Friday, June 22, 2012

THE MILES by Robert Lennon







Reviewer: Bob Lind, Echo Magazine
Publisher: Kensington, June 2012
Pages: 352


Five stars out of five


Liam is a young gay man in Manhattan, underemployed as a fact checker for a celebrity magazine, who has been in one fleeting relationship after another, and usually prefers to just spend time with his older best friend, Monroe. 

One passion of Liam's is running, not just as an escape, but because he happens to be good at it. When he joins the Fast Trackers, a gay running club, he is looking forward to the camaraderie, but more so looking for a kindred spirit who takes running as seriously as he does. Unfortunately, many of the members are flakes, but he does make a few friends. But the man who he finds most interesting is Didier, a rather intriguing member of another, rival running club, who is married to a woman, but clearly is interested in Liam as well. Liam navigates the personalities of his fellow runners, as they build their distances toward their ultimate competition, the New York City Marathon. 

The author is himself a gay runner from NYC, a member of the "Front Runners" group (which borrowed its name from the groundbreaking gay novel). Although the book is very well written, and the characters meticulously developed, be aware that the jargon and "race talk" may be a bit distracting to the non-runner, but well worth tagging along. 


http://www.roblennon.com/





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