Additional Reviews
Additional Reviews
The 9th Man
Gay Mystery novel by Dorien Grey
E-book/Print Mystery, Gay/Lesbian
The 9th Man
Dorien Grey
GLB Publishers 155 Pages Price:
$7.00 Download/ $14.95 Printed Paperback
Reviewer: Vincent Kovar
There's a detective, a mysterious client and, of course,
a corpse. However, what starts out as a traditional noir tale of murder and
revenge is draped with a swag of lavender, for the hard-boiled investigator,
the client, the suspects, and even the victims, are all gay.
The story follows Dick Hardesty, private eye, as he
reluctantly investigates the apparent 'suicide' of Bobby McDermott, a promiscuous
hunk whose case the police would prefer to ignore. Almost immediately the
clues trace the chalk outlines of six more gay men and Hardesty must race
to find their connection before the body count climbs even higher. Things
keep tripping him up though. The evidence is disappearing, the case has a
noticeable lack of suspects and at every turn there seems to be a cowboy
hustler or sexually enthusiastic medical examiner trying to seduce him (and
they usually do).
The story starts out a little rough as the first few
pages of stock characters and heavy metaphor may be hard to swallow for the
modern reader. The gritty feel and plot mesh together quickly though, and
by mid-way through the first chapter the author finds the right gear to drive
the story through the rest of the book. The tone is consistent with the genre,
keeping to the classic first person narrative which favors a stripped down,
colloquial style, and featuring enough familiar noir iconography (revenge,
vigilante justice, and sex) to project the book's imagery though the grainy
film of late night movies. Despite this almost canonical approach to the
noir tale, there is still enough mystery to keep The 9th Man
from being predictable. Clues are revealed sparingly and the dialogue is
crafted well enough to keep the myriad minor characters distinct. The character
of Dick Hardesty, gay detective, is also solidly built, resisting as it does,
the worst stereotypes of both the detective and gay genres.
Overall, The 9th Man is a fun, easy read
for anyone who is looking for a modern pulp tale with a fast moving plot
and just a little bit of a lilt.