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It is refreshing to find a gay protagonists who never goes to a gym, smokes two to three packs of cigarettes a day, stays out late drinking with his partner, and passes for straight in his day job as PR man for the gubernatorial candidacy of the much disliked Chief of Police. The book is set after Stonewall, but not by much. Six gay bars have been torched in the last six months. They were burned using the method of a convicted arsonist who is still in prison, early in the morning when they were empty, so no one was injured. Dick Hardesty works for a PR firm in an unnamed western city. He has been living with Chris, head window dresser for an upscale department store, for the last five years. Dick and Chris seem to be growing apart. Chris like to go out at night and party. Dick prefers to stay home. They go to a drag show which has a smashing last act, a Judy Garland impersonator, who seems to be Judy. Dick's boss tells him that the chief of police, nicknamed "The Butcher" in the gay community, is going to run for governor and his PR firm has been selected to run the campaign and Dick has been chosen to try to make Chief Rourke, a right-wing homophobe, more accessible to the public. He does the best he can with the Chief, his nondescript wife, five children, and one grandchild. The eldest son, Kevin, is a minister. His twin, Patrick, died on a hunting trip when he threatened to come out of the closet. Hardesty does his work well. The Chief is in the running. Dick sets up a press conference/fundraiser for the Chief at Kevin's shelter, on the fringes of the gay district. Dick knows that Chief Rourke owns the building which the shelter uses, and hopes that when that fact comes out, it will be enough to sabotage his campaign. The book, only 197 pages long, speeds along to a satisfactory conclusion. This is the first of eight Dick Hardesty books by Dorien Gray (an obvious pseudonym). By the way, there is some gay sex in the book, but, if you can tolerate straight sex in a book, there is no reason to pass this book up. There are wonderful examples of gay friendship and the futility of hypocrisy.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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