Customer Reviews

The Rope Above, the Bed Below

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I've been hearing about this book for several years now. I finally got me a copy and was entranced. Fury weaves a haunting, brilliant tale of a serial killer whose butchering blonde, male strippers--like the hero of the book. Based on fact, the story is written at a feverish pace, with little let-up. Fury brilliantly evokes a vanished era, of live sex shows on 42nd Street, the pre-condom gay flicks just emerging. The author has stated that there were many editorial cuts due to the censorship of that time and he feels the edits watered down the power. Not so. A darkly, haunting classic that you should have next to "Eric's Body" by same author.

This is a breathless suspense novel that has a lot more going for it than just a series of killings of blonde male strippers. It's New York in l980, on the eve of the AIDS epidemic. Jason Fury sets his tale against a rainy, cold, dark city, amidst a hypnotic evocation of the wild, gay life back then, especially within the gay strip joints. A powerful ending with the disturbing line from John Donne that begins the book: "I runne to Death and Death meets me as fast and all my troubles are like yesterday." A real classic. I read the re-issued version.