Customer Reviews

Skinflick

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Alright, after reading the review below it seems that this has to be said again: this is NOT your usual "private eye novel". Not a conventional one, anyway. Because Hansen is not a conventional writer. Because the detective in this story is not only gay, the author decided to describe a real person and not the typical "gay" cliché. That alone is worth reading this book.
What else is?
There's a well-crafted plot with interesting characters. Sound psychology. Social criticism. Humour. Great describtions of landscape and atmosphere. All in all everything that makes a book enjoyable if you like good writing and a story and characters that are not the usual stereotypes.

Dave Brandstetter is a smart-ass insurance investigator trying to solve a mystery: a born-again preacher trashes a local porno store and is later found murdered. Dave suspects the store owner; it seems a logical starting place. During his investigation he wisecracks through the usual list of reluctant witnesses--but something is different here. Dave never gets slugged for his smart mouth or his pushy ways. All the traditional detectives always get slugged. Instead, these witnesses open up, bare their souls willingly in deep, meaningful disclosures. What remarkable, persuasive quality does Dave have that I've missed in the dialog? And something else, too. Dave meets lots of syrupy females, but he never makes a pass. It's they who broadcast the sexual bait. Does he have a subliminal respect that dames can detect but I can't? Isn't this unusual for a private dick; or am I misreading all this? I've got a nervous feeling about Dave and this book. The story is tepid, at least in the first third of the book. Lots of internalizing, lots of feelings, not very much external action. But then, as Dave is grilling steaks on page 69 (coincidence?) I get my answer. Dave's gay! No wonder his car's been repossessed by his insurance company. No wonder he had problems with his dad. No wonder those dames--never mind. Somehow, though there was a lot of possibility ahead for lurid sex scenes on the set of porno flicks, and maybe a chance for personal enlightenment, I just couldn't maintain my interest in the adventures of an independently-wealthy gay insurance investigator. Call me a bigot, call me tradition-bound; I admit it. I just didn't feel like swallowing another hidden agenda disguised as a novel. Maybe you'll feel different.