Do I need to be drunk off my ass to find this captivating or...?

It takes a while.

I enjoyed the opening bits where Hencher is remembering living through the London Blitz.
The theft of the horse was meh.
I wasn't sure what the hell was going on during the murder in the steam bath.
And I enjoyed the bimbos.
All in all, enjoyed the atmosphere but felt it was a jumped up Graham Greene thriller where he left you guessing for art's sake as to what motives people had for what they did or who the hell the bimbos were

>>7623168
>Graham Greene thriller where he left you guessing for art's sake as to what motives people had for what they did or who the hell the bimbos were

That's pretty accurate, but for myself it was the good thing about it; sort of deconstruction of thriller genre; somewhat in the way what Robbe-Grillet would have done; and I think what Flannery O'connor said about this book (and it's, I believe, on the back of the cover): that one is suffering it like a dream, or nightmare.

Also somewhat reminded me of lucid daydream/ nightmare-ish soundscapes of Nurse with wound etc. But I think I enjoyed The Cannibal a little bit more.