[15-ENG] Review: Rubble and the Wreckage - Rodd Clark

Series: The Gabriel Church Tales

Volume: 1/3
Publisher: NineStar Press

Genre/s: m/m romance, thriller, m/m mystery

Length: -

Pages: 298

Read in: English
Review copy format: epub

Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✮

A young, ambitious writer, Christian Maxwell, decides to write a book that has never been written before – a biography of a serial killer who has not yet been captured and who will tell him the story of his life in person. The man begins to track the murderer, and although he is close to succeed, eventually he is the one who's tracked down. Gabriel Church, who killed far more people than Chris can imagine, just appears before him one day and is as eager as possible to help publish his biography. His personal charm and unrestricted self-confidence impress Christian, who quickly becomes completely enchanted by the bright eyes of the murderer, and Church knows exactly how to pull the strings of his marionette. However, at some point both men are so close to crossing the line between purely professional and private relationship that it makes them question their so far considered as heterosexual orientation. The real problem, however, is not how their bodies react to each other, but the feelings that begin to form, despite the awareness that Gabriel has blood of many innocent people on his hands and his presence, as well as their conversations might cost Chris his freedom.

Intriguing is probably the first word that comes to mind before we even start reading "Rubble and the Wreckage", as it's enough to read the description of the novel on the back cover to guess that we're about to start reading a book in many ways fascinating. And that's exactly what this novel is like. Rodd Clark raises a subject undoubtedly difficult, which, however, has been attracting both writers and readers for years. And it's not only about the protagonist who's a serial killer, but also about the theme of romantic feelings between an ordinary man and a criminal, a "villain". There is no doubt that such stories attract people like a magnet – forbidden love, thrill of emotions, combination of danger and excitement. No matter how you look at it, the wrong has fascinated people for centuries. Nevertheless, one should really appreciate the fact that, unlike many writers of shallow romances who use a similar motif, Rodd Clark takes his novel extremely seriously. The author doesn't whitewash Gabriel Church's soul, he doesn't make out of him a man dangerous only by assumption, a predator willingly deciding on a vegetarian diet, or a martyr. In this novel the danger related to the evil that lurks in a man is real, and that's what makes this story dark and truly original. What is more, the author seems to emphasize here the randomness that rules over human fate. In a really good manner, he shows us that although we usually assume that the wrong happens to others and not to us, it can hide around every corner. In fact, the Evil is not so different from us, it can blend into the crowd and attack when we least expect it.

Besides the undoubtedly ambitious story presented here, the great advantage of "Rubble and the Wreckage" is also a creation of the characters. Rodd Clark creates them "from the inside", focusing primarily on their psyche and feelings. The reader has almost unlimited insight into their thoughts, and it largely makes this story original and unique. I admit that till now I haven't read a novel in which so much emphasis has been placed on this aspect of building a protagonist. Surely at least a few times every one of you have seen an image of a divine or angelic being descending from heaven to earth presented as the enormously bright, glaring light that begins to shrink and darken, taking on a material form, similar to human. This is how the author presents his characters in "Rubble and the Wreckage", however in this case the mentioned light is a complex, extensive psyche of the main characters of the novel. I think that this is all the more important because thanks to this way of creating the lead characters, the readers are even more attached to them as they have the opportunity to fully understand their way of thinking and acting. In consequence, Chris became so incredibly close to me that from the first to the last page I was convinced that he always does the right thing and I supported his every decision, even this controversial one from the end of the novel. As for Gabriel, I really began to like him, not as a literary character but as a person, and all of a sudden his actions made me almost hate him. You can't even imagine how angry I was with him. It was as if he was a living, real life person, not a fictional character. I think it speaks for itself when it comes to how the author created and presented his protagonists.

Since the theme of love plays a huge role in "Rubble and the Wreckage," I think I should mention it in this review, for the author also showed a real genius in this respect. He perfectly presented love as a factor directly affecting people and changing them. In this novel, Chris and Gabe not only fall in love but also discover love, they find in it something they have never known before, they feel the pleasure of simple, everyday gestures shared with another person, they get to know thousands of emotions they have not experienced so far. All of this was additionally strongly marked by changes taking place inside the characters, their consciousness and subconsciousness, thanks to which the emotional charge of Chris' and Gabriel's feelings is enormous. As far as I am concerned, the author managed to capture my heart with this love story and it is evident if taking into consideration the way my body reacted to the events from the end of the novel. The point is, that when I'm really into a love story and a deep wound of drama, discord, betrayal, etc. appears on its smooth, beautiful surface, I feel itching in the bones of my fingers. It sounds somehow weird, right? But I'm not able to control it, and it is such a sensational feeling that it is almost painful. Imagine an enormous itching inside your body, in a place that no matter what you do, you are simply unable to scratch. This is how I literally experience well constructed love dramas. It certainly shows artistry with which Rodd Clark has created the story, as its drama has such a great influence on me being a part of the real world.

However, there is one thing that, despite all the advantages of this book, bothered me so much that I couldn't sleep at night. Namely, the sex scenes. And it's not all about simple complaining about the fact that they are not very detailed or, in contrary, too graphic, because none of these is a problem for me. Let's start with the fact that the author sparingly gives us descriptions of the characters' lovemaking, which in the case of the book "with soul", and "Rubble and the Wreckage" is undeniably this kind of a novel, works in its favor. Thanks to this, the reader focuses on messages, emotions, events, and not on a pure lovemaking. So what is my problem? The fact that heterosexual sex was presented in more detail than the one between partners of the same sex. Sure, there's no sens in comparing the number of sexual intercourse, but the difference between descriptions remains. This makes the reader – or at least that's how it was in my case – think about the meaning of sex for the characters in both of these cases. In the end, when something seems to us more important, we spend more time on it, we devote more space to it, we enrich it in details, and less important issues are only mentioned and usually not expanded. So how do you relate these differences in descriptions to the characters, and in particular to Gabriel Church? And what does this mean for Chris? I admit that I cried like a wounded animal when I found such a clear difference between the way the sex between man and woman, and two men was presented in this novel. To be honest I can't get over it still.

To sum up, Chris and Gabriel's story in "Rubble and the Wreckage" is like the dark stormy clouds that are sometimes blow away by the wind which allows the bright, warm sun to break through them. It is an ambitious novel full of psychological problems and darkness, which doesn't lack positive emotions and love. It is a story with soul and about soul. In fact, you don't simply read this book, you experience it, live it. Believe me, this novel is simply fantastic and you have to give it a try!

Headcanon: Whenever Gabe has the opportunity to cheat on Chris, he tells him everything so that Chris can do his best to ensure that Gabriel doesn't want anyone else but him.

Fanfiction idea: Gabriel is seriously wounded, so Chris takes care of him until he gets better.

AU idea: Fantasy!AU, Chris is a warrior who needs to stop the Sorcerer, Gabriel, who wants to take over the magical world. However, as a result they fall in love with each other.

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