I read this as an audiobook read by Paul Giamatti. Let me say that again: Paul-freaking-Giamatti. It was a genius casting choice - he is the PERFECT reader for this whacked out psychadelic trip of a book. The writing style is very conventional, at least for the first half of the book, but it gets weirder and weirder as the main character's mind disintegrates under the influence of "Substance D" or "Death" - a designer drug. He's living a double life as a narc and as a druggie, and his life starts to unravel when he can't keep the parts of his life separate anymore. I loved this audiobook so much.