Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries by Marshall Thornton

Title: Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries
Author: Marshall Thornton
Publisher: Torquere Press
Length: 144 pages
Buy the book: Publisher

Blurb: A former police officer turned private investigator, Nick Nowak is haunted by his abrupt departure from the department, as well as, the traumatic end of his relationship with librarian Daniel Laverty. In these three stories set in Chicago during the early eighties, Nick locates a missing young man for a mysterious client, solves a case of arson at a popular nightspot, and goes undercover to prove a dramatic suicide was actually murder.

When he isn’t detecting, and sometimes when he is, Nick moves through a series of casual relationships. But his long suppressed romantic side surfaces when he meets Detective Bert Harker. Will he give love another chance? Or, will he continue to bury himself in the arms of strangers.

Review: This anthology contains three mystery stories all featuring the private detective Nick Nowak and set in the early 80’s before the AIDS crisis. Nick is an ex-cop who left the force after an incident which destroyed both his career and his relationship with the only man he loved. Since then Nick has eeked out an existence as a PI, and spent his nights on one night stands and meaningless sex.

Each story follows on from the other, with a strong set of secondary characters who become more well rounded as the stories progress. This gave the anthology a cohesion aside from the obvious connection with Nick and allowed also for a progression in the character arc of Nick, one which seems to continue into the next anthology Boystown 2.

The mysteries themselves were well constructed and relied heavily on fairly mundane detective work. There’s no flashes of inspiration here for our hero, just a reliance on hard work with a smattering of gut instinct. This meant that Nick spends a lot of time in awkward conversations and situations that border slightly on the edgy lending the narrative an uncomfortable feel at times. I thought the author had done a good job in showing that the life of a detective is rather dull but can also be dangerous. The rather dour Nick has a suitably world-weary approach to his job, and what can only be described as a deadened soul. He’s bitter at the break up with Daniel, especially as he saw it as a no-win situation with him being definitely the loser. This means that Nick often engages in brutal, unfeeling casual sex which does nothing other than scratch an itch for Nick. Despite this attitude and his actions, I liked Nick and felt very sorry for him quite a lot of the time. I wanted him to discover that there was more to life than his meagre flat and sex with strangers, and I felt sorrow for him when life kicked him in the teeth time and time again. I seethed at his selfishness at times whilst also longing for him to find happiness. It was a strange dichotomy and made Nick stick in my mind for a long time after I had finished reading the book.

Another aspect of the book I liked a great deal was the setting of the pre-AIDS early 80’s in Chicago. There was a mix of freedom and oppression during this time for gay men: The freedom to sleep around with no fear, and yet homophobia and lack of acceptance made their lives very difficult. This theme was interwoven through the stories as Nick interacts with people from all walks of life. The shadow of AIDS was ever present too as I reflected on the effect that all the bareback sex would have in the very near future for these men.

There was only one little niggle I had with the story, which on reflection probably couldn’t be helped but annoyed me anyway. Each story can stand on its own and so all of them repeat information such as the layout of Nick’s flat, or his relationship with Daniel, or his side job as a bouncer at a local night club, or some of the secondary characters that we meet from the beginning. It irked me a little that I had to read the same descriptions or information three times, whilst I also acknowledge that they were necessary for the stories to stand alone. Perhaps when the stories were placed together in the anthology it might have been better to edit out some of that extra information for the sake of a smoother read overall.

However, that was just a minor irritation in what was a pretty terrific set of mystery stories. Those of you who like their detectives hard-boiled, cynical and downbeat will love Nick Nowak. The stories aren’t cheery reads but I still enjoyed them and I’m looking forward to reading Boystown 2.