#REVIEW Rubble and the Wreckage by Rodd Clark #gayfiction #romhero

Genre: Gay fiction, crime fiction, part of the A Gabriel Church Tale series
Release Date: January 30, 2015
Publisher:  Driven Press
Length: 254 pages

Description: Gabriel Church knows you can’t take a life without first understanding just how feeble life is, how tentative and weak it stands alone. If you desire murder, you hold a life in your hand. Whether you release it to grant life or grip tighter to end it, it is at your command and discretion. Gabriel is a serial killer with a story he wants told.

Christian Maxwell studied abnormal psychology in college but chose instead to focus on a career in writing. His background comes in handy when he thinks of writing about a serial killer. He can’t think of anyone more qualified to write the story of Gabriel Lee Church, and do so in the murderer’s own words. It’s been done before, but never with a killer who has yet to be captured or convicted.

There was never anything more than a gentleman’s understanding between the two men that Christian would record Gabriel’s life story. The killer did not ask for his complicity in any crimes, nor did he ever ask for his silence. Christian’s interest in the man, though, is fast becoming something more than academic. When the writer and his subject become unexpected friends and then lovers, the question remains: What is Gabriel’s endgame . . . and why does he want his story told?


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OUR REVIEW

Rubble and the Wreckage is one of the most unusual books I've read. It's a dark, twisted, fascinating tale about a serial killer and a writer that seeks to answer the often asked question: how can a person fall in love with someone so evil?

Gabriel Church is a serial killer, who has been righteously executing his duty for some twenty years. The police are nowhere on his tail. In fact, they have no idea that a serial killer is responsible for dozens of murders across the country. But Gabriel isn't satisfied with anonymity. He senses that the end of his run is near and wants people to understand why he's done the things he's done.

When the man didn't offer a conciliatory gesture, Gabe continued, "Before Florida, before Seattle, I had been somewhere else... It was a better place for me because it still held some type of promise. Nothing had been carved into stone... if you'll pardon the pun." Church's head rolled back as if he were about to break into a hearty laugh.

He was a dangerous, sick man; Christian could see that. His reference to the markers of his varied victims, as well as his nonchalant manner in describing his affinity to murder, was unsettling, even for someone as akin to pathology as Christian Maxwell.

When he discovers that Christian Maxwell has some how put together one and one, he finds young writer and convinces him to become his biographer. Christian is fascinated by Gabriel, a man who is a textbook sociopath--charming and dangerous, and oh... he's as sexy as an angel... a fallen one. But as he learns about the past killings, Christian is plunged into an ethical dilemma.

He stood there watching the bathroom fill with muggy heat, rubbing his crotch front to remind himself of the fabric straining against his own fully engorged member. Was he that fucked up that he'd consider throwing himself at a man who had so easily killed so many folks across this country? Apparently so, he reasoned... because he hadn't moved away yet.

Through Gabriel's recounting of his past misdeeds, we are taken deep into the mind of a killer, one who barely acknowledges that maybe what he's done isn't all good. For perhaps the first time in his life, Gabriel starts to care about someone other than himself. Something that could prove deadly for all concerned.

The writer was someone Gabe liked. There were few who could easily fit into that category, and it was because they were friends that he didn't want to make him into a monster. Christian represented life before the murders began--he equally represented what it could have been like if Gabe had never taken his darker road. But he had, and that was an inescapable truth. Half of him wanted Christian held pure of the same ideologies he possessed, because it wasn't a healthy way of living, but the other side of him knew he needed to bring his new companion into the fold, or risk losing him completely.

Will Christian and Gabriel's relationship be what "saves" Gabriel or will it be the impetus that leads to the destruction of Gabriel's carefully constructed world?

Rubble and the Wreckage is very well written. However, there are some proofreading mishaps and instances of head-hopping. Not enough to detract from the story, but enough to be worthy of mention. Also, like many psychological thrillers, the pacing of the story slows down at times when the characters get into long introspective modes. While there is definitely a romance in this book, it is not your typical HEA. But, perhaps, it is something even better? We're anxious to read the rest of Gabe and Christian's story in the next books in the A Gabriel Church Tale series!

OUR RATING: 4 stars

(4/8/2016)