La Bas by J.K Husymans

This Gothic-Decadent thriller is by the same author of Against Nature, and is no less shocking. It tells the story of Durtal, a writer loosely based on Husymans himself, who is writing a biography of the medieval knight, Gilles de Rais. Durtal is obsessed with the occult and Satanism. The novel itself was published around about the same time as The Picture of Dorian Gray, but this novel is a thousand times more graphic than Wilde's depiction of decadence. Durtal befriends a bell-ringer in a local bell tower and there he learns more of the occult. The novel is essentially an essay on Satanism and religious piety, culminating in a black mass in which Durtal encounters Canon Docre, a perverse Satanist involved with Madame Charteouve, Durtal's lover. This novel is not for the squeamish as it graphically describes the murders of boys and girls by the hand of Gilles de Rais, a knight who once protected Joan of Arc but later turned to  Satanism. Husymans shocking display of graphic narrative will deter the faint-hearted reader, but his unflinching attention to detail and esoteric references will enthrall those who are willing to take a pinch of salt and read this work for it's literary value.
La Bas is a novel that is not for everyone, if you are not thrown off by the debate of naturalism at the beginning you will probably become bored by Carhaix's lengthy harangue on bell-ringing. But once Durtal begins describing the terrible crimes of Gilles de Rais the reader cannot help but be drawn in even if only out of curiosity. If you are looking for a new author to shock and educate you, I suggest you read Husymans and then judge contemporary thriller novels.