Lovely Little Shelf

The Book: The Night Listener, by Armistead Maupin

The Story: This is kind of a tangley one.  I’ll try to explain it quickly.

Gabriel is an award winning author.  His stories are put on the radio and broadcast all over the country.  One day, his editor sends him a book written by a 13 year old boy named Pete.  It is about his life so far: rape, a sex ring, getting AIDS and then running away from that life.  The lady that took him in, Donna, helped him to get his book sent off to a publisher and has been the main contact between Pete and the book-world.

Gabriel is truly touched by the story and is blown away by how mature Pete’s writing is.  He contacts his editor and asks to get in touch with Pete.  They start a relationship via the phone and Gabriel finds out that during Pete’s crazy life with is parents, something that touched him deeply was listening to Gabriel’s show on the radio.  An immediate bond forms and Gabriel is calling Pete a couple of times a week.  He also develops a relationship with Donna and helps her to get through raising an AIDS patient.

One day when Gabriel was out, his boyfriend answers the phone when Pete calls.  He also talks to Donna and is shocked.  The voices are the same person.  He confronts Gabriel with this and Gabriel flat out denies it… until the next phone call, when he really starts to listen in.  One call to his editor reveals that no one has actually ever met Pete, that they’ve only met Donna… and thus begins a quest for the truth.  Is Pete real?  If he is real, why has no one met him?  Who is Donna?  And will bringing truth to the surface even be possible?

What I Thought: I was sucked in from the get-go and it never really let me go.

Let me just say right off:  The thing that really impressed me about this book was how Gabriel was a gay  man and was having relationship issues with his boyfriend, but at no time was their sexuality the subject of the book.  They were just characters that happened to be gay.  I loved how normal this seemed.  I feel like so often when there are gay characters in a book, that is all that they are “the gay one,” but here this didn’t happen at all. Three cheers to Armistead Maupin.

I thought that the story itself was filled with some major intrigue.  It left you totally on the fence about whether or not Pete was real and whether or not Donna was dangerous.  There were some serious hold-your-breath moments.  A page turner, for sure.

What blew me away even more was when I got to the end and started reading the author’s note… THIS IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY!! Totally mind blowing.  I cannot believe that stuff like this happens, but it went on for years and years.  Isn’t that crazy?

The writing itself was exceptionally done.  The pacing and the flow and the characters… all incredibly well done. I walked away feeling like I had read a legit book, not just some crappy, ordinary mystery.

Conclusion: I loved this.  It kept me guessing and I was crazy about the characters.  If you are a fan of thrillers or suspense books, add this to your list of books to read. You won’t be disappointed.