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Title: The Bottle Ghosts by Dorien Grey ISBN: 1-879194-73-2 Publisher: GLB Publishers Pub. Date: 10 February, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: The title is the best part!
Comment: I admit it, I bought this book because the title was catchy and the story description on Amazon also sounded interesting. The name the author uses is interesting as well, especially if it's real. That said, it turns out that the BEST thing about the book really IS the title.
The writing tends to be tedious, unengaging, and at it's worst, highly annoying. Instead of imparting information via characters, it's often "told" to the reader via scenes where the primary character refers to or is thinking about his "crotch" or sexual history.
But that's not the biggest problem. The problem is that it's repeated, nearly identically over and over and over and over (get it?) Usually nothing is added in the way of different contexts, points of view, characters, or whatnot.
I suppose it's intended to be illustrative of the male stereotype where our sex drive is the strongest determinant in our behavior. We're "at the mercy of our P***is." Ok.. Fine... I get it. The character was sexually indescriminant in the past and is having trouble changing his long term behaviors. 'nuf said.
I'm truly sorry that the book didn't live up to it's cover text and description. Had it, we would have had an interesting story that addressed a problem of some importance to gay people - alcoholism. There does need to be more discussion about the extreme rate of alcoholism among gay men and women, it's causes, and most importantly, how it can be changed in the long term for future generations.
That this problem is largely the byproduct of gay culture's historical emphasis on bars and nightclubs is well known. If gay people were less "apart" from the bulk of the population the dependence on bars for the biggest part of their social participation would be lessened and then we probably wouldn't be killing ourselves with alcohol. That's the simplicity of what this book attempted to address but in which it fails spectacularly. I'm sorry to say.
Rating: 5
Summary: Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence
Comment: When a new client arrives in his office reporting a missing lover, Dick Hardesty's first reaction is that the guy has taken off for whatever reason. He begins his search by visiting the bars the missing man frequented. Soon Dick learns that police triage missing persons; and they relegate alcoholic, gay men to the bottom of the heap. When he questions his police contacts regarding police procedure with missing person cases, Dick gets unexpected results.
Desk rookie Marty Gresham is working on a master's degree in criminology and decides to use his work for his thesis. Gresham went back several years looking at missing persons, and discovered an unexpected pattern. Single men, ages 26 to 40, that were heavy drinkers or acknowledged alcoholics have been disappearing. Indeed, four have disappeared within the last six months. Suddenly Dick once again finds himself confronted with a crime far bigger than his initial investigation; one he cannot walk away from.
On the surface, Dick simply investigates yet another series of murders. But the subtext of the gay lifestyle, of relationships and desires, of hidden motives and concealed pain, lends THE BOTTLE GHOSTS remarkable depth. While readers will identify with secret demons, most find help or learn to live with the pain of our individual bottle ghosts. Each scene is carefully crafted with hints and red herrings enough to delight the most demanding mystery lover. Moreover, Grey's prose absolutely resonates with powerful emotion and tragic decisions, with painful need and dangerous desire.
THE BOTTLE GHOSTS provides powerful reading on a number of levels. In addition to a terrific mystery, readers are privy to Dick's personal world. As Dick's relationship with Jonathan plays out, readers are given a glimpse at a different side of gay relationships not previously explored by Grey's work. Dick no long allows, well, little dick to run his life although we are still privy to intimate thoughts of lust at times. Instead, Dick explores the world of a monogamous relationship structured by love and trust. Such a transformation does not mirror a heterosexual's expectation, and yet the similarities and differences will be as surprising and as enlightening as Dick's previous sojourns through clubs and baths. Furthermore, Dick has never had first hand experience with alcoholism. Grey's treatment of the subject is remarkably insightful. And it is these remarkable complexes that lend varied layers to this fascinating text. Consequently, THE BOTTLE GHOSTS earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.
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Title: Blind Eye: A Benjamin Justice Novel by John Morgan Wilson ISBN: 0312309198 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Dead Egotistical Morons: A Paul Turner Mystery by Mark Richard Zubro, Mark Zubro ISBN: 0312266820 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Jackson Square Jazz by Greg Herren ISBN: 0758202148 Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: With You in Spirit: A Novel by Steven Cooper ISBN: 1555837832 Publisher: Alyson Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Concrete Sky by Marshall Moore ISBN: 1560234369 Publisher: Southern Tier Editions Harrington Park Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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