Crucify my Love: Gay Book Reviews: [16-ENG] Review: Torn and Frayed

Series: The Gabriel Church Tales

Volume: 2/3
Publisher: NineStar Press

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

Length: -

Pages: 276

Read in: English
Review copy format: epub

Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✬

It's been two months since Gabriel left Seattle and resumed his endless journey around the country. Although during this time the man has returned to his old habits, he can't stop thinking about his beloved, who irreversibly changed something in him and whom he simply misses. Torn between who he was and who he became, beating his thoughts and feelings that he did not even suspect to ever know, Gabriel visits the St. Joseph's Church, where he meets Father Albert Kait. Unable to resist the need to talk to another person, Gabe decides to confess and ask the priest for help in finding answers to some of his questions.
Meanwhile, in Seattle Chris's world falls apart when Detective Scott Keen starts to work on an unresolved case of Shea Baltimore's murder. The man begins to sniff around with such intensity that eventually he's hot on Christian's trail. As a result, Chris starts to panic and fears the worst. When the young writer tells Gabriel that he may be in trouble, his beloved immediately decides to return to Seattle. However this decision is likely to have some unforeseen consequences.

"Torn and Frayed", second installment of the three-volume "The Gabriel Church Tales" series, is noticeably different from the previous part, as it is definitely darker and goes deeper into the psyche of the serial killer. One of the reasons leading to those differences is the fact that while traveling alongside Gabe and having a full insight into his thoughts and desires concerning the issues that are bothering him at the moment, we notice that they relate not only to Christian, but more often their central point are the murders. While "Rubble and the Wreckage" focused largely on the feelings between two main characters and to some extent on their mutual understanding, in "Torn and Frayed" definitely more emphasis is placed on Gabriel Church himself, and consequently on motives guiding him to each murder he committed. This is all the more important because, in the end, we reach the very core of the mechanisms that fuel him, and that's exactly the thing he couldn't properly explain to Christian and the reader in the first volume. The light surrounding his victims, that was mentioned previously but was rather vaguely presented by the protagonist, now becomes much clearer to us and with each passing moment we somehow understand it better. Also the concept of God's mission is scrupulously presented, which completes the image of the white-lighters and makes us notice more clearly than ever that Gabe really needs some medical help, not just a lover who loves him immensely.

I would also like to write a few words about the character of Father Albert Kait, whom Rodd Clark introduces in this volume of his story. At the very beginning I must say that I consider this idea as the most understandable and I admit that I really liked it. First of all, the character of a forgiving and devoted priest suits the vibe of the novel perfectly, when we take into account Gabriel's conviction that by killing white-lighters he follows God's will. What's more, the issue of the psyche also comes into play, since following Gabe's process of thinking with each page, we notice that his need for faith in his own beliefs became greater, same as his want to ask someone the questions that bother him has increased. I have the impression that if our serial killer didn't walk into the church and didn't talk to Father Albert, he would probably suffocate at some point because of his raging thoughts. He just had to spit everything out, and the priest was the best option in this case. In addition, the appearance of Father Kait in "Torn and Frayed" allowed both Gabriel and the reader to find out if Gabe's feelings for Christian are not a simple attachment which could be a result of their sincere conversations and ordinary friendship, since this option was believable from the very beginning of their acquaintance. However, this is not all, because by reawakening some memories from Gabriel's childhood, the church itself cast some more light on him as a character and on the possible source of his madness, motives and justifications of murders. In short, the author really knew what he was doing when he decided to introduce in this volume of the series this particular secondary character. Finally let me add that in the context of the first half of the novel, the character of the priest, the church and the confession also have a great aesthetic significance, as they fit in perfectly with the story's vibe.

Detective Scott Keen to whom Rodd Clark has devoted a lot of space in this volume, also plays a very important role. However, his mentioned role in this novel is not limited to his police duties and pursuing Shea Baltimore's murderer. By making Keen almost the third main character of "Torn and Frayed", the author fully made a use of him from the beginning to the end. It is thanks to Scott Keen that we know if his investigation is moving forward and how close he is to discover something significant in the case he works on. But that's not all, because sometimes we can almost feel his breath on Chris' and Gabe's necks. Thanks to adding this secondary character to the narration, at some point with each read page our excitement and care for the two lovers increases incredibly. In one moment, our heart rate grows unimaginably, the heart beats like crazy, our hands sweat and we literally are not able to stop reading. The sky could fall on our heads, and we would not even notice it. It is really an invaluable and fantastic experience when we have the opportunity to feel the events we are reading about with our whole body, because the author masterfully bind our lives with his novel. What can I say, Rodd Clark really has an unimaginable talent for it.

As you can clearly see, "Torn and Frayed" is another really perfect part of the addictive three-volume story about Gabriel Church. However, there is one more thing I would like to mention, which made the biggest impression on me when I was reading this novel. Namely it's the way in which Rodd Clark presented Gabriel in this volume. On the one hand, we see that the murderer begins to change to some extent, thanks to Christian and the time they spent together. Gabe seems to us to become more human, as he begins to feel the need to open up to people, to seek company and as he feels a whole range of emotions he has never experienced before. Sometimes we have the impression that he becomes a cute puppy in love. And yet, at the same time, the author puts much more emphasis on the fact that Gabriel is a murderer who can kill with his bare hands. I would even risk saying that sometimes he is almost frightening, and the reason behind it is probably the fact that this time we are actually eyewitnesses of how Gabriel kills white-lighters. A man who, with childlike joy and innocence, throws himself on a soft, comfortable bed, is someone who, within few moments, devises a plan to kill an accidentally met person and enforces it with incredible precision and complete lack of remorse or hesitation. And these two faces of Gabriel Church are juxtaposed together in "Torn and Frayed" in such a way that the reader begins to wonder if it's really all right for them to like someone like Gabe so much.

In summary, "Torn and Frayed" is a truly exceptional and well-written novel that stimulates our emotions and makes us forget about the whole world as we allow it to absorb us completely. And it's all thanks to a great writing style, a thrilling plot, incredible psychological depth and perfectly constructed characters who are memorable and easily conquer reader's heart. To be honest, I didn't even think I could become even more addicted to "The Gabriel Church Tales", yet that's exactly what happened when I read "Torn and Frayed".