A 20-something magazine reporter becomes embroiled in a Hollywood murder mystery in Rice's (The Snow Garden) third, richly developed thriller. It's a blessing in disguise when Adam Murphy is fired from racy fluff rag Glitz, since he'd been chasing a real story involving a closeted Marine helicopter pilot, Daniel Brady, whose association with a pedophilic pimp produced a sordid videotape that led to Daniel's suicide plane crash. But Adam's still reeling from the demise of a heated, three-week affair with hunky but secretive Corey, who'd outgrown Adam's blackout-inducing drunkenness. Adam soon becomes the assistant to sharp, sarcastic straight mystery novelist James Wilton, who instructs Adam to continue researching Daniel Brady. One of Rice's most spirited characters, James consistently counteracts Adam's hyperactive enthusiasm with candor and a sensible "working theory," and when Corey disappears, Adam discovers that three other gay men have inexplicably vanished over the past few years, supposed victims of the West Hollywood Slasher. Armed with a dossier from a trustworthy Hollywood reporter, Adam sets out to solve the crime that swells into blackmail, murder, a child porn ring and a subplot involving a "rogue assassin" who blows up methamphetamine labs. Though this is a step up from the author's previous efforts, Rice has yet to leave behind the sometimes awkward prose and dialogue (which veers between frivolous and woodenly expository) that dampens the narrative tension he cultivates. Agent, Lynn Nesbit. 12-city author tour. (Mar. 16) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
In Rice's third novel (after The Snow Garden), gay hunk Adam Murphy works at a West Hollywood men's magazine while struggling with dual alcohol and cocaine addictions. After a gay porn actor gives him the story of a closeted marine helicopter pilot that could jumpstart his journalism career, Adam is hired by reclusive crime writer James Wilton to investigate the pilot's links to the gay underworld. At the same time, several West Hollywood gays have disappeared (could a serial killer be involved?) and a crystal meth factory explodes in California's Central Valley, with fatal results. Rice fails to infuse these parallel and overly intricate plots with credibility, and the plethora of secondary characters-many possessing dual identities-may confuse many readers. In addition, the strong personality of James Wilton overshadows Adam Murphy as the lynchpin of the novel. Unlikely to win Rice many new readers, this disturbing story should still be popular with his established fans. Purchase for demand.-Joseph M. Eagan, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Rice's third and best still bears the flaws of A Density of Souls (2000) and The Snow Garden (2002). The young author concocts a gay mystery in West Hollywood that has echoes of Chandler but none of Chandler's grip or stylish metaphor. Adam Murphy, 25, writes stories about gay life for LA's Glitz, a magazine some think of as an underwear catalogue. Adam has a cocaine and alcohol problem that leads to blackouts, and in one of them he did something, he thinks, so shameful that he can't remember it. He and the handsome Corey Howard, a nondrinker, were lovers for three glorious weeks, a time when Corey pumped Adam dry about his life while spilling nothing about himself. Corey breaks off their bond, seemingly over Adam's habits, then disappears. He leaves behind his clothes, wallet, car keys, and the car itself. Has he become a victim of the West Hollywood Slasher? Three other handsome gays have vanished in the same way, leaving behind their wallets, car keys, and apartments-and the police have done nothing! Adam's decision to dig into the story leads him to gay hangouts, notorious pimps, and at last to the straight detective novelist James Wilton, Rice's best character ever (he should be played by Michael Gambon). Wilton hires Adam as an investigator, Glitz having fired him, and sends him out to look into the story of a married but gay and closeted marine helicopter pilot who may have killed himself-and three other marines, by plunging his copter into the bay-because of a video secretly made of him. Could this story be as big as the Black Dahlia? When Adam brings back evidence bit by bit, the all-knowing Wilton shrinks it to size but soars with mastery of motives. Things will lead to avigilante who blows up Mexican meth factories and feeds underage kids to a pedophile ring. Endless exposition masked as dialogue, though, makes interest fade. Author tour. Agent: Lynn Nesbit/Janklow & Nesbit
In West Hollywood, a meth lab explosion is tied to the disappearance of three gay men, as well as the suicide of a Marine. Young journalist Adam Murphy is on the trail of this story, aided by a bestselling novelist. Dallas Roberts gives Adam a burnt-out voice that creates a sense of impending danger as it also brings home his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. The novel is laced with profanity and sexual detail in its portrayal of the West Hollywood gay scene. While Roberts effectively portrays its “noir” ambience, the story’s unrelenting chill may come across as too strong for some listeners. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
