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halkon's review
4.0
Barnett could write. His prose is tight and compelling and thick with religious imagery. Plot wise, the collection is of mixed quality. Some stories can be skimmed (like the serviceable opener "Snapshot") while others demand attention (like the decent "The Times as it Knows Us"). The real power lies in the front line quality of the stories. With the AIDS crisis, Barnett found his subject. And, before he could fully realise the subject, he met his death. At the edges of this collection, you feel the moments when Barnett could have struck out for more and would have done so if he'd had more time. But, just as his characters rush to experience Rome or one last blow job before their sero-positive status turns to full blown AIDS, so Barnett rushed his work out into the world before he succumbed. Still, even the average stories are tinged with possibility. Towards the end of "Succor", the protagonist, Kerch, stands in front of Caravaggio's "Conversion on the Way to Damascus". For Kerch, this painting reminds him of 'that moment of penetration when your love looks at you, helpless with the knowledge that you have brought him to the edge of something, counting on you to maintain the moment, his security, his safety.' Barnett's penetrating work on gay life and AIDS deserves to be more widely read. For, he brings us to the verge of greatness.
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