B.G. Thomas, The Boy Who Came in From the Cold

[Ulysses]

The Boy Who Came in From the Cold
By B.G. Thomas
Dreamspinner Press, 2013
Cover by Aaron Anderson
ISBN: 978-1-62380-714-6
Four stars
284 pages

This teetered toward five stars, because I enjoyed it so much. Ultimately, however, I settled with four because it is in many ways a classic m/m tale, full of those tropes that the m/m audience demands. I have to say, however, that Thomas writes really well, and his gift with words made the book a real pleasure, on top of the emotional satisfaction of main characters who pull hard on your heartstrings.

Todd Burton finds himself homeless on a bad snowy night in Kansas City. Seeking shelter by subterfuge in the lobby of an apartment building, Burton is touched by the kindness of the big, well-dressed man named Gabe who offers him food. When Gabe, presuming him to be a hustler, offers to pay him to stay for the night, Todd rejects him harshly. Thus begins a fraught pas de deux, in which Gabe tries to understand who Todd really is; and Todd tries to wrap his mind around the idea of someone who would be kind to him just for the sake of being kind.

Both Todd and Gabe have backstories that figure importantly in the unspooling narrative, but as Thomas draws them they are refreshingly thoughtful men. They are candid with their stories, once they begin to get to know one another, and we aren’t forced to suffer through endless pages of stubborn miscommunication and its resultant angst. Todd has a lot of self-realization to achieve, and Gabe suffers from painful memories of a very bad misstep in his past. But Thomas doesn’t drag us through a lot of unnecessary muck to make his points. There is a bit of a fairy-tale feel to the story, but it’s the kind of fairy tale that many of us still cling to as possible—perhaps essential—in this dark, troublesome world.

I also love Peter Wagner’s character as a sort of fairy godfather, popping in and out of the action to spout pithy quotes and remind the boys that old gay men have their value in the world of romance.

I love that Thomas sets the story in his own home town of Kansas City. Even as a New Yorker, I have been to Kansas City and know well its beauty and charm. I really like the idea of writing about gay men in places where we might not expect to see them. We are everywhere, and so should our stories be.

[Aussie54]

I liked this too, and thought it a sweet, feel-good story that was pleasant to read, without having to deal with a "difficult to follow" story line.

There's also a review in our Backlot forum for this, under Audio Books.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...