Customer Reviews

It Takes Two: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I like about this book is how it mixes up the murder mystery with amusing but masculine characters and a true picture of the historical period including veterans returning from the war, the Ku Klux Klan, racial segregation, crooked politics, Southern conservative religion and people with varying motives and desires. This is a real noir picture of a typical Florida town of the period that you don't find in tourist magazine travel stories or newspapers.

The homosexual elements and the crime elements in the book are neatly woven together. The sex scenes are hot, very hot, and would interest anybody of whatever persuasion, but I think the author included them to help the plot and create strong characters. I particularly like the way the main characters, Dan and Bud, care for each other even when they are at odds, even fighting drunk. They take care of each other both like a couple of buddies and a real couple, so that the reader is always cheering them on. I also like Admiral Asdeck, Dan's mentor, a lot. Even though some of the deals he pulls are irregular, you can tell he cares for Dan like a son and wants him to grow more mature and accepting of the realities of life in a rough society. Any smart young man would want a father figure like Asdeck. The bar manager, Carmen Veranda, is hard to take at times but she is real believable, too. I knew people like that when I was in the Navy and believe they were funny in a sissy way but strong, too. In closing I have to say that this one of the best gay mystery novels I have read as well as one of the best gay love stories. I recommend it to all but especially to guys who want a mystery story with a lot of adventure featuring he-man type heroes who are also men who love men.

I enjoy "It Takes Two" immensely and finished it in a day. The atmosphere is intense with vivid descriptions of a South drowned in bigotry and racism, flash-backs of World War Two, the steamy going-ons in the Hotel and finally the msytery murder hovering in the background. Seems a lot in a close to 300 pages book but Mackle melds everything together beautifully. The characters are wonderfully appealing, in particular Dan, the narrator, who is just great. The side characters, Bud, Carmen and Admiral Asdeck are equally colourful. Even Tommy the piano player at the hotel and a priest finally "coming-out" have stories of their own. To top it all, there is the build-up of the relationship between Dan and Bud, from buddies entangled in intense passion, to finally, I hope, devoted lovers. I am wishful for a sequel because Dan, Bud and their friends have alot more to tell. An amazing sizzling book!

It Takes Two: A Novel by Elliott Mackle is a nearly perfect "summer read" (and one that would do very nicely on a dreary winter's day for that matter). Some of the historical allusions are a bit strained and the editors missed a quotation mark or two, but the characters and the story will grab the gay male reader. There are a number of weaker gay-themed titles out there that have received more exposure, which is a shame. This book deserves much more than its gotten. (Is that the publisher's fault?) If you've read Hold Tight: A Novel by Christopher Bram and liked it, you'll find this work equally enjoyable. If you are in the market for a compelling light read, try this book. I'm giving this one 5 stars despite the few flaws because I want to read more by Mr. Mackle. Encore!

Elliott Mackle's "It Takes Two" was billed as a mystery. On the jacket it explains that it is a "whydunit" instead of a "whodunit". That fact alone threw me. I was still expecting the focus of the book to be the apparent murder/suicide of one black man and one white man in 1940's Florida. Instead, the focus was on the relationship between the lead detective and the hotel manager (told in first person by the manager). I actually enjoyed the book. I thought the development of these two men and their relationship was believable in the confines of the situation. I would have preferred third person so I could get a better feel of what was going on in Bud's (the detective) head. If the book was billed as a mystery to attract more readers (nothing wrong with wanting maximum exposure, the cover of my book had a picture of a hotel on it instead of two men) it should have made the murder/suicide more, well, mysterious. If it was really just a story about two men trying out a relationship in a very difficult time and place, then go for it. We're not in the 1940s anymore, have some fun. I'm a straight woman but I think any openminded person would enjoy this book. I would like to see a sequel because I feel that a lot of questions were left unanswered. The big one: Is Mike really dead? If not, will his return end the newly budding affair? All in all, it's a good book and I highly recommend it.

Elliot Mackle is the Tom Wolfe of gay fiction. This book is a great romp, an tender love story and full of enchanting characters. The story emerges from one colorful vignette after another - some of the best writing of its kind. I am eagerly awaiting Elliott's next book.

Dan Ewing is the young and successful manager of a large hotel in Fort Myers, Florida, working for his boss the Admiral - it's just after WWII and Dan served in the Pacific as a Lieutenant and after the war was hand picked by his Admiral for the job. When he encounters Bud Wright an ex-Marine sergeant at a Legion meet a friendship develops that goes beyond being just buddies sharing war experiences. But while Dan is happy with his sexuality and looks for a permanent relationship with Bud, police detective Bud is more cautious and is reluctant to give up his girlfriend - after all this is 1949 in the American South, the Klu Klux Klan runs free, segregation is the law, tolerance is rarely encountered.

We meet Dan and Bud a few weeks after they first met and when a double shooting has occurred at a local motel, the victims a wealthy local man and a young black man. The investigation, with Bud the investigating officer and Dan very much involved, runs in the background throughout the story and forms a very relevant and integral part of it, but the real story is the growing relationship between Dan and Bud, their ups and downs and with frequent reference to their war experiences and relationships, their occasional "mixing it up together" (sexual intimacies) - and will they ever be able to make something of the friendship, Dan very much an educated officer and a gentleman, Bud a high school roughneck?

The staff of Dan's hotel provide a colourful support and include a talented black musician, a very camp young Mexican restaurant manager, a not too subtle young waiter and gigolo and many more; all in a hotel that is running a few facilities that are clearly on the wrong side of the oppressive local laws.

It Takes Two is a well written and very involving read with plenty of intrigue coupled with a very personal story, something very much above the run of the mill man on man lover tales.

Although this book is billed as a mystery, it really is more a portrait of a specific relationship and time period. It seems to portray very accurately Florida in 1949, a homophobic and racist society. The focus of the book is the relationship between Dan, ex-Navy Lieutenant and Bud, ex-Marine, now working as a police detective. They have to come to terms with their being gay men in a society where it is not only not condoned but illegal. There is a murder which involves the Klan, corruption and coverups. But it really is the time period which stands out. The author does a good job of portraying this claustrophobic society where much is condoned as long as it is not made public. I think you will enjoy the book; it is well written and moves at a good pace. A very good effort for a first novel. I would look forward to a sequel with Dan and Bud.

I have just finished reading "IT TAKES TWO", and enjoyed it immensely. Being born and raised in the South, I'm especially partial to books set in the South. And I'm old enough to remember the social and racial prejudices of the 1940's. Although I'm a heterosexual female, I have two homosexual nephews and a lesbian niece, so I could easily relate. This book has some great characters...kooks, baddies, the Klan. I especially liked "Carmen"!

I think Matt Damon will be perfect as Dan and Ben Affleck is tailor-made as Bud. I hope they co-write the script too....and I hope they get both the Best Actor Award for the parts!

I really enjoyed this book and I hope he writes another one with these two characters. Elliott Mackel really captured the way things were back then. The story was so vivid I could picture what it was like while I read it. I also liked the story line and all the characters, without giving it away I really liked the ending and how it left things open to a sequel, Hint Hint. I also read it in one day because it was one of those books that you could not put it down. Way to go Elliott.