This really has been the year of the gay thriller—two of my favorite reads this year have been es, Daddy and Bath Haus, and while Blackout, Marco Carocari’s debut, isn’t as intense as those, it’s still a really good addition to the genre.
One night Franco decides to meet a hookup on the rooftop of his NYC apartment. They smoke a joint and get down to business, only they don’t get too far, because Franco suddenly feels weird after smoking. And in his daze, he swears he sees in a window of another apartment building a guy getting murdered by another man.
Of course, when the police arrive they don’t believe Franco, both because he appears to be on drugs (what was in that joint?) and they can’t find a body or a murder scene. But when a philanthropist’s mutilated body is found a few days later, it turns out Franco knew the man—and suddenly he’s the prime suspect. And even worse, the only person who can give him an alibi is the guy he hooked up with, and he was anonymous for a reason.
In the midst of all of this, Franco is plagued by memories of his policeman father’s murder in front of him 40 years before. When new details surface about that murder, the connections to this current crime make Franco’s guilt seem even more obvious. It’s up to him to clear his name and figure out exactly why his father was killed—if he doesn’t get killed first.
Part crime novel, part thriller, I thought Blackout was a really compelling story. It’s a little of a slow burn at first but when it gets going it really picks up steam. Definitely a terrific debut!!
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