Book 728: Where the Boys Are – Christopher Murphy

I took quite a few days before writing this review because I wanted to be thoughtful in my critique and honest in what did and didn’t work.

It’s always a little bit harder to write a response to a novel when it’s the author who reaches out to you to review their work.* I know how much of themselves authors put into their books and to then put it out in the world, I mean come on that’s more nerve than I’ll probably ever muster, so kudos to all of you out there brave enough to do it.

I’m going to start with what didn’t work, and then end on a high with the things that I really enjoyed about this work. So, stick with me because there were DEFINITELY some highlights!

I’m not going to lie—I struggled with this one. The amount of unnecessary over-description was overwhelming at times. I’m talking right out of the gate; the entire prologue was almost enough to put me off. That and there was a character/setting/POV shift from the intro to chapter one that left me VERY confused for quite a while which didn’t help, and part of this was strategic, but it just needed to be clearer why this was important earlier in the book.

I’ve pulled out two select passages that give a taste of the over description throughout the book:

Tomas never makes it easy though. He usually rushes off, probably home to his boyfriend, Quinn imagines, who must be equally hot if not hotter. The two probably have crazy Tantric sex every night after vaping and eating a carefully planned organic GMO-free dinner that tastes bland but leaves them satisfied knowing the veggies come from their own garden. Quinn has imagined the garden. There are cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, basil, blueberries, cilantro (that doesn’t grow so well over the summer), sweet peppers, zucchini, and they’re trying their hand at kale now. But it’s not Tomas with the green thumb… more likely his hot boyfriend who’s probably an oncologist by day and drives a red Prius with an HRC sticker plastered on the bumper. His name’s probably something stupid like Chet or Wilson. (Chapter 1)

I get it. This is an internal monologue—trust me I get it mine is insufferably rambling and random—but imagine reading this page after page (after page after page) and about the most random of things that had little-to-no importance to the action or story-line. It was rough.

And then there’s this one of a different type:

Sweet Ridge is home to half-empty strip malls, pageant queens, and pie eating contests. It’s a wasteland of quaint general stores, farmland, and houses that mostly look the same. There’s what you might call a town center, where everything is peculiarly – however conveniently – located within a circle. Enter and you’ll first come to the post office, then city hall, then a grocery store across the street, then a small gas station, a few small boutiques, a diner, the hardware store and finally The Dell on your way out. The Dell is where the locals gather to drink, talk shit, and play darts on Saturday nights. Meanwhile, the town’s teenagers either gather to drink cheap beer behind the slaughterhouse on the outskirts of town or take over the local roller rink – where the girls skate circles around the boys in their cut off jean shorts and knee-high socks.

Sweet Ridge is home to bar fights, cornfields, and drag races along uneven dirt roads at night. It’s home to town gossip, murky politics, and a myriad of secrets that housewives keep tucked under their bonnets like dark, untreated roots.” (Chapter 11)

Again, I get trying to set the tone and the mood for this part of the novel, but honestly the second paragraph alone gives me such a specific feel that the preceding 150 words are unnecessary. Sure, it’s not NYC, London or Paris, that many readers would know based on a few iconic mentions (Empire State Building, Buckingham Palace or Big Ben, Eiffel Tour the Louvre or Notre Dame), but why wade through the minute throwaway details about exactly what is in the town when only one chapter takes place here? It was a waste of words and detracted from the action in that chapter.

Sticking with the being 100% honest theme, with those two quotes and the dozens of others I noted, I was shocked to find there were developmental editors listed in the book credits. I did a quick look and the three editors listed do appear to have experience and knowledge so I’m not sure what happened. I can’t speak to the working relationship between the author and editors, but to me the book still needs a lot of work. Maybe better beta readers or a critique partner would help. And then when you throw in that the book could’ve used a (better?) copy editor who could’ve caught or at the very least queried some of basic errors (these are just nit-picky and I didn’t really detract for that when I’ve seen worse in big publishing, but they were worth noting):

“She can’t imagine what Andrew Dunn and Adam have to do with some case in New York City – which she’s only seen on TV, by the way, while watching the Macy’s Christmas parade. The math isn’t adding up.” (Chapter 11)

I read this one twice to see if I just misread it, but I didn’t. Maybe it’s a regional thing but I was under the impression it was called the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and some quick googling (Macy’s website) said yes it was.

And then there was the lack of one important detail that was left out after So. Much. Detail. throughout the book:

They pass an open shop and a rack of postcards catch Quinn’s eye from the window.
‘I almost forgot! I should get a postcard while I’m here. For my collection.’
‘How did I not know you collect postcards?’
Quinn’s face sours. ‘Probably because I never go anywhere. All my postcards are from other people’s travels.’ The weight of this hits him as they peer at the display case. ‘I guess I never thought I’d find myself in Paris one day.’ (Chapter 15)

Now don’t get me wrong, as a postcard collector, this scene is perfectly adorable and I love it. But, between this comment and another comment a few pages before I’m still trying to figure out why Quinn had a passport if he never goes anywhere or if he was able to get one in less than a week, or if there was something questionable that happened with a customs official? I really don’t know, but with all of the descriptions for everything else, you’d think there’d be at the very least a throwaway line like, “Glad so and so made me get my passport” or a failed relationship trip or something!?

Now for the good parts! I loved that this was by a queer author of color and had multiple Black/POC queer characters. Whether Murphy wants to write thrillers, romances, or travelogues, they all need more representation. I also thought that Murphy wrote great characters, even if I did confuse them because of odd POV shifts at the most inopportune times. Quinn was, for the most part, believable and with some editing his internal monologues could’ve been hilariously perfect rather than a grind. I also adored Quinn’s love interest (I hate myself for not remembering his name or writing it down). Any man that will fly to another country at the drop of a hat to support you and then take you on a romantic date despite your being obstinately obtuse is a great character in my book. That and he waited and was clear he would wait, I mean come on . . . SWOON.

But the biggest highlight of the book was Chapter 6. I can’t really say what happened in the chapter because it’s a crucial turning point, but getting there made the slog through the first five chapters worth it. And weirdly, this is where the over description actually worked—it set the scene and raised a lot of red flags as things were kicking off. Murphy’s writing in this chapter gave me a visceral reaction. I had to consciously take deep breaths to calm my pulse as it skyrocketed getting through the chapter and wondering what was going to happen next. I won’t sugar-coat it though, after this chapter things fell off again and although it was easier to finish the book than it was to start it, it was still a bit rough.

My Recommendation: Not worth the time . . . yet. I think with a lot more editing it could’ve been a great book because there were definite bright spots, but you had to wade through a lot to get to them. Murphy clearly has some talent, there were a few gripping scenes and the characters were like 85% of the way there, but he needs to pick a lane and stick with it. Either go all out and perfect the over-description/stream of consciousness (a la Joyce) or don’t. (I’d go with don’t, there’s not a real market for Joycean type works and it has to be beyond perfection to break into that.) And then commit to one genre and improve upon that first and then either branch out or start introducing elements of the others in later works. This book could legitimately have been a romance, a thriller, or a travelogue of some sort, but it didn’t work as all three even though there were parts of each that shone.

*I received a copy of Where the Boys Are from the author in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “A strange breeze whispers through the curtains of Vaughn Parker’s ninth-floor flat.”

Closing Line: “With green eyes brimming with tears, Adam drops his duffle on the floor and says… ‘I’m home.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)”