Someone You Know : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Roller coaster ride!
Review: Great book! Gary Zebrun has a hit from the start! It's a quick read that takes your mind away from everyday life and makes you think "what if" someone was following you and knew your secrets. How would you react?

Rating:
Summary: Interesting gay mystery,
Review: I found this book both chilling and quite entertaining. I think you will too.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting gay mystery,
Review: I found this book both chilling and quite entertaining. I think you will too.

Rating:
Summary: Uniquely Average
Review: I read this book in less than four hours. Not necessarily because it was a well-written nor because it was intriguing. It was very, very short.

The premise is very good; a closeted, married man's tricks are being murdered shortly after he leaves them. And then souvenirs (parts of their bodies) are sent to his house. Very good premise.

How the story misses the mark is the mystery. For a mystery to be effective the audience has to feel involved, but there are no clues to draw the reader in. Reader's can't guess if there are no clues. There are too may red herrings tossed in haphazardly, almost lazily, by the author--most not even making sense, and most without an adequate explanation.

The short length is welcomed, though, because I would have been really upset had I spent days reading this story and then read the ending, which seemed tacked on by the author and was a complete let down. The reader doesn't get an explanation of why the killer is murdering the victims or following the closet case around from state to state, airport to airport.

Lackluster...plain and simple. Would have rated a two, but uniqueness gives it an extra point.

Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING BUT FLAWED
Review: I'm not going to beat around the bush. SOMEONE YOU KNOW is one sick puppy of a book, so I HATE admitting I was drawn into it like a moth to a flame. I have no one to blame but myself for the third degree burns this depraved murder mystery inflicted on my psyche. I knew early on what I was getting myself into, but Zebrun's expert use of minimalist intrigue made it impossible for me to stop reading. Once I realized I was on a road trip to hell, the vehicle was going to fast to jump off.

Daniel Caruzo is a newspaper columnist in Providence R.I., with a wife and teenage daughter. He has a little secret. He's gay and has been having anonymous sex with pick-ups for quite some time. As the novel begins Dan is in Seattle attending a newspaper conference. It's his last night in town and he finds himself cruising, Slaughter, a local leather bar. He picks up, Stephen Hart, a hunky firefighter and goes home with him. When he wakes in the morning the fireman is gone but he finds a note thanking him for the beautiful time. Disappointed to find himself alone, Dan decides to take a shower and discovers a bottle of AZT in the bathroom medicine cabinet. He realizes Stephen may have been lying when he told him he was HIV negative.

Dan, feeling guilty and upset, returns to his hotel to collect his belongings and head to the airport. On a lay-over at O'Hare in Chicago, Dan, gets slightly drunk in the bar and follows a fellow patron into the restroom. Upon leaving the stall, he kicks something left on the bathroom floor, discovering it to be the bottle of AZT rubber banded with a Bart Simpson chess piece, from a set he noticed the night before at Stephen's. Something is very wrong.

Once home, Dan finds out that Stephen's been murdered, and if that isn't unsettling enough, significant proof of the murder arrives on his porch the next day, packed and shipped in ice. Dan tries to remain calm and figure it all out, but as he slips deeper into a panic-stricken state, he has more clandestine sex, resulting in more deaths. It isn't long before Dan realizes he is the focus of an obsessed serial killer, who seems to know his every move.

Zebrun tells his story in tight, fascinating detail. His characters are realistically portrayed and his situations, chillingly believable. Unfortunately, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear Dan is a sex-addicted coward, frightened yet erotically charged by the nightmare he finds himself living. He's endangered all those around him and still he cruises every man he sees. As the situation gets worse his compulsions become more acute. He keeps promising himself that he'll come clean with his family and trusted friends, but jumps at every opportunity to avoid it. I'm afraid there is nothing noble about him and it damages the stories credibility. It's difficult for the reader not to think he deserves the mess he's in.

Also, I was bothered by the lack of difficulty in figuring out who the serial killer was. The title alone offers way too obvious a clue. I kept hoping for a last minute surprise that would prove my suspicions wrong, but it never came, and what could have been an extremely involving thriller slid into little more than a slasher-story, well written but predictable. I appreciate Zebrun's writing abilities in, SOMEONE YOU KNOW, but I can't say I enjoyed the book much. Of course, I'm sure there's an audience out there for gruesome, sadistic material, and this masterfully conveyed, dark offering should make that audience ecstatic.

Rating:
Summary: Taut, edgy thriller
Review: If you thought the dead rabbit in the movie "Fatal Attraction" was creepy, hold on tight. How about a killer who sends a body part from each victim in the mail? That's what happens to Dan Caruso, a newspaper columnist who is married and closeted. He tricks with ferocity, his unrequited lust burning within him and driving him to risky choices. He finds that men he has slept with are getting murdered--and the body parts he receives are the gruesome bonus.

He goes to a police detective for help--of course, it's a guy he has tricked with. The investigation delves into a seamy world of dark bathhouses and S&M bars. Why the killer is tormenting Dan is central to this suspenseful story. The writing is lean and keeps pulling you through page after page. You'll find yourself drawn to this creepy, unusual story and maybe even breathless by the end.