Lieutenant Denny Delaney Series, No 3
John F. Rooney
Senneff House Publishers
February 1, 2011 / ISBN: 0975275615
Gay Fiction / Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Police Procedurals
Amazon
Reviewed
by Beth E. McKenzie
Manhattan detective
Lt. Denny Delany is in charge of the squad investigating the murder
of several young male prostitutes. When he is not sparing with the
FBI on a legacy terrorist case, playing hide-and-seek with an informant
or squiring his wife around the Big Apple, he is deflecting the
"assistance" he gets from the Sex Crimes Unit. The deaths
are designated pattern homicides based on the vital statistics of
the victims: young, gay, male, and hustlers; and the killer's signature:
a new, unopened condom left in the mouth of the victim.
Something that surprised me was the denigrating descriptions of
the johns who buy the gay hustlers. There was no sympathy or excuses
made for their behavior. The representation is that all punters
are vile and all hustlers are poor lost boys. This surprised me
because Rooney's signature work is "The Rice Queen Spy",
a compassionate portrayal of a gay man's love and life's work. Less
surprising was finding a homosexual sex scene in a book about gay
men.
One of John Rooney's greatest talents is making a location one of
the characters in the story. The Manhattan Theater District preens
and sways through the pages like a prostitute of another type while
her patrons sigh and toss their souls under her sparkling feet.
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