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Review

Hustler novels aren't as ubiquitous as coming–out novels in the canon of young queer writers, but they are often just as indistinguishable one from another. Not so Cox's compact and bracingly original depiction of Jaeven Marshall, a charismatic boy for hire who can pirouette on a dime, or preferably a few hundred dollars, from pretty naïf with a pout to jaded, will–do–it–all sex toy. He's drawn from the author's own New York experiences in the '90s, which gives this peepshow snapshot of Manhattan's gay sexual whirl a glimmering, gritty authenticity. Young Jaeven has literary ambitions—when not dumpster diving, getting high, peddling his bod, and for a spell cohabitating with a quirky painter, he's obsessively peddling his prose. This urge to tell tales parallels Cox's own—the author once did porn; now he has crafted an exhilarating tale of the sex trade. Readers tantalized by Cox's accomplishment here ought to seek out his first, terse book, the novella Tattoo This Madness In, about a queer Jehovah Witness boy's travels; it's a smart harbinger.

 -- Richard Labonte, Books to Watch Out For