Gossip

Christopher Bram is a consistant author and does not let the reader down with this novel. A good taut thriller well written and very plausable - Gossip makes a great holday read. People who read his books will not be disappointed and those who enjoy a good thriller will also not be let own. All I can say is I highly recommend it.

GOSSIP, by Christoper Bram, was the most exciting book I have ever read. It always kept me at the edge of my seat and in the end it blew me away. The book is about a gay man named Ralph Eckhart, who gets caught up in political life and in trouble with the law when he has an affair with Bill O'Connor, a closeted republican and journalist. Even though I don't pay much attention to politics or homosexual men, GOSSIP was a book that kept me wanting more and no other book has ever done that for me. Although I'm not much of a reader, the way Christopher Bram told the story made me love his book. It seemed as if everything in the book somehow had a connection to the other and it all falls together in the end. I loved the book and I'm sure you will too, so if you see the book GOSSIP in the bookstores pick it up and give it a try.

Bram continues to take the genre gay ficton to higher plateaus. In GOSSIP, he explores the phenomenon of aol dates and on-line chatrooms and the weirdness of log cabin republicans (whatever!), and weaves a compelling tale of murder and intrigue to rival the best pulp fiction writers. This is a terrific read!

If you were a fan of Gore Vidal before he went strange, then Christopher Bram is the novelist for you. If you don't know Bram, then Gossip is the novel with which to begin. Sex, suspense. mystery, social criticism, and satire all combine to make this a throughly engrossing novel. How nice to read an intelligent author. Most authors would tell you exactly what kind of character "Tersites" was in Troilus & Cresssida (a rank scandalmonger who was severly beaten by Ulysses). But when Bram assigns the name to one of his characters, he flatters the readers intelligence by not laboring the parallel. So there is wit as well as good storytelling with this author.

OK, it's not a great classic or anything, but taken on its own terms, it's highly enjoyable. The premise (gay liberal male gets involved with gay conservative male) is just a variation of the Carville/Matlin phenomenon, but Bram gives it the humor and odd twists which are required to keep your interest.As for the second half, the so-called "mystery", readers would be well-advised to take that on Bram's terms, too; he's not really trying to make a big socially significant point, but he's not just settling for a frothy Robert Rodi-type novel, either. (No offense to Rodi, whose novels I always enjoy).In some respects, Bram's style reminds me of Peter Cameron or Nick Hornby. These authors clearly care about their characters, but in a somewhat detached way which may not appeal to everyone.Don't mistake this detachment for disinterest or lack of conviction; it's all there, it's just that Bram is evoking the era a bit more effectively than we may be comfortable acknowledging. No, the loose ends are not all neatly wrapped up at the end, but when does that ever happen in real life anyway?