Oh I like that interpretation, I didn’t even think of that. I do think that that could pair well with what we see of Patrick towards the end of the book. I really like that.

Yes, exactly! So much of what is described in the book just doesn’t make sense for it to have actually occurred. If I were to say any of the murders actually took place, I would say that I could give him the murder of the homeless man in the beginning as I think the logistics work and it’s detailed enough. I truly believe Patrick is just experimenting with these ideas in his mind or is straight up having delusions of legitimately committing these acts. The fact of the book itself being a satire in other areas, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of it was just Ellis pushing with what he could get the reader to believe Patrick could do or get away with.

I agree! The way that Ellis blurs the lines between Patrick’s delusions and reality makes it really hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. I know I often had a hard time telling and would turn to other people who had already read the book to see what they thought. I see a lot of different people interpreting the book a lot of different ways and this is just what I came out with.

I approach the cab driver with the same attitude as I approach the police chase scene, that it’s just an event that Patrick has worked into his fantasy, it either didn’t happen or something much milder happened and Patrick amplified it to apply to his thoughts.

You make some interesting points but I still think my perspective has some merit. I’ll call to my point that Paul Owens seems to be someone who is more respected and maybe less likely to be confused with someone else but I do agree with you that it is a recurring theme of the names being confused in the book.

As for the realtor, to the best of my memory, Patrick is described as appearing nervous and shifty when he comes to the open house. The realtor could have easily taken this as Patrick coming to steal something from the open house or to generally cause that sort of trouble.

But again, I agree that there are points that go for and against my argument.