The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Fade Out (Boystown 13)
By Marshall Thornton
Published by Kenmore Books, 2020
Five stars

“I could barely remember the person I was then. He was very different from me.”

How can I not give this book five stars? Thornton’s writing is clean, his humor is wry and low-key, his characters have grown deeply into my mind and heart – Nick most of all. Nick is a remarkable, resilient, big-hearted person – something that was far from evident in the first Boystown stories. The voyage of Nick’s soul has been epic. Watching him evolve has been a pleasure – albeit at times a painful pleasure.

Chicago has its hooks deep into Nick Nowak. It is the place he has always been, where he has found joy and sorrow, love and loss; the place where he has forced justice into an unjust world, and where, it seems, all his efforts simply haven’t been enough.

Oh.

And this is the ultimate twist in Nick’s long strange journey. I did not see this coming, and Thornton’s decision as to the final direction to take his story was not what I expected – nor, honestly, what I wanted. It took me all night, and a lot of stranger-than-usual dreams, to make peace with the author’s ultimate freedom – the right to write what he feels is the truth for his characters.

The right to write. *snort*

It is a brilliant, dark finale. A fair night’s sleep also made me see the hope in it. The freedom. This epic series of thirteen books, a landmark in contemporary gay fiction that I have been privileged to experience, ends not with a bang, but with a fadeout. We can only imagine for ourselves what we want to happen next.

The very first book in Joseph Hansen’s landmark Dave Brandsetter mysteries was also titled “Fadeout.” I am grateful that Marshal Thornton didn’t end his series the way Hansen did. I’ll take what comfort I can get.