Howtown

The Henry Rios Mysteries #3

by Michael Nava

A controversial case brings lawyer Henry Rios back home to Oakland—and into the sights of a stone-cold killerIt’s been almost a decade since Henry Rios has seen his sister, Elena. A troubled family history has left them both with unhappy memories. But his visit with his sister isn’t the reunion he imagined. As Rios comes to terms with the results of his partner’s HIV test, Elena asks him to defend Paul Windsor, someone they grew up with—who has a history of pedophilia and has just been charged with murder after his fingerprints were found at a crime scene.The victim, who peddled child pornography, was tortured before he was bludgeoned to death in a motel room. The investigation takes Rios back to his old neighborhood and down a twisting trail of blackmail, jealousy, and tainted love. Forced to confront his demons, he’ll face off with some hard truths about himself—and with a merciless killer.Howtown is the third book in the Henry Rios mystery series, which also includes The Little Death and Goldenboy.

Genres: Mystery, M M Romance, LGBT, Fiction, Queer, Crime, Historical

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 19, 2013

About the author

Michael Nava is the author of a groundbreaking series of crime novels featuring a gay, Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios. Nava is a six-time recipient of the Lambda Literary Award in the mystery category, as well as the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award for gay and lesbian literature.

Reviews

[Shile (Hazard's Version) on-hiatus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy reread April 2023

This is supposed to be book 4 in the revised edition published in 2019.

It's still gritty and in your face like before. Wooooo. Nava really doesn't hold back.


*****************************************************************
4.35 stars

Warning! Mild Spoiler.

Lawd! This book was really tough to read. The content made me want to puke but I just had to know. Michael Nava gives Dick Wolf a run for his money with this book. This one got nothing on an episode of Law & Order SVU.

This is gritty and in your face, no sugar coating anything. It is just;



We follow Henry as he defends Paul, a man accused of murder. We are taken through the court proceedings and every single step of the investigation. The moral lines and legal lines are blurred here, these people are pedophiles. A Child Molester accused of Killing another Child molester. What if he didn't do it? What if he did? The descriptions of their crimes is gruesome and difficult to read. I had no sympathy whatsoever. I wanted to reach into the book and strangle everyone. They should have all just gone to prison.

Henry's character is growing and I love that, his past is slowly being revealed. Nava can sure write an edge of your seat kind of mystery filled with twists and turns.

[LenaRibka · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes I defend someone because I think he deserves a break, or maybe just becuase I like him. And sometimes I do it because, whatever the guy's done, worse has been done to him. And sometimes I do it for money. And sometimes I do it because no one else will. Like this case."

It was a difficult case for Henry Rios. Normally I empathize with Henry Rios clients, I feel for them, but how to sympathize with Paul Windsor?

Does Paul, who had been already charged of child molestation in the past and who escaped a jail by a hair's breadth only because his victim refused to testify against him in court, deserve to be punished for a brutal murder that he probably didn't do?

The evidence against him is weak, though he is not very trustful, the police and judicial authority of Henry's hometown aren't proved to be very open-minded, helpful and welcoming, and the publicity in this small provincial town has already made its verdict.
Not a particularly good basis for a fair process.

I was torn between Law, Justice, Ethic, Morality and my personal Feelings. But Henry is a pro. And he mastered this challenge EXCELLENTLY. And it got an extra bonus from me for some wonderful moments of Henry Rios private life. You won't be disappointed!

Great mystery, superb writing!

[Eugenia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense!!!!

WOW! I couldn’t stop listening to this marvelous novel! The superb prose kept me enthralled and the mystery set my mind to work.

If you are looking for romance, look somewhere else. While we do get some, and see a man dealing with a relationship with a partner who is HIV positive, this book is a mystery. This book is about Henry Rios, it’s about a case. His relationship takes a back seat.

So, you say you’re on board with plot over romance, well there is another huge hurdle for you—something that may be a trigger for many. Rios is defending a pedophile on a murder charge. Distasteful as defending a pedophile is to most, the thing is that Henry believes that everyone deserves a fair trial. On top of dealing with the morality of fighting for a pedophile, we hear explicit descriptions of photos and past abuse. This is definitely a trigger for many.

The layers in this book kept building. I never really knew what was coming next and this shows the skill Nava has as a writer. I could not stay away from this mystery! This felt like it could be a movie. Seriously!!

This is only the second Henry Rios book I have read, and I have 5 starred them both.

My rec? I loved it, you will, too. (Beware sexual abuse triggers).

[alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Rossi warned me you'd be a smart ass."

I shrugged. "He told me you were a good cop. I guess he was wrong about both of us."

Henry's steadily claiming a permanent seat as one of my favorite protagonists of all time.

when the layers of legalese wrapped around this story could've very well turned me off, the courtroom scenes proved to more engaging and frenzied than a bloody battle between two kingdoms. my legal knowledge consists of the unrealistic, fantastical depictions in Ace Attorney (you get a bazillion points in my book if you've played the games) - in other words, nonexistent - but this book cast a spell with every verbal lunge and parry, every complex maneuvering. my eyes played their own game of ping-pong, jumping back and forth across the page. in all my restlessness, i wore out the poor, abused fabric on the edge of my seat. i love Henry at his every stage, in his every form, but he ripens into an absolute showstopper when he’s flexing those glorious wings of competence.

Michael Nava's prose is brilliant and tackles critical themes with a smooth elegance rarely seen. the exploration of the ways HIV status can affect relationships, laying bare the wall between infected and non-infected populations, upheaving false conflations made in the public eye - i can't look away in spite of, or maybe because of, the underlying anguish that accompanied life in a way i'll never truly know in my own.

on a side note, i wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Gregory Ashe spent time studying some of this author's expressive descriptions. they felt reminiscent of one another, at least at their core and feeling, though i hope my assumption doesn’t come across presumptuous. regardless, i do love when writers paint settings more vividly in my mental landscape than what i could possibly see with the naked eye.

[Gabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Excellent writing. Great mystery.

WOW, this was a difficult subject matter and it was really well handled.
I love the narrator of this series. He’s doing such a good job!

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This is actually #4 in the new series order. It comes between Lies with Man and The Hidden Law

Review for first edition here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This is, of course, the second edition. I wasn't originally going to reread this one, because while the writing is solid as ever, it's not a case I enjoyed reading about, but I figured I couldn't leave my BR friends hanging after recommending this series, lol.

Since I had the audio for the second edition and ebook of the first edition, I thought I'd read along to the audio to see if there are any changes. And there were. While there were no changes to the actual plot or case, Nava added quite a few additional and extended conversations throughout. In each case, these changes provided a different tone to the scenes, conversations and the characters, and even in some cases, more background information. While you won't miss anything vital from not reading the second edition, I do think it's worth the read, or a listen.

(Edit: Oh, and for some reason, he translated all the Spanish into English, and added that the characters were speaking in Spanish. I don't know why he thought that was necessary, since there wasn't much of it, and the meaning of the words was easily parsed from the surrounding text.

For example:

1st edition:
“Estoy buscando la señorita Ruth Soto,” I said.
“Pues, yo soy su madre,” she replied.

2nd edition:
“I’m looking for Ruth Soto,” I said in Spanish.
In Spanish, she replied, “I am her mother.”

It's a bit clunky and he didn't always indicate they were speaking Spanish, so some might mistakenly think they switched to English all of a sudden.)

Thom Rivera continues to shine with this series. He gets Henry's character perfectly, and he's managed to alter his usual voices just enough that they didn't instantly remind me of PsyCop characters.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

In line with the rest of the series, this book had an interesting and thought-provoking setting and mystery, which did little to make it a pleasant read. The writing was engaging as usual and Henry is a sweetheart of an MC, who in this fourth book—yes, this is the fourth book in the series, regardless of what GR says about it—had to deal with the most disturbing client and disgusting case he’s had so far. The author explains in the note at the end why he chose this particular scenario and I see the merit of it, even though it did nothing to make the less appealing parts of the narrative more palatable.
On the personal side, Henry is still with Josh and this book makes it pretty clear that their relationship is problematic on both sides and they’re not the right person for each other. Given Josh’s HIV-positive state and their dynamic, I don’t see a non-dramatic end to their relationship (a break-up seems too much to ask for since one of them would’ve to make the choice and I don’t see that happening, at least not in a mature way). If it’ll take Josh’s death for Henry to move on, it’ll be tragic, but I’m looking forward to Henry finally falling for a guy who’s good for him for a change.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book managed to break my heart, not as bad as Carved in Bone, but this one was very hard to read. I suspected what was going on since the early beginning (I have a suspicious mind) and I was right after all. It was hearkbreaking discovering the truth. All those lives ruined, all that pain.
I'm not on board with Josh and Henry relationship, I haven't been on board since the beginning, I think they're bad for each other and I hope they both find the right person for them. But I'm afraid I'm in for a heartache in that regard... Mr. Nava likes to put Henry through rough paths, that's for sure. I hope there's something good waiting for him at the end, though.
I liked this book very much, it was hard, but a good story, and I loved my fellow BReaders company. Be sure to read the afterword from the author, it was enlightening in many aspects, and brought tears to my eyes... too many talent lost, too many lives.

[Cyndi (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

We finally get to see Henry work a courtroom! And, wow, was it magical. This case was a tough one and it more than blurred the lines of what justice looks like, both in the eyes of the law and the court of public opinion. I loved the way it all came together because it was messy and imperfect and realistically painful. It made me wonder how many of Henry's wins actually feel like wins to him once the dust settles.

I'm a little worried about Henry and Josh. Their relationship wasn't a huge presence in this book, but there was some undeniably strained energy between them. The part of me that will always want to come to the defense of the POV character, especially one as noble as Henry, felt offended by the way Josh lashed out against being cared for. But the part of me that tries to see the reasons behind why people do the things they do understood that the way Josh felt was beyond my understanding. One thing is for sure, I need to set aside any hopes for a happy ending and just let this story go where it's going to go.

[Meep · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle-Sort-ReRead

A hard one to rate. It's good. Well written with mystery and tension. Depth. It fits it's time homophobia, racism, AIDS. Everything felt real.

I like Rios, he's a flawed but interesting character, good at heart.

But the theme of child molestation is a dark one. If it has to be included in fiction I want justice. Here it felt incidental to the main case.

It brings up an interesting debate of ethics. People should be held accountable for what they're guilty of. Of the main case the accused is innocent. But... a victim asked to testify to help her abuser.

He freed a bad person.

Its a book I'd recommend, but with reservations.
I guess a book should make you think and reality is not as neat as fiction. But..

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very uncomfortable book to read. Even if you think the defendant is guilty of the crime he's being accused of, he's still a self-professed child molester. I'd have had no problem seeing him rot in jail for the rest of his days, even if it was for the wrong crime. Henry's a good lawyer though, and as he mentions early on, you have to separate emotion from the law. No one's having an easy time in this book and there are secrets looming everywhere.

Henry sort of reconnects with his somewhat estranged sister, and his relationship with Josh is given more time and attention. I thought it odd how quickly they fell for each other in the previous book, so it was good to actually see them being a couple and all the good and bad that comes with that.

Nava has an easy writing style - easy to read, easy to picture the world he's writing about, easy to understand the characters - even when the subject matter itself is not so easy. In other hands, this could have become a relentlessly gritty tale that I probably would've put down at the quarter-mark, but in Nava's hands, it's just a story of a lawyer going about his job. Yes, there were uncomfortable moments and I doubt I'll reread this one, but there are moments of insights as well and all the characters are given three-dimensions, even minor characters.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me this is the darkest Rios book so far. It felt like an episode of Law and Order; dark and gritty, fast-paced, fascinating court procedures and politics, and dubious crime investigating.

The defendant was not a likeable person but neither were the police or judges. I think having such a morally flawed cast of characters made it more enjoyable to read because I wasn't emotionally invested in any of them, instead I just wanted Henry to discover the truth and of course he does following some deeply interesting twists and turns.

I also liked seeing Henry reflect on his past relationship with his sister and childhood friends and reflect on his present relationship and life under the shadow of a devastating disease. I really enjoyed this story. It isn't a long story but is really powerful in the way it takes the reader and draws them into the investigation and Henry's personal life. Excellent!

[Lori S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really liking the audio books of this series. Well done.

[Ulysses Dietz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howtown (Henry Rios mystery, 3)
Michael Nava
Open Road Integrated Media, 2013 (originally published 1990)
Five stars

“…I have a bad feeling about the way they do justice in my hometown…”

Tight, gripping, and darker than ever, Michael Nava’s “Howtown” takes Henry Rios back to his roots in the most unpleasant possible way. Having moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to be with Josh, Henry is called to his sister’s house in Oakland, where he’s asked to get in touch with a childhood friend who’s in serious trouble.

Thus the fictional Central Valley city of Los Robles (which felt very real—I only discovered it was imagined when I tried Googling it) becomes the sere, restricted stage-set for a psychological flashback to Henry’s grim childhood. Whereas Henry left, his client, Paul Windsor, remained behind. A known pedophile, and now accused of murder, Paul’s brother Mark was Henry’s best friend and high-school crush. Henry is confronted with the current reality of the gilded Windsor family’s harsher truth: their childhood was as abusive and emotionally starved as his own poor Mexican version on the wrong side of town.

The double-down on the darkness here is the parallel narratives of the sordid murder investigation and Henry’s youth in his Spanish colonial town from which every trace of Spain has been eliminated but the street names. Oddly, however, even as Henry confronts his own past unhappiness, we begin to see that the arc of his life has been upward, allowing his better nature to flourish and thrive in spite of its unpromising roots. The Windsors, on the other hand, have remained in Los Robles, cushioned by their wealth and local power, and their fortunes have curdled into something both lush and decayed.

Josh Mandel, Henry’s lover, makes a few carefully crafted appearances, to remind us of two things: how much happier Henry is than his childhood companions, and how fragile that happiness is. The shadow of AIDS still looms over this book, set in the late 1980s, and I fear that it’s only going to get worse as the series progresses. Like Marshall Thornton’s recent splendid Nick Nowack series, set in 1980s Chicago, these Henry Rios books remind us of what my generation of gay men in 2018 America has survived. Nava’s books, however, were created at the time, and have an immediacy that makes them chilling.

At the core of this book’s success is Nava’s great writing, and his ability to bring sympathy to even the least appealing characters. Henry Rios, however, achieves a quietly heroic status. It felt to me that Henry, in this unflinching view of his hometown, is beginning to appreciate not just how far he’s come, but how truly good he is. Henry has always acknowledged that he is damaged, but in this book he seems to begin to understand that, in spite of that, he’s a good man. That might sound like nothing much, but given the ugliness that swirls through this story, it’s a beacon of light and hope that makes us yearn for the next book in the series.

[Marshall Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second time reading this series. It's excellent and this book in particular is good. Almost finished and I don't know who did it. Not always an important thing for me. In the second book, I knew early on and still enjoyed it immensely.

[Giulio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow beginning, filled with too much courtroom procedure (according to my taste), but from the second half on it became really exciting.

Henry Rios is a great character and Mr Nava proved himself once again a great author, even when dealing with such an unpleasant topic as paedophilia and child abuse.

I’d never felt so much a part of another person as I did then; it was what sex was supposed to be like but, as I discovered soon enough, seldom was.

The look that says, if you’re poor, there must be something wrong with you.” An old dog decided to lope its way across the road and I came to a skidding stop. “Sometimes I think what people really want is to criminalize poverty. Not that the law doesn’t already do that, in a way.”

Great!!

[Daniela Tirrito (Tivvys_books_world) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook review

I think I’ve said it before but Michael Nava has a way with words that really draws you in and makes you feel. Howtown is not an exception. With this book he created a tale that made you go through a wide range of feelings, some more unexpected than others.

Howtown brings Henry back to the small town where he grew up. It’s not a happy reunion as there are many painful memories and people he left behind. But as a favour to his sister he takes on a case he’d normally not take on. But while his old childhood friend was far from innocent Henry did believe that he did not commit the murder he was accused of, but what was more, the case against him was flimsy and circumstantial at best. To take on the case he also had to take on the town and tackle the many dirty secrets hidden underneath the surfaces.

They say that you should write what you know and it’s clear that Nava is well versed in the world of lawyers and criminal law. For the most part this book details the case against Paul and Henry’s investigation into it, to find out what really happened. It was a well-crafted story and I have to admit that Nava managed something I never thought possible – to make me feel for the pedophile. At least in terms of the unfairness of how he was treated by the justice system and how no one seemed to care he was set up for a crime he didn’t commit. Yes he’d done some horrible things, I’m never excusing that, and I fully believe he deserved to be behind bars. I also believe it should be for a crime he actually did commit. The world isn’t perfect and that’s something Nava really shows with his books. The world isn’t perfect and neither is anyone of the characters and I think that’s what makes them so engaging and makes you connect with them.

There are some romantic undertones to this book, not many but some. We see Henry in a committed relationship with fifteen year younger Josh. A HIV positive Josh. Nava has been reworking and republishing this series for the past year or so and even added a new book to it (Carved in Bone). All but one has been produced into audio, and at the time of this review I’m not sure if Goldenboy will be or not. I kind of wish it will as it’s where Henry and Josh met and fell in love. It’s the start of their story. Now this series is not a romance, but there are romantic elements and from what I can tell Josh is and will be a huge impact in Henry’s life and because of that I wished to have been there from the start. That being said, the Henry/Josh story line is minor in this book and not having read Goldenboy won’t impact the listener to follow or loving this story to the fullest.

Thom Rivera is fast becoming a favourite narrator of mine. I’ve loved all of his performances of this series. He fits this series, he fits Henry and he makes you feel like you know him. When he narrates I forget the world around me, I’ve travelled back to the 80’s and tries to unravel the mystery with him. I love his voice, that alone make me want to listen to him all day long with a huge smile on my face.

The Henry Rios Mysteries are gripping and addictive and I’m looking forward to experiencing them all, though I have a feeling deep down that it’s won’t be a happy journey, but I need it all the same. It will be worth it.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

[Love Is All Around · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voto: 4.5
RECENSIONE A CURA DI LADY MARMELADE
Henry Rios si dimostra ancora una volta un essere umano fuori dal comune in questo quarto volume.
Caso dopo caso, Henry esce sempre di più allo scoperto con il lettore, mostrando le molteplici sfaccettature del suo essere così umano; non è di certo perfetto, visto il suo passato da alcolista ma cerca sempre di fare del suo meglio, nel lavoro come nella vita privata.
Una telefonata inaspettata, lo riporta sul viale dei ricordi, nel suo passato, che non ha mai dimenticato, perché lo ha reso l’uomo e l’avvocato che è oggi.
La telefonata è una richiesta di aiuto da parte della sorella; non la sente da anni, ci sono state molte cose non dette fra loro, si erano allontanati e forse questo è il momento giusto per recuperare il loro rapporto.
Anche la sorella di Henry non ha avuto vita facile; i due si somigliano molto di più di quello che pensava da ragazzo, vittime entrambi di una famiglia machista e disfunzionale.
Ora sono cresciuti, hanno la possibilità di creare finalmente un legame famigliare, anche se manterranno sempre le idee diverse.
Continua sul nostro blog!

[Anthony McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the author's revised edition of his 1990 novel.
Persigo Press paperback version is 327 pages in length plus an author's note of 7 pages written for the 2019 publication.

"I told you because I wanted you to know who I was."
"Did it occur to you that maybe I didn't want to know. I felt like a freak growing up in that house. Being your friend was the most normal thing I did, but after I got your letter, I thought, if you're a queer, what does that make me?"
I barked back, "It's not contagious and stop calling me a queer."
"Sorry," he mumbled. "What do you call yourself."
"Henry," I said.

At the request of his estranged sister, Henry Rios returns to his hometown, where there are few fond memories, to defend the pedophile brother of the boy he once had a crush on back in high school days.

An early Michael Nava and one of his best. Excellent characterizations, brisk storytelling and a convincing plot that comes together in a satisfying manner.

Lots of dark secrets emerge as the story develops and the participants are never quite as they first seem with Nava spinning an exciting narrative full of believable situations while touching on delicate subjects such as pedophilia, alcoholism, scapegoating, racism and closeted sexual identity in a small city.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book in Henry Rios mystery brings Henry back to his home town and his estranged sister, when he is asked to defend a pedophile who has been accused of murder. I was surprised by the amount of animosity I had for the defendant. I despise pedophile as much as I despise rapist. While the background of his life, an almost cliché reason of childhood abuse, which psychologically can add to his adult behavior did made me have small sympathy, I still couldn't really like him as a character. BUT Michael Nava really knew how to write a story. This one is filled with social issue (how a pedophile see himself, the implication of that to victims), personal issues (Henry's estranged sister, his own relationship with his HIV positive lover of 3 years, Josh), and a great court room scene ... just make a very satisfying read.

[Becky Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough story to listen to. But a series about a lawyer isn't going to be complete without tackling the subject of defending a client the lawyer finds personally repulsive.

It's a good dilemma. The guy's undoubtedly guilty of all kinds of awful stuff, but what if he's not guilty of this particular crime? When the murder victim is possibly even more appalling, then the temptation has to be to just let the defendant take the rap, guilty or not and decide the real killer did the world a favour. But a man of principle like Henry can't do that. The truth is more important to him.

The outcome is tough to take. The real killers are more sympathetic than the defendant and the victim. It's easy to understand why they did it and to come close to wishing they'd got away with it.

A story that made me think, however tough it was to listen to.

[Bizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, a content warning: This book deals with pedophilia and child sexual abuse and contains a description of child sexual abuse material. The description isn’t graphic and is limited to only those aspects necessary to the legal arguments it engenders, but that’s likely still enough to be triggering to some readers. Similarly, Henry’s client in the book is a pedophile who explains why he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. The book condemns these arguments, but I imagine some readers wouldn’t want to read them under any circumstances.

This book once again has a lot of interesting things to say about Henry’s identity and I enjoyed those aspects of it, but the mystery was a weird choice. Structurally, it works well because the investigation and criminal defense aspects are well-paced, play on Henry’s skills as an attorney, create suspense, and so on. But I don’t think the mystery meets the goals Nava explains in the author’s note at the end.

Nava says he was trying to rebut the argument that pedophilia and homosexuality and similar because that argument is often used to restrict gay rights. However, the book ignores the strongest arguments (issues of consent, for example) in favor of more nebulous claims about people’s desires and motivations. The book has ample opportunities to focus on the harm done by Paul to his victim but doesn’t adequately take advantage of them, so the book’s thesis on the subject feels underdeveloped and unconvinced of its correctness, which is at odds with the strong stance taken by Nava in the author’s note.

In general, I like it when stories about the legal system illustrate why even horrible people should receive a vigorous defense and show that it’s unjust to punish someone for a crime they didn’t commit in response to the system’s inability to punish them for crimes they have committed or might commit in the future. I think this book did a decent job exploring those issues, but was undermined by the specifics of Paul’s case and the resolution to the mystery. The end of the book makes it hard to feel like justice was actually done, and if most of your readers leave the book wishing for a different outcome (which I imagine was the case here), then you’re asking them to disregard the lesson you were trying to teach.

Please note that if you’re buying this series through Amazon, Amazon shows the series in the incorrect order. Amazon lists Lies with Man as book 8 because it was published last, but chronologically, Lies with Man is book 3 and comes between Carved in Bone and Howtown.

[*The Angry Reader* · Rating 5 out of 5]

As readers, we know that great authors are difficult to find. Hell, even good ones are often needles in the haystack of hacks and posers. And I’m not talking about when you don’t like the subject matter or the style isn’t your cup of tea. I’m saying there’s a dearth of talent in the published author world.
Add to that the impossibility of finding someone who writes accurate lawyer books. It is difficult to do. Lots of lawyers aren’t criminal lawyers. And lots of criminal lawyers don’t handle the big or difficult cases.
Michael Nava is a goddamn unicorn. If he was writing run of the mill mysteries I’d be blown away by his seemingly effortless writing style. But his ability to write a court scene so awkward and excruciating and realistic had me literally sympathy-sweating from home.
That said - this was an absolutely horrid topic. Nava does not shy away from difficult stories. He handles them masterfully - but even exquisite torture is painful. Beware.
I’ve recently tried to read other things. I tried not to binge this series. And when I was away from it I was like “it couldn’t have been that good. I think maybe I’m misremembering.” Hahahahahaha.

[JR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Nava continues to amazing with his prose, his sense of humanity and his ability to capture Henry's complexities. His writing is painfully beautiful.

[Il confine dei libri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per leggere la recensione in blog cliccare qui:
https://ilconfinedeilibri.blogspot.co...

[Anto64 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quattro stelline e mezzo.

[Klaus Mattes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anfang der neunziger Jahre und Michael Nava schreibt einen Krimi mit einem schwulen Detektiv in Kalifornien und mehreren sexuell missbrauchten Kindern. Man muss ihm zugute halten, dass er kaum ahnen konnte, wie sehr das pädophile Monster bald allenthalben die Kriminalromanszene beherrschen sollte. Pädophile waren so herrlich gewissenlos, zerstörten selbstsüchtig und extrem brutal die Leben unschuldiger Menschen auf ewig; so konnte man sie, in die Ecke getrieben, jedes sadistische Verbrechen begehen, sie dafür, nicht weniger sadistisch, mittels irgendwelcher Zufälle, rasender Dritter oder Selbstmorde der Hexenverbrennung übergeben.

Das Thema sexueller Kindesmissbrauch hat es an sich, dass es, wie ein schwarzes Loch, jede andere Materie außen herum an sich reißt und auslöscht. Ich musste es daher gleich zu Anfang sagen: Dies ist also der Pädophilen-Fall aus der Henry-Rios-Serie. Aber es ist darüber hinaus ein überraschend gut geschriebenes, angenehm spannendes Buch mit, letztlich, doch recht wenig Pädophilie darin. Und, was das angeht, auch nicht besonders viel Schwulem. Es ist einfach ein schlichter, schlank gemachter, sehr lesbarer Krimi!

In einer kleinen Großstadt im Zentraltal, dort wo Henry einst unter seinem Alkoholiker-Macho-Vater gelitten hat und wo nach wie vor Leute davon überzeugt sind, alles richtig zu machen und, damit das auch so bleibt, selbst Gesetze brechen können, muss Rios die Verteidigung eines stadtbekannten Pädophilen übernehmen. Das würde er nie tun, wenn es um eine pädophile Tat ginge. Wegen Missbrauch eines 12- bis 15-jährigen Mädchens ist Paul Windsor allerdings schon vor ein paar Jahren beinahe verurteilt worden, musste dann freigesprochen werden, weil das von ihm geschwängerte Mädchen die Aussage verweigerte. Dieses Mal wirft man Paul den brutalen Mord an einem anderen Pädophilen, der hinter Jungs her war und mit einschlägigem Pornomaterial handelte, in einem Hotelzimmer vor. Der Typ war gefesselt worden, dann waren ihm mit einem Knüppel Geschlechtsteile und der Schädel zerschlagen worden.

Eine Tat, die so gar nicht nach Paul Windsor aussieht, der immer schon als Schwächling, Zimperliese und Feigling bekannt war. Henry kommt um die Sache wohl nicht rum, denn seine, an sich seit Jahren von ihm distanzierte (lesbische) Schwester hat ihn alarmiert. Sie ist Schulfreundin von Pauls Ehefrau, einer älteren Frau und zynischen Alkoholikerin. Und das Mädchen war die Tochter einer früheren Hausangestellten dieser Windsors. Zu allem hin ist Pauls Bruder Mark Windsor der erfolgreichste Bauinvestor dieser Gegend, als solcher nicht ohne Feinde, in letzter Zeit anscheinend in Geldschwierigkeiten. Vor allem: Als Jugendlicher ist er der feuchte Traum von Henry gewesen, sie joggten gemeinsam, aber Henry kam mit der Sprache nie heraus, Mark schien der Muster-Hetero überhaupt zu sein.

Es hat mich gefreut zu sehen, dass Nava die zwei, zumeist außerhalb vom Fokus der Erzählung bleibenden Pädophilen (- der eine ist tot und sein Leben muss erst nach und nach noch recherchiert werden, der andere sitzt in Untersuchungshaft und ergeht sich in Selbstmitleid und Vorwürfen gegen den Bruder, der ihm das angeblich eingebrockt hat -) an keiner Stelle als quasi „naturgegebene Schwerkriminelle“ behandelt. Vielmehr scheint der Autor sich vorgenommen zu haben, über das Thema Pädophilie zu „informieren“, ohne jemals moralisch vergleichend und wägend zu werden. (Juristisch gesehen geht es ja auch darum, ein Verfahren auszuhebeln, das offenkundig voreingenommen ist, wegen etwas, das der Angeklagte früher mal getan hat, das jedoch nicht mehr justiziabel ist!).

So kommt es, dass sowohl Rios wie wir Leser immer Außenstehende bleiben, die Fakten besehen und die Selbstdeklarationen von Figuren anhören, aber nie in Seele und Gefühle von Pädophilie-Tätern oder Pädophilie-Opfern hineingeführt werden. Insofern kommt aber auch nicht viel rum zu diesem Stoff. Dass es für jedes Opfer eine grausame Enttäuschung und Selbtwertverlust-Erfahrung wird, wenn es merkt, dass man seine Liebe bzw. sein Bedürfnis nach Geliebtwerden kalkuliert ausgebeutet hat, um egoistisch Lüste zu befriedigen, dass die meisten Täter sich, auch wenn sie es so nicht sehen wollen, dabei dafür rächen, dass man mit ihnen, als sie Kinder waren, Ähnliches tat, dass die gefährdetsten Kinder jene sind, deren Eltern sie missachten und als Last behandeln, all das hätte man sich auch ohne diesen Roman denken können.

Also mal weg vom Block Pädophilie und hin zu dem, was ich für das wahre Verdienst des Buchs halte: Obwohl man nie den Eindruck hat, gehetzt zu werden, schafft es Nava, auf nur 240 Seiten 25 schön knappe, überschaubare Kapitelchen zu schreiben, die jedes Mal dem Lesenden einen bisschen nach Fleisch schmeckenden Knochen hinwerfen, sodass unser Jagdtrieb nie erlahmt.

Er schafft das, weil er noch ganz andere Fragen stellt, die vielleicht sogar spannender sind. Warum kommen Henry, in Los Angeles, und seine Schwester Elena, in Oakland, seit vielen Jahren so schlecht miteinander aus, dass sie sich weder besuchen noch anrufen? Warum will Elena jetzt, dass Henry sich für den Mann von Sara stark macht, von dem sie doch eigentlich auch will, dass der ins Gefängnis geht? Gibt es noch eine Geschichte mit dem Mädchen Ruth, das die Schwester nämlich vor Henry versteckt, als dieser versucht, Ruth zu überreden, doch noch vor Gericht zu erscheinen, als Zeugin für Paul Windsor dieses Mal? Was ist mit Mark Windsor, der privat „zwischen Frauen“ ist, seinen Bruder zum „Verrückten“ erklärt und, ziemlich betrunken, zu Henry sagt: „Nicht du warst die Schwuchtel, er war's.“ Und wieso kriegt der Riesenbaby-artige Polizist Ben einen Ständer, wenn er Rios mit seinem HIV-infizierten Freund Josh halbnackt im Hotel beobachtet?

Es gibt diese eine Sache, die sich für mich als eine gewisse Schwäche der Nava-Romane allmählich herausstellt: Henry Rios kommt sehr professionell mit den Juristen der Gegenpartei zurecht, mag seinen Mandanten eigentlich jedes Mal (hier selbstverständlich mit Vorbehalt), dafür wittert er immer wieder untergeschobene Indizien und korrupte Cops, die „ihren Mann immer schnappen“. Okay, glauben wir, aber andauernd?

Und diese andere Sache, auf die Nava sogar stolz gewesen sein dürfte und die von anderen Lesern gelobt wird: diese x Seiten aufgeschriebener Dialoge in ritualhaft ablaufenden Gerichtsszenen, die, auch hier, sich nicht einmal um die Hauptsache drehen, sondern darum, ob die Beweislage ausgereicht hat, jemanden zu inhaftieren, ob er vielleicht gegen Kaution raus darf und für wie viel Geld. Man kennt's aus vielen, vielen Justizthrillern: „Euer Ehren“, „Einspruch“, „stattgegeben“, „Hörensagen“, „Polemik“, „Suggestivfrage“, „das Volk gegen“, „wir ziehen uns zur Beratung zurück“, „wollen die Parteien zu mir an den Tisch treten?“ und so weiter und so fort. Es dauert schon recht lange und bringt nicht gar so viel in einem sonst auf Sparsamkeit hin getrimmten Buch.

Es gibt Gründe für alles. Und so auch dafür, dass Nava auf besagten Seiten mit etwas brilliert, was er ebenso gut hätte auslassen können. Nämlich – und hier weiß man dann, wieso er die Pädophilie kaum zum Gegenstand des Buchs gemacht, sondern die oben genannten Parallelhandlungs-Fragen ausgestreut hat – es gibt eine spät aufgedeckte Vorgeschichte, die alles Bisherige umwirft, aber zu „schlicht“ für einen Whodunitkrimi ist. Also musste der Autor sie erst einmal versperren oder zubauen mit weiteren Geschichten. Dieses Gefühl, für einen Krimi wohl etwas wenig auf der Hand zu haben, hat ihn bis zum Schluss nicht verlassen und wohl deshalb garniert er sein Buchende mit einer Abfolge unerwarteter Todesfälle, die gezwungen, bzw. nach Verlegenheitshöhepunkten aussehen. 80 Prozent vom Buch sind echt gut, aber dann wird's doch noch zu schludrigem Flickwerk.

[_inbetween_]

*contains comparisons and a question*

Touted as his most daring/cutting novel, it wasn't actually that much about child molestation, certainly nowhere near what British novels and TV series unearthed and portrayed. But asides here and there made me think Nava might know more, for whatever reason deciding not to go deeper.

Similarly, and more positively, the judicial details are never dry, boring or overbearing. Josh is bearable. The calamity of the two guys framing a paedophile (and victim) for their murder of their tormenter, a worse paedophile, is that they were basically good guys and hurt badly - but precisely because they were cops, they could not be let get away with it.

He did deal with his liking for younger men though; while I was grumbling about what seemed an overlooked prejudice, Henry started worrying about being a paedo inside; loving a 22 year old was further explained by Henry having had sex first at 19. Those were small mentions that make his books for me.

He also made me think of Lord Peter Whimsey again. Whenever I gaze wistfully at the nice books, I remind myself how much I hated his sanctimonious condemning of people to their deaths, just for the law ruling of it, no matter if their victims were much worse and the perpetrators had no other chance. So no matter how many new fans Sayers gets daily, I don't think I can bear him anymore - and I certainly like Henry Rios, very much.

There were many tiny asides that were definitely no throw-aways - I'm not sure if the genre or his gender makes Nava decide not to write more about them, but e.g. the observations about Rios not wanting to eat were very good. As usual, it was clear to me that the accused hadn't been a victim of who seemed most logical either, and the cop-out (ha. ha.) at the end was odd (again, not sure why, Nava can write, so was it space constraint or simply giving in to a tried solution).

The only thing I don't understand - and maybe I'm too tired and eating while reading isn't something I usually do either, and the cat whined and I'm brian ded ATM - is the connection between Henry's sister and Ruth. Explanations welcome.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, let me say that because of its subject matter, How Town is not always easy to read. In fact, more than once in disgust I wanted to turn my eyes from the page. Even so, this tautly written mystery novel does further develop the character of LA defense attorney Henry Rios and raises important questions—and distinctions--about sexual orientation and pedophilia.

In How Town, the gay, recovering alcoholic, principled, Latino, Henry Rios returns to his small hometown to defend Paul Windsor, brother of Henry’s best friend Mark who was Henry’s “crush” while in high school. Paul stands accused of murdering a child pornographer and sex trafficker. Paul, himself, is a self-confessed pedophile who once avoided jail when the girl accusing him decided not to testify.

The police believe the murder is the result of an extortion scheme against the wealthy Windsor family. Despite public opinion about the case, Rios who is sickened and appalled by the acts of pedophilia in Paul’s life still believes every accused person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty and that it is the duty of the defense attorney to do their best to defend their client.

As Rios investigates the case and confronts ghosts from his own boyhood in the town, he arrives at a different conclusion about the murder.

It used to bother me that I could still get nervous in court but I’d come to see that it was only because I still believed that what I did here mattered. Despite the day-to-day cynicism of criminal practice, the casual epithets with which the most horrifying behavior is described and the popular belief that trials are a game, for me a courtroom is a place of serious purpose. If I ever really thought otherwise, it would be time to find another line of work.

In the afterward of his 2019 revision of How Town, Nava writes: So, what was I doing? Well, a couple of things. First, I wanted to take head-on the conflation of homosexuality with pedophilia, long a staple of popular culture and one of the libels that was then used to justify the continuing criminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. Remember, in 1990, more than half the states still had “sodomy laws” which made consensual sexual acts between adults of the same gender potentially punishable with jail or prison terms.

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) 478 U.S. 186, a majority of the United States Supreme Court upheld those laws in an incredibly offensive and ill-reasoned decision in which Justice Byron White (a John F. Kennedy appointee) insultingly proclaimed that the Constitution “did not confer a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy.”

Although the Bowers majority and concurring opinions did not raise the specter of gay men as pedophiles, it lurked in background as when White wrote that striking down laws that criminalized “homosexual conduct” would make it more difficult to justify and enforce laws against “adultery, incest, and other sexual crimes even though they are committed at home.” There is no doubt in my mind that those “other sexual crimes” he alluded to included sexual assaults against children.

One of the sadly enduring stereotypes about gay men is that they molest children at an alarming rate. Frequently, socially conservative groups and politicians use this claim to stoke fear, prevent the passage of LGBTQ rights, and win elections. In fact, as I write this commentary on February 25, 2021, US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has just tweeted “The Equality Act puts sexual and gender identity above all rights and anyone who goes against it is considered discriminating. Does the #EqualityAct protect pedophiles?”

Equating gay men with pedophiles has also frequently been used to prevent LGBTQ persons from adopting children or teaching school. Related to this conflation of pedophilia and homosexuality is the “recruitment theory” that claims because gays cannot procreate, they must recruit youth to their “ranks.”

The facts, however, present a different picture about gay men and pedophiles. The American Psychological Association has found no evidence to support this myth equating sexual orientation with pedophilia. In fact, pedophiles may be heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual, bisexual or of any sexual orientation or gender identity.

Furthermore, Dr. Gregory Herek, professor of psychology at UC Davis, states in a lengthy review of the literature regarding pedophilia and sexual orientation that “the empirical research does not show that gay or bisexual men are any more likely than heterosexual men to molest children. This is not to argue that homosexual and bisexual men never molest children. But there is no scientific basis for asserting that they are more likely than heterosexual men to do so. And, as explained above, many child molesters cannot be characterized as having an adult sexual orientation at all; they are fixated on children.”

There are, of course, many other studies that debunk the myth that gay men tend to be perverted and dangerous pedophiles.

Though not as developed as the theme about gay men and pedophiles, adding to the anxiety Rios faces is the health of his HIV-positive partner, Josh.

Nava writes in the afterward that “I said that the pedophilia libel was one of two things I wanted to tackle in Howtown. The second one was AIDS which, by 1990, was in full bloom in the gay community…the list of those who perished goes on and on. Some of these men I knew only through their work, some were friends, one was a lover. Reading their novels, memoirs, poems, plays is still, for me, like grabbing an electric fence. Theirs were not mere literary works, but testaments. This was the literature of life and death.”

He goes on to write, “In the Rios novels, Rios is negative for the virus and Josh is positive. I found myself in that position during those years, dating men who were positive, having sex with them, loving them. That was my vantage point, what I could authentically bear witness to, and in Howtown I began that witness.”

Even though How Town has passages portraying pedophilia and child pornography that will anger and disgust most people, the book is engaging, thought-provoking, and well written. Furthermore, it encourages us to be vigilant and to have faith in our legal system as we see the fictional Rios put his own feelings aside to defend his client.

A recommended book.