"Fogtown" (Vertigo Crime)

[pkristen]

From the back cover: "It's 1953 and Frank Grissel is a man from the old school -- a tough-talking, hard-drinking, womanizing private dick who's seen it all and done it all... twice.

So when young hookers start turning up dead on the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin district, Frank barely raises an eyebrow. But after an apparently simple missing persons case goes dizzyingly complex, Frank sees that all the vice in this town is connected -- and that he is now caught in a twisted web of sex, money, drugs and murder.

And that's not all... because, like the city itself, Frank Grissel is not all that he appears. Dig beneath the surface and there's a complex and tortured soul who now realizes that exposing the truth of this case may well reveal the truth about himself..."

Review:
Okay, I admit I picked this book up because there was a vendor doing huge discounts on hardbacks at San Diego Comic Con this year and I remember seeing this title on some LGBT reading list somewhere.

It's definitely crime noir-style with the descriptions that are not-feminist friendly. So after the first page's tone turned me off emotionally, I read it merely to see if it was executed well as something to recommend for LGBT readers, and to see what happens with mild interest since I'm not really into murder mysteries as a genre.

That being said, if you're into guys wrestling with internalized homophobia by being ultra-butch, with a lot of violence and straight-sex, I'd recommend this wholeheartedly. If you're not, well, it's a gamble that's more likely to satisfy if you're (1) a gay man into most of what I described above and (2) you're into the hard-boiled crime drama (no pun really intended.)

The story and art worked very well together though I admit there were moments that I had to study things a bit more that weren't as clearly executed as it could have been.

I will say that it does end satisfactorily on the LGBT note for the most part.