Jak
Klinikowski is back in a big way in this issue. Here, he reviewsSomeone You know
by Gary Zebrun
But as if you didn't
already know, Jak is the author of the Adventures
of Ineeda Willingbottom, and this issue
brings us Episode 4, "The Wedding Rehearsal from Hell!" - page 7
And on a more serious note, we have the second interview with writer/publisher Warren Ockrassa—always thoughtful, always provocative, page 6
And on a more serious note, we have the second interview with writer/publisher Warren Ockrassa—always thoughtful, always provocative, page 6
Someone You Knowby Gary Zebrun
Paperback: 232 pages, $13.95
Consortium; (April 15, 2004)
ISBN: 1555838383
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. Early on, I knew 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 too 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 men’s room for some quick oral sex. 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, a significant body part of the fireman’s 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 story’s 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 is. 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. What could have been an extremely involved 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.