This book should be added to the syllabi of courses covering LGBTQ life in the 1980s. Pair it with Randy Shilts’ And the Band Played On and some other works and one would have the facts of what it was like being, both closeted and out, in this period and a fictional portrait showing the emotional costs and rewards. We get pictures of families dealing lovingly and appallingly with homosexuality, we see the toll of the AIDS epidemic during the years when it was feared and generally a death sentence and we see the club scene in both its positive community sense and as a place where people often struggled to make connections and looking back from today, where lack of understanding/homophobia and lack of safe sex practices cost lives. Should definitely be read by anyone who reads contemporary M/M romance as a chance to think about where we have been and what has/has not changed. I read this first and recently listened to the audio version. David Allen Vargo does a superb job. He captures the emotionally charged moments without ever going over the top or making a false step.