Ex-Gay Mystery Novel

PFOX Book Review

This Side of Jordan

by Bill Kassel, Company Publications

Unlike other ex-gay books, this one is a mystery novel! Set in a Catholic background, THIS SIDE OF JORDAN explores homosexuality and the challenge it presents to relationships, to society, and to the Church. It’s a good who-done-it, too! Catholic journalist Bill Kassel ties all these threads into an engaging story:

“A community theater festival stirs dreams of stardom, dreams of escape, dreams of love. But dreams become nightmares when two bodies are found floating off shore at the lakefront amphitheater.

One is a brilliant teenage actress named Sonja Duranyi who plays an Indian princess remembered in local legend as meeting a violent end. The other is Peter Carnahan, the festival's technical director.

As the story jumps back to trace the unfolding production, we meet a variety of colorful characters, including:

• Benson Forrester, theater professor from the state university brought in to produce the play - a man known for his triumphs on stage and his weakness for talented young women;
• Laszlo Duranyi, Sonja's artist stepfather who engages her in constant quarrels and whose hostility toward life is rooted in politics and grief;
• Tommy Dwyer, Sonja's moody boyfriend who dreams of flying and of sharing a life with the girl whose onstage presence fascinates him;
• Shelly Hasted, a costume designer who has the inside scoop on people's lives and who, unwittingly, holds the key to the two tragic deaths.

This Side of Jordan by Bill Kassel available at http://www.companypublications.com/jordan.html