Christopher Rice is the son of author Ann Rice, and his first book A Density of Souls (2000) was a bestselling hit.
I didn't like it.
I also tried his second book Snow Garden (2001) and didn't like that either.
So, why did I read his fourth novel, Blind Fall?...
I didn't like it.
Reading the synopsis on the back I thought it was about a Marine who finds his gay lover killed and investigates the murder. It's actually about a Marine named John Houck who is saved from a bomb blast by Mike Bowers, a member of his team in Iraq. Back in the States, he looks him up to thank him, and the night when he drops by his cottage in the country, he finds Mike murdered in bed. Mike's young gay lover Alex is there as well, and when the police begin investigating, they are both suspect and must go on the run. John is shocked that his friend, a Marine no less, would be gay and has a hard time when they check out the bar scene in West Hollywood. He is admittedly a trailer trash homophobe who can't get past his idea of faggots. The idea makes him sick, like what they do isn't even human. He barely makes it out of the gay bar where pressed lipped prissy queens call each other 'girlfriend', perverts in g-strings grope you and queers get beaten by gangs. So John takes Alex away to a remote camp in Arizona where he will teach him to fight, shoot, and defend himself like a man.
At this point it was like a New York cop movie from the 1970's. At that time, queers were portrayed as abnormal and, if not the lowest level, a species unto themselves. That was the message I was told back in the day. Rice being a gay writer left me with a big question mark over my head. This novel has a good premise, but the continual homophobic reactions got tired very quickly.
Meanwhile, John has a plan to draw the real killer into the light. Confess to the murder. Yes. Admit he did it in a jealous rage because he wanted Mike for himself. This coming from the homophobe.
There are family revelations from John's sister, the only likeable character in the book, which lead to a bit of growth by then end. It's OK to have unlikeable characters but by this time I was tired of the jarring, ridiculous plot changes and John's unbelievable reactions, completely out of character for someone to do.
Rice lives in West Hollywood, and says he knows Marines, so maybe the gay scene he knows is different? I couldn't identify with any gay people in the book, and luckily don't know of anyone so ignorant and unaware as John was. Rice also writes for The Advocate magazine, but I found this a mis-plotted mess. I finished it, as I always do, but I really disliked Blind Fall.
I won't be trying another.
2009 / Paperback / 351 pages
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