The Night Listener

Gabriel Noone is the host of a NPR program called "Noone at Night", sort of a "Prairie Home Companion" crossed with "This American Life" crossed with "Queer as Folk". His life is in a tailspin because his much younger partner, Jess, who is finally responding to new HIV meds has moved out. His writing is blocked and nothing in his life seems meaningful. Then a publisher sends him a memoir writing by Pete, a 13 year old boy, who has been sexually abused by his parents and has AIDS. Gabriel begins a series of phone calls with Pete and his adoptive mom Donna that begin to restore Gabriel's sense of self. Until questions begin to rise to the surface about whether Pete is really what he seems. Maupin is a great writer and the story is a fast read with some excellent moments of suspense.