A Dangerous Man

Title and Link: A Dangerous Man
Author: Anne Brooke
Publisher URL: Flame Books
Genre: Contemporary, mystery/suspense,
Length: Novel
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A guest review by Val Kovalin

THE BLURB:

Michael Jones, a young gay artist and part-time prostitute will do anything to stage his first exhibition. When he falls in love with rich financier, Jack Hutchinson, he seems set to achieve his goal.

But as Michael becomes caught between the unforgiving territory of smoky-bar Hackney and the green-garden luxury of upper class London, we witness the intense mindscape of a man obsessed with his dreams as he attempts to free himself of his past.

When a net of antagonistic relationships and inner battles encroaches upon him, the consequences of Michael’s uncompromising pursuit emerge in thrilling tragedy, leaving him having to fight for all he holds dear, and in the only way he knows how.

Within a plot thick with the flesh of individual struggle, a backbone of page-turning tension carries Michael’s plight through the charcoal grey London which rubs itself so close to his skin, entrapping him in a dark kaleidoscope of sex and crime.

Pushing him to the full expression of his haunting richness, Brooke alerts us to the psychological discourse and emotional minefield of a troubled man struggling to establish a sense of self and place in urban England.

THE REVIEW:

A Dangerous Man is a gripping psychological thriller told in first-person viewpoint by Michael who is described by the title. Michael is a volatile mixture of traits: he’s highly attractive, he has no self-esteem, he experiences wild mood swings, and he has a tendency to get obsessed. He’s also very believable and someone for whom you can’t help caring.

At the start of the novel, Michael is a talented artist sharing a flat in London with his landlords, Joe and Paul, who are a gay couple. Joe frequently travels on business trips related to the art gallery that he owns. When he’s away, Paul demands sex from Michael as part of the rent.

Some intriguing reasons compel Michael to put up with this awful situation. He’s tired of drifting on to a new flat where his life gets even worse. He hopes that Joe will one day decide to show his art. Finally, he accepts prostitution as the defining characteristic of his life because he needs to be desired and he has come to see himself as a prostitute.

Michael goes to Joe’s art gallery to try yet again to talk him into showing his work. As an artist, Michael is very talented, prolific, and hard-working. He draws constantly to escape the reality of his life. Though he has no self-esteem, others see a lot of worth in him. Joe would like to help him except that Michael’s art is edgy and surrealistic and consists of pencil-and-charcoal drawings of still-life arrangements. Joe’s gallery specializes in conservative landscapes of the English countryside.

But he does have an opportunity to pass along to Michael. A London firm would like some edgy modern art for its lobby. If Michael can make a good impression in the interview, the job will be his. Michael rushes off to do so and finds himself in an intimidating corporate environment. It’s here that he meets the man he’s supposed to impress to get the job, Jack Hutchinson.

Jack is ten years older than Michael, very handsome, and from a good family. As Michael thinks on page 19, Jack’s voice is “… a thousand notches above mine on the social scale.” Jack is also gay and there is a spark of immediate attraction that ignites between them even though Jack tries to be cautious and noncommittal about giving Michael the job. This sets into motion a complex plot with some tragic consequences.

A Dangerous Man is a page-turner. There are many things to praise here, including the author’s flawless writing and the subtlety with which she hints at how Michael’s past (which is heartbreaking) has shaped him.

The author has a perfect ear for dialogue. When I read her dialogue, I can hear these characters speaking in my head like a movie soundtrack, complete with accents and emotional inflection. Also, the London setting is vivid and three-dimensional. I’ve never been to London (if you don’t count a brief stop at Heathrow Airport), but after I read A Dangerous Man I felt as if I had.