Adrenaline

Rating:
Summary: insipid and insulting
Review: Adrenaline is by far one of the worst novels I have ever read and the worst novel by James Robert Baker. It's no wonder Baker used a pseudonym when it was initially published. All the characters are completely unlikeable including Nick and Jeff and they're the ones we're suppose to be rooting for. Every male character is either gay, a closeted gay or hates gays. The situations in this novel are so far fetched over-the-top unbelievable that all credibly is blown out the window. Whenever Nick and Jeff are backed into a corner they either come across someone they know who helps them out, miraculously dodge bullets and thwarts an entire police department or they find a super hero way out like jumping through a skylight, landing unscathed on their feet to continue running without missing a beat. This novel reads like Jackie Collins on gay crack and that's insulting to Jackie. I moaned and groaned through the entire novel, and not in a good way.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of James Robert Baker and there is plenty of evidence in Adrenaline of the great things to come such as Tim & Pete and Testosterone. Even his posthumously released work of over-the-top absurdist fiction Anarchy is four stars above this.

A must read if you're a Baker fan but prepare to be a bit insulted and a bit disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: 80s Hollywood
Review: Baker's riveting story is sure to entertain those readers who love Mel Keegan's work. Some of the violence and events seem almost gratuitous, but they fit in the grand scheme of the book and its political statements about America's homophobia in the 1980s. Nick and Jeff end up on the run from homophobic cops, and must evade every attempt to apprehend them. With a nearly "Thelma and Louise"-type ending, the story leaves it open-ended. The sex scenes are quite hot, too.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and Unforgiving
Review: I first read James Robert Bakers book in 1987, a friend lent it to me telling me that this book is an excellent look at the underbelly of what we as outsiders look at as the perfect place to live. This being hollywood. What Mr. Baker does is take you on an horrific journey into the unknown and the unexpected. Dealing two, in love men and there meatings with genrally deranged individuals whilst on the run from the law for basically have sex. This book is a tour de force through the basement of the city of angles. A truly brilliant read that will leave a bad taste in your mouth and looking at hollywood as you have never seen it before.

Rating:
Summary: A Complete Waste of Time and Money
Review: Poorly written, chock full of cliches, and utterly ridiculous, Adrenaline verges on the offensive only it's too lame to get there. I bought this book hoping for a decent mystery with a gay twist. What I got was a collection of paper-thin stereotypes and a silly, endless chase scene passing as plot. Gay audiences have to prove to publishers that we have more taste and won't read just anything because it's "gay." We can start by avoiding trash like this.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent First Novel
Review: This was James Baker's first book, originally published in 1985 under the name James Dillinger, because at the time he was considering changing his name to something less ordinary. Adrenaline tells the story of Nick and Jeff, two lovers-who-just-met, busted by a couple of cops with some pretty big issues. They find themselves running for their lives as the entire LAPD hunts them for a murder they didn't commit. A classic chase story, Baker's Hollywood script-writing skills show through already, as does his brilliant and black sense of humour. The horrific is rendered absurd and hilarious (but not ineffectual) as Baker crashes gleefully through the boundaries of good taste. And if you ever found the Osmonds a little too sickly-sweet or hated homophobic cops (and let's face it we all have), there's something here for you. This book really lives up to it's name - it's a riveting story that you just can't put down.

Rating:
Summary: What a Rush!!!
Review: What a rush of "Adrenaline" this book is! What a thriller! It's so full of energy I guarantee you once you've opened this book you won't close it till you're finished. It's has a little bit of everything woven into this story; drugs, sex, psychotic cops, murder, violence, hate and a lot of love. I was riveted to this story once I started it. Nick & Jeff are brutalized by the police when they are discovered in bed making love & having sex. This being consensual sex between two adults in their own apartment. After Jeff & Nick fight back, one of the cops dies & both of their lives are changed forever. Now they have no choice but to flee and end up on the run through Hollywood to save their lives. You'll have a different view of beautiful Hollywood after reading this book. Every place they go to in their escape it's a matter of life & death, and the action & tense situations they get themselves into are so realistic you find yourself cheering them on. Will Nick & Jeff escape? Will they find love together again? Or be jailed, brutalized more, or even murdered?

It's truly sad that the late James Baker is no longer with us. All of his books are ground-breaking, realistic, and disturbing because they take you into the darkness society doesn't want exposed on the surface. This book is from the same author who gave us "Tim & Pete" & "Testosterone", two other masterpieces of fiction. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: What a Rush!!!
Review: What a rush of "Adrenaline" this book is! What a thriller! It's so full of energy I guarantee you once you've opened this book you won't close it till you're finished. It's has a little bit of everything woven into this story; drugs, sex, psychotic cops, murder, violence, hate and a lot of love. I was riveted to this story once I started it. Nick & Jeff are brutalized by the police when they are discovered in bed making love & having sex. This being consensual sex between two adults in their own apartment. After Jeff & Nick fight back, one of the cops dies & both of their lives are changed forever. Now they have no choice but to flee and end up on the run through Hollywood to save their lives. You'll have a different view of beautiful Hollywood after reading this book. Every place they go to in their escape it's a matter of life & death, and the action & tense situations they get themselves into are so realistic you find yourself cheering them on. Will Nick & Jeff escape? Will they find love together again? Or be jailed, brutalized more, or even murdered?

It's truly sad that the late James Baker is no longer with us. All of his books are ground-breaking, realistic, and disturbing because they take you into the darkness society doesn't want exposed on the surface. This book is from the same author who gave us "Tim & Pete" & "Testosterone", two other masterpieces of fiction. A great read.