Gleams of a Remoter World — a review
Chris Mullins visits Ireland on a ‘ghost hunt’ in the hopes of winning the coveted Moondust Award. While there, he develops feelings for Paulie — a Liverpudlian who is on holiday with his gay lover to whom he as good as married where it counts in mind, body, and soul. The situation is further complicated by Chris’s bisexuality, and the fact that Chris is in a tumultuous relationship with Jo Perry, his investigative partner and live-in lover. Even more disturbing are the secrets he’s beginning to uncover regarding the ghostly apparition Chris has encountered in the old priest’s house, which if he’s not careful could be the death of him.
This is not a gay romance, although it does have romantic elements. I can see why some readers picking this up from Riptide Publishing might mistake the contents, but foremost this is a ghost detective story. I’m pleased that Riptide published this as it shows a desire and willingness to publish GLBT fiction that isn’t just romantic or erotic in nature.
Quality writing and atmospheric settings made this an easy, somewhat sedate read, with also a tone of ‘Britishness’ which I couldn’t help enjoying. Yes, the setting is Ireland but I grinned the moment I saw such terms as ‘bacon butty’. I loved the research into the settings and even places like the British Library and Trinity College.
The book features some interesting and varied characters. The protagonist is Chris, who is frustrated somewhat by his job, with what is starting to feel like a directionless future, and his relationship with Jo — the latter of which he also finds perplexing. Alas, he’s sidetracked somewhat by the investigation and misses much of what is actually going on with Jo owing to his desire to keep his editor happy, and trying to achieve his goal: to win the award both for the prestige and so he can afford to take the time to write a novel. Equally, the ghostly influence he confronts is enough to distract anyone.
Jo is the most complex person in the book, and I found her situation rather sad. She loves Chris, more than she lets on, so that she even hides it because she doesn’t like to feel vulnerable. I don’t think she could handle his being bi and probably lied to herself in the beginning telling herself she could. I think all her anger came from angst and insecurity and frustration. She’s far more caring than Chris realises sometimes, because she purposely tries to conceal it. I felt frustrated with both of them and in that, the author wrote a perfect example of how people get their wires crossed all the time. Alas, that’s not fully explored because the story is told entirely from Chris’s pov, but Jo is not only more than she seems on the surface, but it made me wonder if things could have been different had Chris not been so distracted by everything else that is going on. He defers because of circumstances and owing to new, developing, and inappropriate feelings due to Paulie’s own situation — a situation that grows steadily worse and leads to a wrenching scene of animosity between Paulie and his lover’s family.
Much of what I came to understand by the end of this novel makes me want to set this aside as a possible title to re-read…maybe during a trip to Ireland or, failing that, on a dark night when the wind is howling and rain is falling. The author made Ireland as much a character in the story as any of the people within the pages. May not be what everyone is looking for but I enjoyed this.
Gleams of a Remoter World (Love that title!) is available from Riptide Publishing and many good outlets.
