 313 pgs. First Edition/First Printing. Facsimile DJ in excellent shape. Bound in maroon boards with gilt titles and gilt design to the spine. Boards have wear present to the extremities of the boards (spine is faded and boards are faded at the board edges). No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. 'How Like a God' is touted on the cover as an "extraordinarily brilliant novel about a sexual psychotic - his strange marriage, abnormal obsessions and dark desires". It is actually an account of Bill Sidney, from his school days to mid-life and his awkward relationships with women. He is fixated on elder sister Jane, has an affair with Sunday-school teacher Mrs Davis, falls in love with country-girl Lucy, but instead marries rich but unfaithful Erma, and finds a mistress in gamine Millicent. The book alternates between a third-person segment that implies murderous intent and the main second-person narrative and jumps back and forth in time. In my mind it's the stylistic precursor to Bright Lights Big City crossed with the confused psychotic tone of American Psycho. Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and 39 novellas between 1934 and 1975. E-01; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .