SCARS AND SECRETS
Thomas Grant Bruso
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GENRE: LGBT Mystery
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BLURB:
Ralph
Ashton gets more than he bargained for when police question him about the death
of his ex-boyfriend Elijah Ray, whose body is discovered at the edge of the
Saranac River.
When
the local police visit Ralph and ask him about a critical piece of case
evidence, Ralph becomes a prime suspect. He sets out to learn what happened to
Eli the night he left his apartment and is startled to learn about his former
boyfriend’s shady past.
As
Ralph pursues a dangerous investigation, he discovers things about Eli he did
not know while they were together.
Ralph’s
life starts to unravel when he loses more people close to him as his mother
lies in a hospital bed dying of cancer. Is learning about the truth of Eli’s
death worth jeopardizing his safety?
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Excerpt
Three:
The face of my mother flashes in my mind, and I think about
running back to the hospital and staying by her side.
James uncrosses his leg from left to right and changes
positions so the side of his face illuminates in a shaft of soft glow from the
floor lamp hanging over his shoulder. I want to tell him he looks fucking sexy
that way, but I keep quiet. He holds his yellow writing pad, the tips of his
fingers turning white, and I dream about what he can do to me with those meaty
hands. Touch me in my favorite place, I want to tell him. But I don’t.
I picture him holding my face in his sweaty palms as we lock
gazes, staring haughtily into each other’s eyes. The stiffness of my erection
knocks against the fabric of my pants. I squirm in my chair.
“What do you mean?” he asks. “Deadness?”
I force myself to blink a few times, snap out of my hazy
dream, and look up at Dr. Matheson. His expression is alarming, unblinking. He
stares at me, bordering on the threshold of a stalker.
I find a way out of my rut, clawing, digging, and rummaging
through a labyrinth of unfathomable responses. “All I want to do is listen to
Twenty One Pilots or Nickelback and drink beer. Forget about life, people, and
work.”
Except for my mother. My ex-boyfriend, Eli, too.
I want to see him. It’s been a while since he walked out on
me and never returned.
Dr. Matheson angles his head to the side, deciding whether
to ask his next set of questions. I hear him swallow, and it sounds like he has
a dry mouth or is uncomfortable asking me a question from the long list on his
pad. He is overthinking, I notice. “How is your mother?” When I don’t answer
immediately, he adds, “How are the nightmares?” My reason for being here.
I sigh. I don’t want to talk about what keeps me awake at
night, although this past week—year—has been terrifying. “It’s been nonstop,” I
say.
“Have you been to the hospital?”
I nod. “Before I came here.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s scary. Seeing my mother in that hospital bed makes me
want to die. I hate watching her wither away slowly.”
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Review: Ralph was in a sad and pitiful place with his boyfriend leaving him, his mother dying in the hospital, and secretly enjoying sexual fantasies about his muscular therapist. Things get more confusing and complicated when his ex-boyfriend shows up. It takes a while to get through all the dilly-dally of two former lovers reconnecting. What follows is a lot of slow, descriptive narrative. By chapter 9 or 10 is when we discover Eli’s dead body, which starts to pick up the story a little.
Although the narrative was nice, it still read too slow. For a mystery thriller, I expected a faster and more exciting read. Story seemed more focused on Ralph’s instability and mindset during this whole ordeal. Yes, there’s this small mystery about Eli’s death, but it didn’t feel like the focal point.
Overall, this was a fairly nice read, but I just wanted more excitement.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Thomas
Grant Bruso knew he wanted to be a writer at an early age. He has been a
voracious reader of genre fiction since childhood.
His
literary inspirations are Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Jim
Grimsley, Karin Fossum, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Bruso
loves animals, reading books, and writing fiction, and prefers Sudoku to
crossword puzzles.
In
another life, he was a freelance writer and wrote for magazines and newspapers.
In college, he won the Hermon H. Doh Sonnet Competition. Now, he writes and
publishes fiction and reviews books for his hometown newspaper, The
Press-Republican.
He
lives in upstate New York.
Amazon
buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DPJH61CD/ref=sr_1_9
Barnes
& Noble buy link:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scars-and-secrets-thomas-grant-bruso/1146630720
Publisher’s
website buy link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/scars-and-secrets/
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GIVEAWAY
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Grant Bruso will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn
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