The Queer and the Restless

October 3, 2016
The third in Ripper’s Queers of La Vista series (after Gays of Our Lives and The Butch and the Beautiful) sensitively portrays a Bay Area man finding his way through life and love, while weaving in important commentary on transphobic hate crimes. Someone’s killing trans people and leaving their bodies beaten on the beach; reporter Ed Masiello is both terrified he’ll be next and determined to find the killer. In the middle of his increasing obsession, he meets free-spirited travel planner Alisha, who makes him temporarily forget all of the pain and prejudice (especially from an intolerant father) in his life. But Alisha doesn’t want to be just a pleasant distraction—she wants Ed to be her boyfriend. Unless he makes her the focus of his attention, he may lose her forever. The mystery of the killings is not resolved in this story, keeping readers eager for future installments of the series. Ripper beautifully illustrates the challenges and very real dangers that trans people and their partners face, but love is the focus of the story, adding a vital note of hope to balance the fear and sorrow.

The latest installment of Ripper's Queers of La Vista series (The Butch and the Beautiful, 2016, etc.) explores the connections, divisions, and wide range of emotions characters experience living in a queer-friendly California town.Ed Masiello, a trans man who has been on testosterone for a year, is still getting used to passing and gaining the courage to date. In this opposites-attract romance, Alisha is a free spirit and risk taker. Identifying at first as a lesbian, she "wants to be open and exposed and take things in," accepting with ready aplomb falling for a trans man: "This is so weird. Like, I've been a lesbian since I knew what the word meant. And now I totally have a boyfriend." Ripper writes mostly dialogue, interspersed with Ed's short interior monologues. While the titles and branding of the series are a cheeky nod to daytime soap operas, this is a somber romance. Ed is a reporter on the trail of a murderer who hunts at Club Fred's, the queer community's local night spot. Since Ed is mostly preoccupied with the psychological and social challenges of his transition and solving the murders, the romance is a muted, no-conflict affair, even while the sex scenes are explicit. Ripper writes in a didactic, overtly political voice that can make scenes that should be lighthearted or hot read like a gender studies lesson, as when Ed thinks, during sex, "Sex acts weren't gendered, dammit. Body parts didn't feel any obligation to conform to cultural expectations." The plight of queer homeless youth, the history of gay rights, the AIDS crisis, and the prejudices inherent in social institutions like the police and the press all get at least a mention. While it can be read on its own, readers will benefit from prior knowledge of the cast of secondary characters that populate this book. An interesting murder plot in a carefully constructed setting is the appealing feature of this uneven, wan romance with too little conflict and zero sizzle. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.