Publisher's Synopsis
Chuck is a bored college student who's ready to kill or die at any moment. He works as an armed security officer for the federal government where he watches the same people, work their same jobs, in their same offices, "every same day." He believes his repetitive dead-end job is, on a smaller scale, symbolic of America as a whole, where people work dead-end careers all their lives and dream of some imaginary "next job," while slaving to death for an American dream they never achieve. Furthermore, he sees laws, escapist entertainment, and religion as intellectual parasites which swallow up the desires and ambitions of most Americans, conning them into lives of senseless repetition, underachievement, and boredom. In the past he's escaped his own repetitive life only though writing screenplays. But now, believing that the only way one can get the most out of life is by breaking codes of morality, laws, and religion, he decides to commit murder to demonstrate that he is entitled to far more liberty than most people-and no "God" is there to stop him. He goes on to seduce the woman he desires, and kills more. Deluded by a fantastical imagination, he strives to become a maker of his own rules, a creator of fatally violent entertainment (with real killing), and an historical immortal. Carmen, the curvy college girl Chuck seduces, enjoys his bold advances and "bad boy" style at first, but once realizing he's a blasphemy-spouting murderer, will have nothing to do with him. Her goal in life: marriage. She only let Chuck have his way with her to get revenge against her boyfriend, who still hasn't promised to marry her. Deep down, Carmen struggles between two extremes: the desire for marriage which was impressed upon her mind since a little girl with fairy tales, romance novels, and chick flicks; and the libertine lifestyle of her voluptuous and erotically emancipated girlfriend. As the war rages on in Carmen's mind-(and all over her body)-Chuck turns to stalking her, dragging her back to his world of insanity, and forcing her to film him commit unspeakable acts. Sam Green, the FBI Agent assigned to stop Chuck, experiences his own conservative life, and attempt at The American Dream, unraveling as he struggles with hopelessness, a miserable marriage, and a devastating career disappointment at the Bureau. As he closes in on Chuck, he becomes like the killer, losing faith in everything he once believed in, going into despair, and becoming a gray man in a world of good and evil. The Only Real Fun in Life is a dark, cerebral, erotic, thriller that contemplates the joy of depravity, the practicality of marriage, and the existence of God.
