From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

Come Unto These Yellow Sands

Josh Lanyon

Start date: May 1, 2013

Finish date: May 31, 2013

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

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What Members Thought

Jun 15, 2011 John rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gay, fiction, mystery

I enjoy Josh Lanyon's writing: he always tells an engaging story with wit and charm with a special ability to create characters we enjoy. But Come Unto These Yellow Sands really is Lanyon 2.0. This book works on so many levels. It's beautifully written and intelligent; Lanyon makes five words do the work of dozens. Main characters are carefully drawn and engaging: nothing about them is "canned" or cliche. Other reviewers have described the story with more eloquence than I could muster, but it's ...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Rhys Ford rated it it was amazing

10671152
"I've never hid my love for Lanyon's writing and I'm not going to do so now. Some are less intriguing than others, most notably the "Dangerous Ground" series which I enjoy but there's something about Lanyon's writing voice in mysteries that does it for me. Wordgasms.

Josh doesn't disappoint with "Come Unto These Yellow Sands".

There IS a formula to Lanyon's mysteries. Usually the one of the male leads is hindered in some way, either physically or emotionally and he is coupled with a strong ...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Paola rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite

Though I haven’t read many stand-alone books by Josh Lanyon so far, compared to his series, Come Unto These Yellow Sands surprised me by how much I came to empathise with the main characters.
Even in 3rd person POV, Swift’s “voice” is very distinct and limpid. The book also has a very good sense of time and place, in the way vivid and beautiful descriptions of nature in this corner of Maine provide the perfect backdrop for the evocation of the character’s moods and emotions, in a way that really Though I haven’t read many stand-alone books by Josh Lanyon so far, compared to his series, Come Unto These Yellow Sands surprised me by how much I came to empathise with the main characters.
Even in 3rd person POV, Swift’s “voice” is very distinct and limpid. The book also has a very good sense of time and place, in the way vivid and beautiful descriptions of nature in this corner of Maine provide the perfect backdrop for the evocation of the character’s moods and emotions, in a way that really resonated with me. Through Swift’s senses (as a poet he has a heightened perception of even the most hidden aspects of the world around him) we perceive the colours, the smells... we are there.
In typical JL style, the protagonist, a college professor and poet, emerges as a fully-rounded character, with very believable strengths and vulnerabilities, apparently quite happy and content with his lot in life but with an undeniable wish for something more, especially as regards his relationship with the local Police Chief. The book tells his journey from being simply content, living "healthy, whole, and mostly happy", to becoming more engaged in the world around him, including taking a few risks. Moreover, despite Swift’s profound self-awareness, his long physical and mental isolation has made him a little too self-absorbed, cocooned in the apparent safety of the academic world and the small-town setting, and not fully aware of his surroundings, of what small-town people living around him might feel as regards his past and present, his sexual orientation, his academic position and credibility. His self-absorption emerges through what other characters, especially his lover Max, say to him or how they react, and it’s interesting how this affects Swift’s journey of self-discovery and growth in the latter part of the book.

Swift’s humanity is even more evident in his struggles with his addiction and the precarious balance he’s achieved since staying clean, even after several years of staying clean, and in his sense of inadequacy in the face of his famous and well-respected parents.

His lover Max is drawn with a humanity and compassion, despite his apparently intransigent behaviour and seeing the world in black-and-white terms (as Swift remarks several times): as with Jake in the AE Mysteries, it may take a while to warm up to Max’s tough exterior, and though we don’t get Max’s POV, his words and his actions reveal so much about where he stands, and about his struggles to reconcile upholding the law and his feelings and worries for Swift. Whereas on the surface Max’s role as regards Swift could be identified as the ‘protector’, we slowly realise he’s come to ‘depend’ on his relationship with Swift as well in various ways. Their intimacy is beautifully portrayed, and it includes those little but meaningful scenes where Swift cooks for Max even when he’s not sure Max will be there for dinner, and their use of nicknames (“Teach” and “Chief”) for each other.
Their relationship’s progress is poignant and realistic. Their character dynamic may remind me a little of Adrien and Jake, minus the self-hate and closet angle of the latter, and the self-deprecating wit of the former (and, unlike Adrien, Swift as an amateur sleuth is not as interested in who the murder perp is), whereas the setting has a few aspects in common with Fair Game. But these elements don’t affect the integrity of the book. Among the most original and interesting aspects is that every chapter borrows a poignant theme from Choose Your Own Adventure, which sets the tone of the chapter and highlights the cause-effect reaction from the character’s choices and the dilemmas he’s going through.

Come Unto These Yellow Sands is a heartfelt, thoughtful, intelligent book: a lot of what is not explicitly said is evoked subtly and sensitively. It’s the type of book that in my view gets better and better with each new reading.

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Jun 15, 2011 HJ rated it really liked it

Shelves: not-read, m-m, romance, mystery, suspence, police-officer-as-mc

I buy everything Josh Lanyon writes, and one of the reasons I enjoy his work so much is that each book is different, and unpredictable. I liked this one as much as the Adrien English books, and that is praise indeed!

Although there is a mystery, and its resolution matters, it isn't the most important element of the book. The relationships and the interaction between the characters are what is central to the book. For example, while Swift does try to find out what happened, "The truth was, he tru ...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Silvia Violet rated it it was amazing

Beautifully written! Swift's emotions were palpable and the development of Swift and Max's relationship was so poignant it brought me to tears. ...more

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