Rating: 
Summary: Stunner
Review: Don't start this book unless you are willing to stay up until 2 a.m. to finish it. A really great story, different characters, terrific ending.
Rating: 
Summary: A perplexing yet captivating work
Review: From cover to cover of David Hunt's paean to San Francisco's embrasure of divergent (read hedonistic) lifestyles, I found myself constantly ping-ponging between in-the-moment captivation and detached cynicism. Hunt's heroine, Kay Farrow, a colorblind photojournalist obsessed with the death of a Polk Street hustler, constantly teeters on the edge of believability. For that matter, all of "Magician's" characters come off as either too good, bad, or fantastically flawed to b e true. Yet this story of an artist's quest to catch a killer by using her art is a compelling read. The plot -- replete with prostitution, pedophilia, incest, dismemberment and magic tricks -- has Kay galavanting from The Castro to Polk Gulch and back, tracking down hustlers and johns in a somewhat contrived effort to expose a killer and avenge her friend's death. The ride is uneven, but interesting.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book of the decade
Review: Georgeous, fog-enshrouded prose, well-paced, homo-erotic, sensuous and colorful (in a monochromatic way). I just loved this book, turned about ten of my book-reading friends on to it, and never got a complaint. The author is so familiar with the bay area that I feel like I am there, in the text. Give this book a chance: it is stark, raw and nasty, and tells a tale that is so convoluted and poignant that I defy anyone to put it down after the first 100 pages.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book of the decade
Review: Georgeous, fog-enshrouded prose, well-paced, homo-erotic, sensuous and colorful (in a monochromatic way). I just loved this book, turned about ten of my book-reading friends on to it, and never got a complaint. The author is so familiar with the bay area that I feel like I am there, in the text. Give this book a chance: it is stark, raw and nasty, and tells a tale that is so convoluted and poignant that I defy anyone to put it down after the first 100 pages.
Rating:
Summary: It holds your attention and is great reading.
Review: I am an amateur photographer and the cover of the book caught my interest. When I read the cover, I decided to purchase it and see if it would be another one that I had to force myself to finish. I am glad I bought it, I was not able to put it down. Its been awhile since I've come across a book that I just inhaled. I think the last one was the "Clan of the Cave Bear". This one was great. I am looking forward to his next one. I hope it will be as good.
Rating: 
Summary: Your not in Connecticut anymore Toto :)
Review: I found the book captivating, shocking and very interesting. Its good to read how another life lives and to know what else goes on in this world. I think you built of the relationship well enough to not need the incest. I was a little turned off by that.
Rating:
Summary: A Captivating Tale
Review: I found the book entertaining from the first page to the last ... the tale provocative, the characters compelling. I found myself hurrying through some of the descriptive paragraphs to get on to the detail. To know people "on the job" is to know how they can be expansive and secretive with the same words. A wonderful read. I'll be looking for the authors other works.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting......
Review: I have led a bookgroup about Robert Ludlum online for some time. I read authors works until completion. I've read DeMille, Forsyth, Sanders, Follet, O'Shaughnessy, Gruenfeld and am completing Cornwall.I've lived in the South Bay for 15 years. I'm a Mom, and a RE Developer. I also hang out in bars w/ my friends in Los Gatos. I'm originally from NY/NJ with a stint in Boulder, CO. I adore "the city" (San Francisco). I have lingered in all parts of the city, from the "Haight" to the "Castro" to the "Wharf" to "North Beach" and to "SOMA". My gay friend Daryl has slepped me thru the Polk area as well. I've mingled with financiers, as well as hustlers. There is absolutely no comparision to Hunt's vision of the City. He brings an "other-worldly-ness to San Francisco. Wrapped in fog and mystery, like a skillful lover bringing you to the edge of desire...showing you worlds unseen, David Hunt has crafted a beautiful book. As a "mystery" I was drawn in enough to stay up all night to read it. Clearly his work in this genre compares to other writers, some mentioned above. I made my friend Daryl read it. A Masters Degree from Berkeley,...no slouch he. After argueing over the "precise authenticity" of the gay world, he agreed that it was a "haunting" read....maybe even prose. I would reccomend this book not only to "mystery" readers, but perhaps venture to place it into to the "Travel" area. My "East Coast" friends loved the book, moreso for this vision of the city. "Wow!, is it really like that?" Dark, beautiful, surrounded by the sound of the sea, encased in fog.....Hunt's monochromatic pictue of San Francisco is a compelling and haunting read!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read, very different story line.
Review: I loved this book and place it in the can't put down category. What makes it so nice is the author's prose and the unique story line. Definitely recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed...Partly great/partly ho-um
Review: I picked up this book as I was traveling from New York to San Francisco because I love reading about the city I'm about to descend into. In that way, this novel was a terrific read. The author surely must be a native of San Francisco or must have done an awful lot of leg work, right down to the smells of the trees. The story started out great and I was driven to learn who had killed Tim Lovsey. There were all these great threads competing at once: Tim's twin sister, Kay Farrow's father (she is the protagonist) and his involvement with a long-stewing mystery, Kay's lover Sasha, her homeless benefactor Drake, the rich couple who tried to buy her off. I wanted to keep reading just to see how the author brought everything together at the end. Trouble is, he didn't and that to me was the weakness of the book. The reader is led to believe that all these things are interconnected but in fact, they really aren't...or maybe they are but not in a very satisfying way. The book seemed to end about three times. I also felt the whole black/white achromat thing with the protagonist was a gimmick that went nowhere. Whether she could see colors or not changed the book not a whit, at least in my opinion. She could have seen technicolor and it wouldn't have mattered. Also, what was up with Sasha, the lover? It seemed to only serve two purposes: to prove the male author could convincingly write like a woman and that Indian characters can be good people. Finally, I'm not surprised this novel won a Lambda Award. Parts of it read like pro-gay propaganda. Nothing wrong with that except I'd like it not to be in my novel, thank you. All that said, I liked this book and would recommend it.
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