Shame is an acquired taste. No one knows this better than the young anonymous narrator exposed to repeated instances of sexual abuse, parental beatings and gleefully administered psychological violence. A black belt Machiavellian by the time he arrives in London he finds the perfect enabler for his shame habit. A career in advertising. Brilliant, depraved and unexpectedly sophisticated The Shame Addict shocks and seduces as we witness the manufacture and installation of one of the most prominent self-destruct buttons ever featured in modern fiction.