Body Blows
Steven Simmons. Dutton Books, $16.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24389-2
Bisexual actor/hustler Cal Lynch moved to San Francisco to get away from a bad affair in New York, and to vanquish memories of growing up in Oklahoma and of studying architecture at Yale. Things aren't much better now, though; he has a few acting jobs, but most of his time is spent selling his body or working out. When he kills a male client in self-defense, Cal runs away again, first to his hometown, where he encounters old friends and his brother, and then to L.A., where he becomes tentatively involved with a woman. A private eye he has assumed is trailing him for the murder turns out to have been sent by a worried ex-lover, and Cal returns home to the Bay, learning that running away from murder is not unlike running away from life. Startlingly graphic in sexual detail, the novel is a powerful, visionary and driving debut, on a par with Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero. Simmons depicts desperation, loss and sexuality very well, but he is also not afraid to move toward resolution. (March 24)
Details
Reviewed on: 04/01/1986
Genre: Fiction
Mass Market Paperbound - 978-0-671-63670-8