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Junction X

by Erastes (Goodreads Author)

4.38 of 5 stars 4.38 · rating details · 133 ratings · 51 reviews

Set in the very English suburbia of 1962 where everyone has tidy front gardens and lace curtains, Junction X is the story of Edward Johnson, who ostensibly has the perfect life: A beautiful house, a great job, an attractive wife and two well-mannered children. The trouble is he's been lying to himself all of his life. And first love, when it does come, hits him and hits hi...more

Paperback, 1st Edition, 200 pages

Published November 1st 2011 by Cheyenne Publishing (first published October 25th 2011)

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Best M/M Books Covers With No Sexual Overtones

20th out of 295 books — 216 voters

When Love Is Not Enough (Unconditional Love, #1) by Wade Kelly

Best Bittersweet M/M Books

6th out of 37 books — 52 voters

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May 15, 2013 Ilhem rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone who's not expecting a tragically beautiful romance

Shelves: historical, m-m

I read it finally. I inhaled it, devoured it, gobbled it up...
I’ve almost spent more time writing and rewriting this review than reading the book, so here it is before I pop a vessel!

It hurts, guys. From different angles. It is indescribably sad, yet it’s all about happiness. Unexpected, larger than life, bursting out of the page happiness. Tainted by lies, guilt and fears, too. Fleeting and ever-changing.

Junction X is a piece of ambivalent humanity with its ability to love, fear and hurt, its...more

18 likes · like · see review

Feb 02, 2012 Elin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, keeper, omg-good, pass-the-kleenex

This story takes m/m to a different level. In fact I'm not sure it's what most people would describe as m/m. A relationship is certainly at the heart of it but it explores all the peripherals that cluster around relationships that m/m frequently ignores. Often the two heroes exist in a vacuum but here both Edward and Alec are surrounded by people all of whom have their own agenda. Even the bit part characters one sees once are provided with enough meat to their bones for one to make a guess at s...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 14, 2013 Nina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gay, historical, historical-1900, romance-adult, romance-historical, 4-star, read-02-2013

I'm pretty fucking depressed right now and really not in the mood to write a review. I'll just say that:
a. this was so good I read it in two days - 50 pages yesterday and the rest today. I was literally glued to it.
b. I was born in the 90s in Italy, where men should be machos and wives should make a baby a year - quite a different culture from the one we're dealing with here, so don't trust what I'm saying, but I felt as if this were exactly the claustrophobic atmosphere of England in the 60s.
c....more

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 14, 2013 Dreamer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, m-m-romance, author-british, age-gap, kindle, made-me-cry, tragedy, erotica

4.5 star. This is a superior, beautifully written m/m romance set in 1960s suburban England. This compelling story draws you in, stays with you and ultimately breaks your heart. So good, this could be an English Lit textbook. I would have given 5 stars but characters from 'The Good Life' kept playing in my head and putting me off!

33 year old married father of twins Eddie (Edward) becomes mutually infatuated with his new neighbour, 17 year old schoolboy Alec (Alex). Sadly homosexuality is still c...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Aleksandr Voinov added it

By far my favourite of Erastes' work - I'm so glad it found a good publisher and a good cover.

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Christy B rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, lgbt, m-m-romance

I knew before I started reading this that it had a tragic ending, and I braced myself for it. As I started reading, I started to figure out just how it was going to end, and I was right. So, I was prepared for it, which was good, because I probably would have fell apart.

Still, even knowing how it would end, I feel like I'm going to start sobbing over it. My heart breaks for Edward and Alex.

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Nov 30, 2011 Ruth Sims rated it 5 of 5 stars

Webster defines “inexorable” as “not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : relentless.”

I have always been drawn to books and plays with that quality. Erastes’ Junction X pulled me in from the first page. I have known for a long time that Erastes is an excellent writer, whether her protagonists are working at a forge, being tortured by a religious zealot, or any of the other trials her characters are heir to. Junction X doesn’t have the protagonist being tortured by outside forces. He is tortured...more Webster defines “inexorable” as “not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped : relentless.”

I have always been drawn to books and plays with that quality. Erastes’ Junction X pulled me in from the first page. I have known for a long time that Erastes is an excellent writer, whether her protagonists are working at a forge, being tortured by a religious zealot, or any of the other trials her characters are heir to. Junction X doesn’t have the protagonist being tortured by outside forces. He is tortured and broken by the cruelest Inquisitors of all: love and his own conscience.

British Family Man Ed has a good life, to all outward appearances he has a perfect life. Success. A fit and gorgeous wife. Twins he adores. Friends. Respect. And as the reader would expect, this man with the perfect life, has a dark secret: his strictly-for-sex relationship with Phil, a former neighbor and long-time male friend. (Neither of them are gay, of course, though Ed is sometimes touched by doubt on the matter.) Whenever the opportunity presents itself, Phil initiates quick, risky sex with Ed in public places, where discovery is always imminent, and Ed never refuses. Love never enters into their relationship, though Ed has a guilty conscience that pokes at him a little—just not enough for him to call a halt to his risky behavior.

Everything changes when Ed glimpses and then later meets and gets to know the new neighbors’ eighteen-year-old son, Alexander. Alex is beautiful with the fleeting and impossible beauty of the very young. Ed is a bit stunned by the speed and completeness of his sudden infatuation with Alex. In no time at all, Ed starts to build “what-if” fantasies about Alex. There is, he convinces himself, no harm in it. No one will ever know. But not long after, it becomes apparent that Alex is constructing his own fantasies … about Ed. During this time, Alex becomes is befriended by Ed’s wife and idolized by the twins.

The inevitable first kiss, given by Alex, throws open the door which hides the impossible fantasies and they become real, taking shape in secret, furtive meetings filled with lust-love. Inevitably, there is one tryst too many, one scheme too many, one declaration of love too many, one denial too many. It’s inevitable that the fragile house of deception will crash around them. It’s inevitable that someone will pay for the crime of love in all the wrong places, with the wrong person.

The end is a shocker.

If you want a book with heart, compassion, and reality coupled with love fantasies divorced from reality, and if you can accept a story with inter-generational love and sex, then Junction X is for you. You will never forget it.

This is the most literary, most riveting, most heart-rending story Erastes has written.
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Nov 04, 2011 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa by: top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com

Shelves: drama, glbt, historical-fiction, m-m, tragic-romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 5+ Stars

Edward Johnson’s life is like a play in which he moves about, taking direction from the rules of society, doing what is expected of him—dutiful husband, dedicated father, diligent employee. But offstage, there is a prompter whispering lines to Ed that he isn’t sure he wants to hear, nor does he know what they mean for him and for his outwardly perfect suburban existence. Those lines direct Ed away from his wife and children, aiming him toward a life that can never be but a life that he w...more 5+ Stars

Edward Johnson’s life is like a play in which he moves about, taking direction from the rules of society, doing what is expected of him—dutiful husband, dedicated father, diligent employee. But offstage, there is a prompter whispering lines to Ed that he isn’t sure he wants to hear, nor does he know what they mean for him and for his outwardly perfect suburban existence. Those lines direct Ed away from his wife and children, aiming him toward a life that can never be but a life that he wants so desperately he’s willing to risk everything to grab hold of it, if only for a moment. They are lines that teach him the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone, with utter disregard for the rules of the game.

Erastes has written a beautiful and tragic love story, haunting, turbulent, and at times, transcendent. The story is told by Edward in retrospect, as he recounts the events of his initial meeting and subsequent relationship with Alex Charles, the teenage boy next door. Forbidden love, impossible circumstances, and the voice of a man who, with the benefit of hindsight, struggles with the guilt of every action and decision he made over the course of a year, lends a sense of foreboding to the narrative, an atmosphere Erastes capitalizes on exquisitely all the way to the very tragic end of the tale.

As a character study, a psychological exploration of a man living in the 60s who is hemmed in by his feelings not only for another man but for a young man who is still considered a child in the eyes of society and the law, the tone of the story is at once heartbreaking and oppressive. This is a story of realism, a story that never sugar coats the fact that life is an unscripted, unpredictable game of fate, and the ending isn’t always a promise of hope. This is a story that proves, in no uncertain terms, that what happens behind the façade of the perfect, predictable life is oftentimes a very different picture than what we allow people to see.

Junction X is, simply put, a supremely heart rending tale of an ill fated romance, skillfully portrayed and perfectly poignant.
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Dec 04, 2011 thelastaerie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Does anyone who read the premise of this story expect a happy ending? Not even in the m/m romance world, and this is more than a romance. At times it reminds me of David Leavitt's "While England Sleeps" and Scott Heim's "Mysterious Skin". True love it was, but it's a love that was punished by outside forces, by internal turmoil and was doomed even before it started.

"Junction X" is a riveting and powerful story, told from the retrospective angle of a broken man, he never told you that, but you'd...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 26, 2012 Peyrac rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, gay-literature, favorites

Still in the aftermath of this book, and I know this one will stay with me and I'll re-read it often.

This is literature. First and foremost.

That it is shelved with the m/m genre seems arbitrary and coincidental. If there were more m/m books like this one, I'd be overjoyed. THIS is what I want to read and compared to it so many books pale into insignificance and very, very few can hold up.

I don't know where to start, is it the flawless, many-layered and in-depth characterisation? Is it that tho...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2013 Dawn Prowler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m-romance, m-m-favorites, reviewed-books

I put off reading this novel as long as possible because I could say from the cover and the synopsis that it was going to be incredibly grim. Now that I have finally read it, I must say that grim though it may be, it is a veritable M/M epic.

Junction X is a poignant tale of self-discovery, lust, obsession, and love, fatefully set in the stifling atmosphere of 1960s suburban England. The world painted by Erastes from the very first page is a bleak nightmare of sameness, monotony, and emotional num...more I put off reading this novel as long as possible because I could say from the cover and the synopsis that it was going to be incredibly grim. Now that I have finally read it, I must say that grim though it may be, it is a veritable M/M epic.

Junction X is a poignant tale of self-discovery, lust, obsession, and love, fatefully set in the stifling atmosphere of 1960s suburban England. The world painted by Erastes from the very first page is a bleak nightmare of sameness, monotony, and emotional numbness. The protagonist, Edward, manages to awaken from the stupor of his seemingly perfect yet essentially barren life, quickened by a forbidden longing for Alex, the beautiful teenage son of his new neighbors. As their romance blossoms in the unforgiving wintry landscape, the sense of foreboding grows, building up to a climax that has been inevitable from the very beginning.

At first glance, the premise and the narration made me think of Nabokov and I half expected Edward to exclaim “Alex, light of my life, fire of my loins” but I stand corrected. Despite being a minor, Alex is seventeen when the story starts - a young man rather than a child (~~not than I would have minded if he was twelve~~ I didn't just say that, don't call the cops) so there's nothing morally wrong about Edward's desire for him. Therefore the problem is not so much that Alex is technically a minor but rather that they are both men, living at a time when homosexuality was still illegal. Edward is not a hero or a rebel but an ordinary man. To break free from the familiar fetters of conformity and societal correctness would require courage and determination he doesn't think he possesses. The desperate struggle between, on one hand, his desire for emotional and sexual fulfillment and on the other, his fear of overturning the accustomed order of things - defying both society and law in the process - lies at the heart of this extraordinary novel.

Looking at it from this perspective, the novel does have a happy ending of sorts. (view spoiler) Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I just loved the ending so much - I couldn't stop crying not because it was sad but because it was so beautiful...

Junction X is an emotional tour de force, a heartrending tale of forbidden love which stays with the reader long after the last page is turned. A true masterpiece.(less)

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Dec 04, 2011 Cryselle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, social-commentary

Erastes has combined several disturbing elements and made me love it. Readers who require happy endings, you are excused now. The rest of you, come over here, let me tell you about something really extraordinary.

Conformity, thy name is Edward Johnson, stockbroker, family man. Aside from a friendship with benefits with his neighbor, he's the picture of standardized suburban success. And why shouldn't he indulge? It's not like either Phil or Ed's wife will give them blowjobs, and it's really the b...more Erastes has combined several disturbing elements and made me love it. Readers who require happy endings, you are excused now. The rest of you, come over here, let me tell you about something really extraordinary.

Conformity, thy name is Edward Johnson, stockbroker, family man. Aside from a friendship with benefits with his neighbor, he's the picture of standardized suburban success. And why shouldn't he indulge? It's not like either Phil or Ed's wife will give them blowjobs, and it's really the best way to cap off a round of golf. His life is stable with this unconventional arrangement until Phil and his wife move away.

The new neighbors don't fit the neighborhood: he's an engineer (how shocking! He works with his hands!) and she's a nurse (extra shocking! She works!). They've come to a neighborhood nearly beyond their means in order to get their beloved, brilliant son into the best school, hoping to prepare him for the best universities.

Alex is a youth born too soon for the love he's about to encounter. This is 1962, he's still considered under-aged, and he's gay in an exuberant way that it hurts him to hide. He's on the cusp of adulthood, knows what he wants, and what he wants is Ed. It's fitting that they begin to bond over his huge set-up of model trains: too serious to be toys, too playful to be work, but an acceptable reason for a thirty-three year old man to spend time with a seventeen year old boy.

This is told as Ed's memoir, which gives a definite air of doom from the very beginning. From his intermittently frosty relationship with his former tennis-pro wife, his indulgent irritation with his young twin children, to his strangely lopsided relationship with Phil, Ed is bored and primed for a grand passion, but given the times and his lover, there isn't a bit of hope that this will end in any way but tears.

And I cried, oh I cried. I gritted my teeth, I wanted to shake Ed and smack Phil: I wanted to lead Alex by the hand away from this life, this man, into another decade where he could be happy all his life. This might be a throwback to an older form, where gay lovers had to be punished, but the prose is so beautiful, the tragedy so poignant and inevitable, and unfolds so perfectly that the step back works. Ed is not an entirely reliable narrator: his capacity for deluding himself is high, though he comes to recognize that he is depraved, but it's a corruption of integrity, not sexuality. Everyone around him, from his family to his friends, suffers from his flexible honesty; Alex suffers most of all.

Ed lays himself bare, given the restrictions of his ability to speak honestly; Alex is seen through his eyes with either a beatific glow or an unwarranted dismissal. The secondary characters suffer from Ed's narration but have a vivid presence: Valerie chafes at her life, worrying at Ed, Phil, who can do friendly blowjobs and winks at an affair as long as he thinks it's a woman, and the Charleses, Alex' parents, horrified at the last by their golden child.

This story has a lot of elements that I'd say, as a knee jerk reaction, that I hate. Lying, cheating, an underaged MC. And yet I loved the story. I do sad endings if they're fitting. This is fitting.

This is one gorgeously written story; it's painful but intense. I'm glad I read it, though I don't know that I'll revisit it; it hurts too much. But one time through hurts so good.
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Nov 12, 2011 Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars

Probably the most powerful book I have read all year, extremely well written, the characters carefully realised as you the reader is drawn into their story. As others have said, this book is an emotional roller coaster which has both highs and lows which does not really prepare you for the ultimate denouement. This is the story of Edward a married man living in the stockbroker belt who with help of his best friend and next door neighbour Phil finds his suppressed inner feelings start to emerge -...more

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Jun 05, 2012 ilike merey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: boy-on-boy, obsession, my-classics

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time and it has eluded me for a long time, but now I finally got it, finished it, loved it.

A middle-aged male living in his picture perfect life with his picture perfect wife yearns for something more. A new neighbor moves in with a teenage son and Edward is horrified to feel an attraction quickly bloom into obsession...

That's a cliche, right? --the wonder of the story is the way the author slowly exposes one layer after the next showing how under e...more

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Jan 22, 2012 M rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: extraordinary-mm, absolute-all-time-favs, coming-of-age, oooh-atmosphere, cover-artistry, history-buff, queer-sorting-hat, britishismms

I almost wish I'd never read this book. Almost. But then I'd have missed the bittersweet ache of it; the agonizing, beautiful prose filled with foreshadowing and heavy with regret. It's the kind of book where, even at the start you know, you just fucking know that it cannot end well. These types of things never do. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I bought it, but I was thrown for a loop by the intensity of it and finished it in virtually one sitting. It tells the story of Edward...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Jenre rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historicals, m-m, drama

Junction X is not a romance rather it's a drama centred around a gay romance, or perhaps even an obsession. It's a perfectly nuanced morality tale with a central character who tied me up in knots and made me experience such a wealth of emotion that it will be difficult to put down in words all my feelings for him.

The story is taken from the first person point of view of Ed, who is a British middle class man in his thirties, and set in the early 1960s. He has a nice home; a good job; a reasonably...more Junction X is not a romance rather it's a drama centred around a gay romance, or perhaps even an obsession. It's a perfectly nuanced morality tale with a central character who tied me up in knots and made me experience such a wealth of emotion that it will be difficult to put down in words all my feelings for him.

The story is taken from the first person point of view of Ed, who is a British middle class man in his thirties, and set in the early 1960s. He has a nice home; a good job; a reasonably good, if a little dull, relationship with his attractive wife and children; and a sort of 'friends with benefits' arrangement with his good friend and former neighbour, Phil. All that changes when Ed falls in love with the teenage son of his new neighbours and he and Alex begin an illicit affair.

I read the first half of this book pretty quickly, caught up in the character of Ed, who I really liked. His naivety was strangely endearing and I sympathised with the prickly relationship he has with his wife (they reminded me a little of Jerry and Margot from The Good Life), and the even more confusing relationship he has with Phil. It seemed quite cut and dried to me that Phil was taking advantage of Ed, that he was his friend only because of what Ed could do for him, or to him. One of the things I most admired about this story was the way that Phil turned out to be something rather unexpected in his friendship with Ed, and that all my preconceptions about him proved to be wrong, or misguided anyway. Ed bumbles along in this first part, allowing life to happen to him, cocooned in his middle class world which dampens all his emotions. He's a good man whose respectability is important to him but who isn't ambitious or forward thinking. A lot of time is spent during this first part in allowing the reader to get a good feel for Ed and his life as it stands. It wasn't dull by any means but I was a little puzzled at first as to when the romance aspect would begin. Later though, I realised why it was so important to see Ed and his comfortable life in this way. It lays down the foundations for the second half of the book, where circumstances and Ed's actions rocks his careful world and things change for him dramatically.

The romance between Ed and Alex left me feeling uncomfortable, and I think was a deliberate part of the book. We're not meant to wholly happy with the situation. On one hand I could understand the passions of both men (although in the 1960's, 18 year old Alex was still classed as a child), and yet there was always a constant niggle that Ed held all the cards. He obviously loves Alex, and the passages where Ed tries to explain his feelings for Alex were convincing and quite tender in their description. However, a few times suddenly I found myself trying to see things from Alex's point of view, the hero worship; the fierce love of a teenager; and the excitement of a secret affair mingled with the difficulties of hiding his love and the jealousy of being 'the other man'. There's no doubt in my mind that Ed should have been more responsible, more perceptive. He wasn't though, and that's ultimately where the tragedy lies in this story.

This second half of the book was a little difficult for me. Not because it was badly written, if anything Erastes' lyrical prose and stark characterisation remained compelling, but rather because I knew where the story was heading. I read it in chunks of about 30 pages at a time, before putting the book down as I mulled over what was happening and my changing feelings towards Ed. His, naivety, which was so endearing earlier in the book now became a source of frustration for me, as did his inability to think through his actions or his words before he speaks. True to character, Ed holds out on his feelings until he is forced to face them, and then his weakness allows things to get out of control. His decline from a morally upright person into a selfish, lying cheat is so gradual that I was almost at the end of the book before I realised how he'd changed. As a study in how much infidelity rips your life to shreds this was extremely well done. The fall out, when it happens, was swift, over in a matter of a few pages leaving me strangely numb. Only after an hour or so after I finished reading the book did the emotions come as I mentally raged at Ed for his foolishness, his inability to understand the feelings of others and his sheer stupidity in the way he handled things. Most of all I felt sorrow for what had happened, for the lives ruined. There aren't many authors who can leave me so worked up about a character or a situation and it's proof of how intense and powerful the writing is in this book that I was so emotionally connected to a work of fiction.

Junction X isn't an easy read. It's not light and fluffy. There are no clear cut characters or situations - rather the complexity of the characterisation was breathtaking. Instead it's a study of how love can lead to ruin; how taking what you want may not always be the best course; how the perfect life can be anything but. It's a beautifully written and vivid portrayal of a man's downfall. It may not have brought me to tears at the end, but it's a book which will stay with me for a very long time.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, favourites

A slow and tender exploration of love. Heartbreaking yet beautifully written.

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Jan 30, 2012 The Fluff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful. If I didn't already have a headache from crying I would be crying more right now. It took many things I disliked, lying spouses, cheating spouses, underage lovers, but gosh, Erastes wove a beautifully bleak world for Ed and Alex.

From the very beginning, you knew Ed lost everything. From the very beginning, you knew that something dreadful was going to happen. This is a story that just broke my heart. And it will break your heart too.

I'm not going to go into deta...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Manuela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: age-gap, mm, self-harm, tearjerker

This book broke me. It was amazing. The love between Edward and Alex is beautiful and sad, deep and tragic. Their relationship is mostly made of moments stolen from the reality of their everyday life, but I found it deeply romantic. At times I was frustrated at the unfairness of a situation that seemed without a possible way out and at times I was just in owe of the feelings Edward and Alex have for each other. The circumstances in which it was born and developed might make one think it's a sord...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Victoria Zagar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, m-m, historical, tragedy, own-paperback, reviewed-on-infinite-love

To any stranger, it might appear as though Edward Johnson has the perfect life. He has an attractive wife, two children, a nice house in the suburbs and a comfortable job as a stockbroker. But he's been lying to himself his whole life, a fact he realizes when his friend Phil makes sexual advances toward him. But it's only when Edward gains new neighbors that he falls in love for the first time, becoming infatuated with their teenaged son, Alex, who returns his feelings with equal fervor. It's a...more To any stranger, it might appear as though Edward Johnson has the perfect life. He has an attractive wife, two children, a nice house in the suburbs and a comfortable job as a stockbroker. But he's been lying to himself his whole life, a fact he realizes when his friend Phil makes sexual advances toward him. But it's only when Edward gains new neighbors that he falls in love for the first time, becoming infatuated with their teenaged son, Alex, who returns his feelings with equal fervor. It's a road that can only lead to disaster for Edward, but he's powerless to control his emotions and his desires.

This is a book that I've wanted to read since it came out last year. I'm a sucker for a good tragedy, and Junction X definitely does not disappoint. It keeps the reader going with just the right amount of hope, even when one knows Alex and Edward have no chance of a happy ending. And when disaster strikes, it's crushing and soul-wrenching in a way that rips your heart out with no mercy and then proceeds to step on it. You can't help but feel sorry for Edward, even though his actions would be considered questionable even in today's world. You can't help but despair for Alex, who feels that young heartbreak that we've all endured at some point. And though the outcome is inevitable, the romance never seems pointless or irrelevant.

Junction X does a great job of building up to the end, never in a hurry, never racing to the finish line, and it's the slow buildup of love and joy with fear ever present that makes Junction X the powerful read that it is. Erastes builds a life for Edward that is comfortable yet restricted, trapped in the expectations of the 1960s. You can easily see how someone like Alex could walk in and show Edward what he's secretly wanted all his life and never been allowed to dream he could have. You can easily understand and relate to how Edward loses control of his sense of self-preservation, even as he tells lie after lie. I could never quite find it in myself to love Edward, yet I could never hate him either. Despite everything he does, I always felt like he was bound by forces beyond his control and never really deserved the cruelty that rains down upon him. Your view may differ, of course, but I found him to be more of a victim of his own emotions than a person acting out of maliciousness. Alex, of course, is a young man with the kind of spirit one loses in their middle age. I could see how Edward could become attracted to him. And while he is still young, I never got the feeling that he didn't know what he was doing. Junction X could easily have felt like a novel about a sexual predator in the wrong hands, but Erastes puts the reader at ease by making sure Alex is mature for his age. It's Alex who initiates sexual contact and pulls Edward down a path there's no coming back from.

The story is told in first-person, which I found ideal. There's a certain intimacy to a person relating their own story, and Edward's assumptions as the narrator reveal an extra layer of his character. You can see things through his eyes, including the judgements he makes about others and his guesses as to where things start going downhill, as well as reflections on the things he wishes he'd done. Erastes is a genius in using the first person narrative not just as a stylistic choice but as a way for the character to reflect on the events and his actions when all is said and done. The story just wouldn't be the same any other way.

The cover is excellent, conveying the sense of doom that grows through the novel and the theme of trains that is also featured. It makes a great change from the hordes of covers with two half-naked men on the cover. I was able to sneak this one into work without awkward questions.

I definitely recommend Junction X, but I will also at the same time say it's not for everybody. Those looking for morality and decency in their characters might find the cheating and the fact of Alex's youth makes Edward's character unlikeable to them. It's also an unapologetic tragedy. There are no silver linings to be found here, and those wanting to walk away with good feelings are in the wrong neighborhood. Junction X is about the destruction of two men, nothing less. Be sure you can handle it before you wade in.

This review was cross-posted to Infinite Love.
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Apr 28, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My heart is broken. I new going in this was going to end sadly, but not to the extent that my heart would ache as much as it does.

Edward and Alex's story is a story of true love and acceptence of each other. Ed is a married man in his thirties with two children. His life is mundane. He has a relationship with his best friend Phil, which should be classifed as "friends w/ benefits". His life is what he and other people expect it to be.

Then Alec moves in across the street. He is seventeen years o...more My heart is broken. I new going in this was going to end sadly, but not to the extent that my heart would ache as much as it does.

Edward and Alex's story is a story of true love and acceptence of each other. Ed is a married man in his thirties with two children. His life is mundane. He has a relationship with his best friend Phil, which should be classifed as "friends w/ benefits". His life is what he and other people expect it to be.

Then Alec moves in across the street. He is seventeen years old, he lives with his working class parents who struggle to give him the best opportunity in life. He is still and boy but almost a man. He has a passion for toy trains, as well as one for Edward.

At first Edward does not take a notice to Alec. He is there in the background, shy, quiet and maybe a little embaressed of his parents constant praise in front of people. But when Edward does finally see Alexnder his world is derailed. He tries to deny to himself what he is feeling but fascination with Alexander will not fade. He creates senarios where he can spend time with him. Then its Alex who persues Edward, and he is not strong enough to deny him.

Edward soon realizes he has been living a false life and risk everything to find a way to be with Alex as much as possible. As time goes by the effect of their realationship takes its toll on Ed's life. His marriage is failing, his wife suspects him of cheating, he fails at his home life with his family. He realationship with Phil is stained, that are not what they use to be to each other. Alex will be leaving soon for University, and then what? Alex believes thay can make it work, him on visits home, Edward can come visit him, they can do this. But on their last day together be fore Alex goes to University they are found out by Phil, and Ed realizes just what is a risk. Not just for him and his family but for Alex.

When Alex comes home for Holiday, painfully, Edwards breaks things off with him. Explaining that he should look for someone his own age, he is at Univeristy and the possibilty is he will meet someone new. Alex does not want to let go, but finally he walks away. Later that night Ed is awoken to the sounds of sirens at Alex'x house and as he get together to go over there he already knows. As his wife tries talking to him, she already knows. Its there on his face, his loss, his love and he truth.

This is a sad and tragic stor no matter the time period. Its a book you can not put down once you start to read. You are caught.

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Mar 09, 2013 Jay Northcote rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book broke me but I knew it would and I wanted to read it anyway.
I have no regrets, it was wonderful. The story is beautifully crafted and perfectly told.
I was gripped from the first page and read it during every spare minute until I finished. Then I curled up and cried.
These characters are going to haunt me for days, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
If I think I can bear it, I will almost certainly re-read this book at some point. I'll stock up on tissues first though.

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Nov 23, 2011 Kiran Hunter rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 08, 2012 K.Z. Snow rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm well into this astonishing book, and I'm beginning to fear going further. But I can't look away.

Will write more when I'm finished with it.

* * *

My God.

Confessing I had to stay in the bedroom after I finished a book, because I didn't want my unemotional partner to see how distraught it left me, is the highest accolade I can give. I mourn for Edward but I ache for Alex. And I will for days.

This book will haunt me.

How adroitly Erastes sketches and shades all the tangled, terrible inevitabiliti...more

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May 03, 2013 Tamara Allen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Review to come. I can't believe I forgot to add this when I added all my print books to Goodreads a couple of weeks ago. This is a very rare non-hea for me, but it was so highly recommended and for good reason. Interesting time period, involving story. I must go ahead and recommend it right now. Even if you, like me, avoid non-HEA, this book is one of those that gives you the feeling you're an observer of something happening in real life. It reminded me of older classics I've read, novels from t...more

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May 30, 2013 SilkeeeeeeReads rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: depression, don-t-bother, m-m-erotic-romance, mm-age-difference, mm-british, mm-virgin, suicide

I found myself skimming most of this. Never connected to the MCs. One of those books that is so verbose about surroundings and insignificant things that you never engage. It should have been sad or shocking, not skimmed and rush to get to the end just so you can get to the next book.

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Mar 08, 2012 Yuri Aoi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I definitely liked the book and I'm eager now to read other titles of the author, but since I wasn't completely satisfied with the very beginning of the story when the main characters met and fell in love that I'm going to give it 4 to 4.5 stars. I needed something more drastic for the first half, then I'd have been able to sympathize with the ending.

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Aug 20, 2012 Danni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 6-star-flipping-fantastics

I'm not going to write a recount of the story in this review, partly because so many people have already said it all, and partly because reliving this story is just a one-way trip to Weepsville for me and I can't afford the therapy.

So this is just my own thoughts:

I feel as though I have been plonked into a mincer, feet first, while Erastes has slowly turned the handle, reducing me to a wobbly pile of goo, which can never, never, however hard I try, be moulded back into quite the same person I wa...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Wusswoo rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 15, 2011 Stevie Carroll rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was utterly compelling, both for the setting and for the inevitability that the protagonist's world was going to fall apart spectacularly at any moment. Which would be, of course, all of his own doing. The ending was even more spectacular (if that's the right word) than I expected. Amazing.

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About Erastes

Born in Essex, England in 1959, Erastes attended Southend High School for Girls.

Erastes is the penname of a female author who lives in Norfolk, UK. She drew her inspiration to write historical fiction from works such as Gaywyck by Vincent Virga and the novels of Mary Renault. Erastes was the Director of the Erotic Authors Association for two years and is an active member of the Historical Novel So...more

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