Following the tremendous success of his wickedly funny best seller Boy Culture, Matthew Rettenmund offered up Blind Items: A (Love) Story, an even more complicated - and at times heartbreaking - portrait of modern love.
Meet David Greer. He's a wisecracking, thirty-something everyman who's fiercely smart and unapologetically gay. He's also struggling to make a splash as a writer in New York, a goal that seems far off considering his day job as a reluctant copy editor for a slew of porn magazines. His only glimpse into the world of fame and fortune is through the occasional party invites for himself and his loyal buddy Carol Terry from their old friend Warren Junior, a gossip famous for his catty "Off the List" column.
At one of these fabulous to-dos, David meets - and falls for - TV hunk Alan Dillinger, superstar of the hit TV show Lifesavers. He's hot, smart, caring, rich, famous and everything else David could want in a man, except for one thing: He's closeted.
The ensuing courtship, dripping with scheming agents and publicists, sharklike paparazzi, and a particularly prying gossip columnist, navigates the choppy waters of gay relationships in the '90s. All the while, the story of John Dewey, a kid obsessed with a long-dead gay silent movie romeo - and with his own burgeoning queer identity - unfolds, making waves in this story of gay life in the past, present and future.
Rettenmund's second novel, brimming with celebrity cameos and outrageous blind items, is a provocative, witty (love) story that is moving and full of heart, and a poignant period piece with plenty of exclamation-point twists and turns.
