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Review

"Maupin weaves an exquisitely plotted page turner that manages to flash like a disco ball while charting the emotional depths of that peculiarly queer need for the fantastic."
Bethany Schneider in Out Magazine

From the opening paragraphs of Armistead Maupin's new novel one knows it's going to be a page turner. Maupin has a gift for drawing the reader in and The Night Listener is no exception. Gabriel Noone hosts a NPR radio talk show where he tells a fictional tale to millions of nightly listeners. The tale resemble Noone's life and the line between fiction and fact is blurred not only for Noone, but for his fans. Gabriel's long-term lover Jess leaves him to become a leather man and Gabriel is despondent. He becomes blocked and NPR starts running reruns. Anna, his bookkeeper, pulls an unsolicited manuscript from the trash and Gabriel's life changes. The story is written by a thirteen-year-old boy, Pete, who was a sex slave for his parents. They rented Pete out to clients as a boy whore until Pete managed to escape. He was adopted by his psychologist and lived to tell his remarkable tale. Pete also become infected with HIV during his ordeal and his health was failing. Gabriel begins a phone relationship with the boy, and becomes a father surrogate for this damaged, extraordinary soul. Parallels are seen between all the participants in this beautiful story, a novel well worth the eight year wait since the equally remarkable Maybe the Moon. One rather funny note is that Gabriel's bookeeper Anna is the grown-up daughter of DeDe Halcyon from Tales of the City.

"The Night Listener is a mature and sophisticated novel in which Maupin controls his inclination towards sentimentality and thereby leaves the reader deeply moved without any trace of authorial manipulation. It is an unputdownable (sic) book."
Gay Times
…a very smooth and pleasurable reading experience."
Instinct Magazine
"It's always my intention to make the reader believe that what he or she is reading is gospel. I think every writer strives for that sensation of reality."
Armistead Maupin as quoted in Hero Magazine