The Concrete Sky [Hardcover]

Marshall Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

While drunk at a party, Chad falls off a balcony and breaks his wrist. He comes to in a psych facility, under observation: His homphobic, obsessive older brother convinces the doctors that the fall was a suicidal jump... two other patients are dead... the police are invoved, and nothing is what it seems...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Imagine yourself at a party, having had a few too many and leaning out from a balcony to talk to your brother, who insists on minding your business, on the street below--and waking up, arm in a cast, in a mental hospital. A fellow patient introduces herself, solemnly intoning that she carries death, which smells like asparagus, within her privates, and a cute young guy, another patient, befriends you. How cute? So cute that the 72 hours spent under observation aren't at all bad. Well, except for the murders your new friend is accused of, but if you are going to pick every little nit . . . . In Moore's engaging, fast-moving tale, brotherly hate crosses paths with gay love on the run because the love interest is the object of police attention for his unfortunate habit of propinquity to homicide. Witty, intelligent dialogue and characters distract the reader from the darker side of a situation whose uglier tones cast a pall over a facile ending. A promising debut. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Harrington Park Pr; 1 edition (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560234350
• ISBN-13: 978-1560234357
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,066,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder(s) most foul--and witty, August 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Concrete Sky (Paperback)

I got this book because I thought it'd make a great beach read. How wrong I was.

I was so engrossed with the breakneck twists and turns of the plot, the deceptively dry voice of Chad, the narrator, which sizzles with witty venom, and the very sexy game of cat-and-mouse between Chad and Jonathan--the boy who may or may not be a mad killer, may or may not be the man of Chad's dreams--that I read the whole book in one sitting. If I'd done this at the beach, I would have washed out with high tide.

I don't want to go into too much detail about why I loved this book or why I think Marshall Moore is a wit so caustic and laugh-out-loud brilliant that he deserves his own cable show on Bravo (and he does!). Why not? Because I'm certain to give away the story.

And the many mysteries within The Concrete Sky are what make this book so engrossing: a surprise stay in a madhouse that leads to steamy encounters with a dangerous inmate; a stalker who's a Marine with an evil mission and a worse secret still; death by pepper flakes; a tight-lipped mother trapped in her own secrets and a double-wide trailer filled with cats and litter boxes; a gruesome death that is either the supreme act of poetic justice or derangement.

And all of it told in Moore's signature style: a low-key voice with a great eye for detail and dialogue and wit so acidic it could take flesh right off the bone.

Now the next mystery I want Marshall Moore to solve is when his next book will be coming out!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What does it take to get a good review?, April 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Concrete Sky (Paperback)

I'm a bit mystified by some of the two and three star reviews here. Frankly, I found The Concrete Sky to be a refreshing change of pace, possessing an actual plot, and well-written. If I never read a gay coming-of-age novel again I'll die a happy man. I've long been a believer that a novel should be about the most interesting day (month, year, whatever) in a character's life and The Concrete Sky delivers on that score. I also found the first third to be the creepiest non-horror novel I've read in a long time. I felt a palpable sense of dread wondering if Chad was going to be trapped in the mental hospital for the long term--not to mention what his berserk older brother would do. I can definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading more of Mr. Moore's work.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Mincing, No Whinging, No Coming of Age, October 11, 2004

By 

H.R. Haldeman (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Concrete Sky (Paperback)

I am weary of stories about gay men that feature teens "coming of age," or rejects from 1970's Fire Island, or fashion designers ... etc. I want real people I can relate to. Like "Liquor" by Poppy Z. Brite (whose quote led me to it), "The Concrete Sky" is a book about interesting adult characters who happen to be gay, not hot-pink rainbow-flagged GAY CHARACTERS. Chad and Jonathan came alive for me, and while their adventures may be a little far-fetched, it's fiction - it's supposed to involve flights of fancy. An enjoyable book. I await Moore's next, er, outing.