The Good Neighbor

You'll find yourself inside this story, which compares traditional marriage to same sex marriage. It's a perfect beach read.

Outstanding character studies, dialog, situations, and downright believability. It was easy to insinuate oneself into the story and become a partaker/present observer.

Quinn, always perceptive and able to offer us characters of depth and complexity, has presented in "The Good Neighbor" a fascinating story of considerable maturity and acceptance. The principle characters are multi-dimensional and the plot goes places I had not expected. A book Quinn should be very proud of; a book I'd like to read for the first time, again.

Set in an upscale-gated community in Southern Florida, The Good Neighbor tells of what happens when two families cross paths and inevitably collide in unexpected and surprising ways. Rory Fallon and his partner Bruno have been living at the Venetian Vistas for about two years, when one morning, they meet Austin Harden, his wife Meg and their two young boys Noah and Josh. Lately Meg has become the "boss" of the family, an aggressive corporate lawyer, and a self-admitted perfectionist; Meg is working hard to provide an elegant and stylish "trophy" home for her devoted husband and her children. Austin has just been retrenched, a victim of downsizing, he now spends most of his days loafing around, working part time pushing medical equipment whilst ferrying Noah and Josh between school and soccer practice. Rory and Bruno have been off and on since college. Together for nearly seventeen years, they built a life together, spending their years living in family type neighborhoods as Bruno steadily works his way up the corporate ladder. They're both the first to admit they've never met more than a handful of neighbors, certainly none that needed anything other than a nod or smile in the way of interaction. At first, the arrival of Meg and Austin is seen as a refreshing change. Austin even remembers Rory and Bruno from his college days, and sees them as curiously insular and comfortably coupled now as they had been then. He makes an instant connection with Rory, drawn to the younger man's youthful vulnerability and artistic temperament. Meg, on the other hand, presents a veneer of pleasant respectably that thinly disguises her scathing homophobia. "Who'd ever thought we'd have gays for neighbors" she comments to Austin. And when she sees the two men out by their pool, she worries her sons might have full view of their lifestyle. To Meg, homosexuality is an anathema - what kind of life is that no matter how devoted to each other - "no kids to love and raise; it just goes against the grain somehow." As the two couples get to know each other, they begin to pursue separate agendas, uniting in an addiction, determined pursue a type of emotional and sexual reinforcement. One night, keeping a vigil at his office window, Austin spies Rory and Bruno making love. The incident ignites deep-seated and acutely closeted passions within him. The sight of Rory and Bruno's romantic coupling turning him on in a deeply "male kind of way;" their activities don't disgust him because they are personal, just as his interest is personal. Austin's desire to be physical with Rory increases, growing from a mild distraction into an ever-increasing itch and he becomes ever more open to the possibilities of an abstract kind of sexual availability that Rory presents. He sees them both as outsiders, accoutrements to their respective partners whims. The friendship becomes intimate and in the growing sexual tension, Rory and Austin become embroiled in an affair, which will leave

This book is a truly superlative piece of fiction that should not just be read by gay males. Anyone who has ever felt alone or lost in a relationship would get a lot out of this book. Jay Quinn's writing is the best I have read in years, and unlike that clearly taste challenged reviewer I cannot wait until I get my hands on Jay Quinn's next novel!