5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uniquely Average, October 28, 2004
This review is from: Someone You Know: A Novel (Paperback)
I read this book in less than four hours. Not necessarily because it was a well-written nor because it was intriguing. It was very, very short.
The premise is very good; a closeted, married man's tricks are being murdered shortly after he leaves them. And then souvenirs (parts of their bodies) are sent to his house. Very good premise.
How the story misses the mark is the mystery. For a mystery to be effective the audience has to feel involved, but there are no clues to draw the reader in. Reader's can't guess if there are no clues. There are too may red herrings tossed in haphazardly, almost lazily, by the author--most not even making sense, and most without an adequate explanation.
The short length is welcomed, though, because I would have been really upset had I spent days reading this story and then read the ending, which seemed tacked on by the author and was a complete let down. The reader doesn't get an explanation of why the killer is murdering the victims or following the closet case around from state to state, airport to airport.
Lackluster...plain and simple. Would have rated a two, but uniqueness gives it an extra point.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
FASCINATING BUT FLAWED, June 28, 2004
This review is from: Someone You Know: A Novel (Paperback)
I'm not going to beat around the bush. SOMEONE YOU KNOW is one sick puppy of a book, so I HATE admitting I was drawn into it like a moth to a flame. I have no one to blame but myself for the third degree burns this depraved murder mystery inflicted on my psyche. I knew early on what I was getting myself into, but Zebrun's expert use of minimalist intrigue made it impossible for me to stop reading. Once I realized I was on a road trip to hell, the vehicle was going to fast to jump off.
Daniel Caruzo is a newspaper columnist in Providence R.I., with a wife and teenage daughter. He has a little secret. He's gay and has been having anonymous sex with pick-ups for quite some time. As the novel begins Dan is in Seattle attending a newspaper conference. It's his last night in town and he finds himself cruising, Slaughter, a local leather bar. He picks up, Stephen Hart, a hunky firefighter and goes home with him. When he wakes in the morning the fireman is gone but he finds a note thanking him for the beautiful time. Disappointed to find himself alone, Dan decides to take a shower and discovers a bottle of AZT in the bathroom medicine cabinet. He realizes Stephen may have been lying when he told him he was HIV negative.
Dan, feeling guilty and upset, returns to his hotel to collect his belongings and head to the airport. On a lay-over at O'Hare in Chicago, Dan, gets slightly drunk in the bar and follows a fellow patron into the restroom. Upon leaving the stall, he kicks something left on the bathroom floor, discovering it to be the bottle of AZT rubber banded with a Bart Simpson chess piece, from a set he noticed the night before at Stephen's. Something is very wrong.
Once home, Dan finds out that Stephen's been murdered, and if that isn't unsettling enough, significant proof of the murder arrives on his porch the next day, packed and shipped in ice. Dan tries to remain calm and figure it all out, but as he slips deeper into a panic-stricken state, he has more clandestine sex, resulting in more deaths. It isn't long before Dan realizes he is the focus of an obsessed serial killer, who seems to know his every move.
Zebrun tells his story in tight, fascinating detail. His characters are realistically portrayed and his situations, chillingly believable. Unfortunately, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear Dan is a sex-addicted coward, frightened yet erotically charged by the nightmare he finds himself living. He's endangered all those around him and still he cruises every man he sees. As the situation gets worse his compulsions become more acute. He keeps promising himself that he'll come clean with his family and trusted friends, but jumps at every opportunity to avoid it. I'm afraid there is nothing noble about him and it damages the stories credibility. It's difficult for the reader not to think he deserves the mess he's in.
Also, I was bothered by the lack of difficulty in figuring out who the serial killer was. The title alone offers way too obvious a clue. I kept hoping for a last minute surprise that would prove my suspicions wrong, but it never came, and what could have been an extremely involving thriller slid into little more than a slasher-story, well written but predictable. I appreciate Zebrun's writing abilities in, SOMEONE YOU KNOW, but I can't say I enjoyed the book much. Of course, I'm sure there's an audience out there for gruesome, sadistic material, and this masterfully conveyed, dark offering should make that audience ecstatic.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What You Don't Know, May 15, 2006
This review is from: Someone You Know: A Novel (Paperback)
For something written by a newspaper reporter, supposedly trained in answering the who, what, when, where and whys, this story sure has a lot of loose ends. The ending itself is totally unsatisfying and had me looking to see if some pages had fallen out. (They hadn't.) And that's too bad because it starts out as a gripping and graphic thriller about a tortured man conflicted between his seemingly perfect family and his true sexual identity. But then the problems with the writing start. Daniel turns on the TV and, presto!, the exact report he is looking for just happens to be on the air. (Cliche.) Characters in Seattle make business calls in the middle of the night. (Maybe.) The bad guy is identifiable less than halfway through the story (the sappy title doesn't help) but his motive and many other details are never revealed. The author credits a long list of people with helping him. They would have served him better by advising him to answer a few basic questions.
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