A few years ago, I was approached by a publisher to review a novella called The Pale Ones, which I loved. A few weeks ago, the same publisher asked me to review his own soon-te-be-released novella, and I gladly agreed to take a look.
The book is called Kissing The Lizard, and it's written by Justin David.
Ostensibly a sort of coming of age story set in the 90s, the book features a young gay man, Jamie, who moves to London and meets an initially fascinating character called Matthew. He rents a room in this stranger's house, and that's when things start to change for him - in terms of starting to know who he really is, and also discovering things about his new friend and landlord.
The story moves us from 90s bedsit London to a desert compound in New Mexico, taking in alien abduction theories, the absurdities of new age mysticism, and weird UFO cults, and introducing us to some strange, quirky, and interesting characters along the way. I don't want to give away too much of the actual plot because part of the fun of reading this is not knowing where it's going.
The writing is clear and crisp, laced with some quietly scathing humour and providing a few creepy moments. It isn't a horror story; in fact, it doesn't fit neatly into any genre, which is one of the book's strengths. It's just a story. A good story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. Raced through it, in fact. Highly recommended.
You can order it here:
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