The Shards is a 2023 autofiction/horror novel by American author Bret Easton Ellis, published on January 17, 2023, by Alfred A. Knopf. Ellis's first novel in 13 years, The Shards is a fictionalized memoir of Ellis's final year of high school in 1981 in Los Angeles. It was first serialized by Ellis as an audiobook through his podcast on Patreon. The novel's narrator, Bret, relates the story of the events of his senior year of high school in 1981, of he and his close circle of friends' acquaintance with new student Robert Mallory and the tragedy that followed. The novel can be categorized as both autofiction and metafiction.
Adaptations (1)
The Shards was adapted into a 2026 television series.
The Shards2026 · television series · IMDb ↗Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the story follows a 17-year-old version of Bret Easton Ellis during his final year at the elite Buckley prep school. Upending his world is the arrival of a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory, whose unsettling presence coincides with the activities of a serial killer known as The Trawler.
