Sottopassaggio

I have to admit that I haven't read Nick Alexander's first novel 50 Reasons To Say "goodbye" but I do plan to buy it this week. My partner and I and two good friends are off to the beach in August for a short vacation and I'm looking forward to some good uninterrupted reading.

Sottopassaggio is Nick Alexander's second novel and in it Mr. Alexander continues the life story of 50 Reasons' hero, Mark. The novel begins after the death of Mark's lover Steve, with Mark trying to cope with life and death in his brother's home in the English seaside town of Brighton. While there he reconnects with an old girl friend, Jenny, who turns out to be coping with her own tragedy of a physically abusive husband, falls slowly but inexorably in love with Tom, who is unavailable because he already has a closeted Italian lover and while trying to get out and actually begin to live again, has a few flings with some very fun, talented and ardent S&M devotees.

This is a fun, well-written and very satisfying second novel. It is easy to identify with both the gay and the straight characters. The sex is wonderfully nuanced, the dialog witty and the prose cleanly descriptive. This is a novel that will make you laugh but will also make you cry. It is a novel of hope and redemption. It is both optimistic and poignant. It is worth your attention.