What do you think?
Rate this book
Light Before Day
In West Hollywood, journalist Adam Murphy is abruptly fired while chasing a career-making story. A Marine pilot is killed when his helicopter spirals into the Pacific Ocean -- and Adam suspects the death was not accidental. Battling his own demons in a city of temptations, Adam pursues the truth alongside his new boss, a famous curmudgeonly mystery writer, and discovers more than he planned about his recently estranged lover, a string of murders of other young men -- and a conspiracy so extraordinary that it threatens his sanity and his life. With a talent for creating suspense-tinged fiction that is "chillingly perverse" ( USA Today ) and "vivid and intense" ( The Boston Globe ), Christopher Rice delivers a dark thriller of revenge and sexual obsession.
512 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 2004
303 people are currently reading
2211 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Rice
37 books2,585 followersChristopher Rice is the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award and is the Amazon Charts and New York Times bestselling author of A Density of Souls; Bone Music, Blood Echo, and Blood Victory in the Burning Girl series; and Bram Stoker Award finalists The Heavens Rise and The Vines. An executive producer for television, Christopher also penned the novels Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra and Ramses The Damned: The Reign of Osiri with his late mother Anne Rice. Together with his best friend and producing partner, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, Christopher runs the production company Dinner Partners. Among other projects, they produce the podcast and video network TDPS, which can be found at www.TheDinnerPartyShow.com. He lives in West Hollywood, California, and writes tales of romance between men under the pseudonym C. Travis Rice. Visit him at www.christopherricebooks.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
June 24, 2017
Couldn't finish.
Read the first five characters and the last two, couldn't keep reading this story. Plot and lifestyles of the characters don't bother me but the writing style was terrible. Seems like lately I keep downloading couple books and wasting my time trying to read them.
Read the first five characters and the last two, couldn't keep reading this story. Plot and lifestyles of the characters don't bother me but the writing style was terrible. Seems like lately I keep downloading couple books and wasting my time trying to read them.
July 24, 2015
I can see why this is known to be Christopher Rice's most controversial novel to date. Light Before Day is part detective novel, part thriller, and a definite sneaky expose on the sordid past (and present) of sexual predators in Hollywood. Particularly sexual predators who prey on young men.
The novel follows Adam Murphy, a young gay man struggling with alcohol dependency, as he tries to prove his salt as an investigative journalist amid the glitz, glamour, and alcohol and drug drenched streets of Hollywood. Through luck and connections with just the right number of scumbags, Adam finds himself embroiled in a massive conspiracy relating to missing gay men, murder, and a child porn ring. The book explores this Hollywood/LA world that everyone kind of knows is grimy and sleazy, but becomes even more so as Adam uncovers more about the people he has been surrounded by.
This plot starts out intriguing and suspenseful before eventually becoming over the top in terms of twists and turns. There were like three climaxes, I swear (heh heh heh). But that aside, I liked it. It was dated but noir, exploited stereotypes and revealed them to sometimes be unfortunate realities, and that is why I think this book was so controversial.
There are a lot of drugs in this book, a lot of star struck twinks and sugar daddies, sex-fueled pool parties, air-headed wannabes, and there are also incredibly rich men who spend their time beta programming young men or outright raping little boys. No one wants to hear about a man who identifies as gay being a sex offender. No one wants to hear about there being an entire ring of these wealthy, rich, elites who get off on raping kids, desperate young men who want to make it in Hollywood, and assaulting guys that are blackout drunk.
The blackout is practically a recurring character in this drama, and there's a reason for that. A bad reason that I know a lot about from personal experience, and hit home when the fear of wondering what happened in that void, or being told what happened by a gleeful observer, is recounted by Adam in Light Before Day.
I can see why some people would find the book offensive. He's making it seem like all gay men are [fill in the blank], but there is no denying that Hollywood is shady and full of drugs and alcohol. There is also no denying that it's full of powerful men who abuse hopeful young women, and powerful men who also prey on hopeful young men. One of the clever things about Light Before Day is that it features a veteran crime author who is helping Adam on his quest, and that writer is known for writing novels about real crime stories that were ignored or abandoned by mainstream media or the authorities. It's not clever because that's a genius twist, it's clever because I suspect that character is known for doing exactly what Christopher Rice was doing with this novel.
The characters of Scott Koffler, Billy Hatfill, and Joseph Spinotta in particular are reminiscent of real Hollywood players of the past and present who have been accused and convicted of raping young men and boys. Joseph is a man who became rich during the dot-com explosion due to a startup website that was supposed to "make television obsolete", spent a lot of the production time hosting lavish pool parties where young boys (scouted by his henchmen) were drugged and raped, and launched with a fizzle before Spinotta fled Hollywood with all the money. The story is eerily similar to the real story of Hollywood sex offender Marc Collins-Rector who ALSO had a internet company that was supposed to revolutionize the Internet and TV during the dot-com boom, who ALSO threw lavish pool parties where boys were said to be raped, and who ALSO consorted with various shady individuals who were accused of the same. And he also fled after the site failed and the convictions landed, and went into hiding. Spinotta's methods are also eerily similar to the methods alleged to be used by Bryan Singer when it comes to using henchmen to scout and lure young men** to his fancy parties.
Charges of rape against Singer were recently dropped, but the fact that there are startling similarities between those recent accusations and a novel that was penned a decade ago beg the question of how much of this shit really goes on in Hollywood and how much of it is an open secret? Of course no one wants to assume the powerful gay men in Hollywood are all pedos and rapists, but people have long ago accepted that women are regularly abused in the film industry so I think it's not hard to believe that rich people with power are capable of being fucked up and depraved no matter which way they swing.
So, I give it four stars because of engagement value, hilarious one-liners, poignancy that comes out of nowhere but hit me like a brick in the head, and because I really do suspect that this was Rice's way of talking about something that is usually hush hush.
**Yes, I am aware that Defamer/Gawker is not exactly a super reputable source of news, but Google is ur frend. All the info is out there in various places.
The novel follows Adam Murphy, a young gay man struggling with alcohol dependency, as he tries to prove his salt as an investigative journalist amid the glitz, glamour, and alcohol and drug drenched streets of Hollywood. Through luck and connections with just the right number of scumbags, Adam finds himself embroiled in a massive conspiracy relating to missing gay men, murder, and a child porn ring. The book explores this Hollywood/LA world that everyone kind of knows is grimy and sleazy, but becomes even more so as Adam uncovers more about the people he has been surrounded by.
This plot starts out intriguing and suspenseful before eventually becoming over the top in terms of twists and turns. There were like three climaxes, I swear (heh heh heh). But that aside, I liked it. It was dated but noir, exploited stereotypes and revealed them to sometimes be unfortunate realities, and that is why I think this book was so controversial.
There are a lot of drugs in this book, a lot of star struck twinks and sugar daddies, sex-fueled pool parties, air-headed wannabes, and there are also incredibly rich men who spend their time beta programming young men or outright raping little boys. No one wants to hear about a man who identifies as gay being a sex offender. No one wants to hear about there being an entire ring of these wealthy, rich, elites who get off on raping kids, desperate young men who want to make it in Hollywood, and assaulting guys that are blackout drunk.
The blackout is practically a recurring character in this drama, and there's a reason for that. A bad reason that I know a lot about from personal experience, and hit home when the fear of wondering what happened in that void, or being told what happened by a gleeful observer, is recounted by Adam in Light Before Day.
I can see why some people would find the book offensive. He's making it seem like all gay men are [fill in the blank], but there is no denying that Hollywood is shady and full of drugs and alcohol. There is also no denying that it's full of powerful men who abuse hopeful young women, and powerful men who also prey on hopeful young men. One of the clever things about Light Before Day is that it features a veteran crime author who is helping Adam on his quest, and that writer is known for writing novels about real crime stories that were ignored or abandoned by mainstream media or the authorities. It's not clever because that's a genius twist, it's clever because I suspect that character is known for doing exactly what Christopher Rice was doing with this novel.
The characters of Scott Koffler, Billy Hatfill, and Joseph Spinotta in particular are reminiscent of real Hollywood players of the past and present who have been accused and convicted of raping young men and boys. Joseph is a man who became rich during the dot-com explosion due to a startup website that was supposed to "make television obsolete", spent a lot of the production time hosting lavish pool parties where young boys (scouted by his henchmen) were drugged and raped, and launched with a fizzle before Spinotta fled Hollywood with all the money. The story is eerily similar to the real story of Hollywood sex offender Marc Collins-Rector who ALSO had a internet company that was supposed to revolutionize the Internet and TV during the dot-com boom, who ALSO threw lavish pool parties where boys were said to be raped, and who ALSO consorted with various shady individuals who were accused of the same. And he also fled after the site failed and the convictions landed, and went into hiding. Spinotta's methods are also eerily similar to the methods alleged to be used by Bryan Singer when it comes to using henchmen to scout and lure young men** to his fancy parties.
Charges of rape against Singer were recently dropped, but the fact that there are startling similarities between those recent accusations and a novel that was penned a decade ago beg the question of how much of this shit really goes on in Hollywood and how much of it is an open secret? Of course no one wants to assume the powerful gay men in Hollywood are all pedos and rapists, but people have long ago accepted that women are regularly abused in the film industry so I think it's not hard to believe that rich people with power are capable of being fucked up and depraved no matter which way they swing.
So, I give it four stars because of engagement value, hilarious one-liners, poignancy that comes out of nowhere but hit me like a brick in the head, and because I really do suspect that this was Rice's way of talking about something that is usually hush hush.
**Yes, I am aware that Defamer/Gawker is not exactly a super reputable source of news, but Google is ur frend. All the info is out there in various places.
October 14, 2025
5.0 stars ...
I do not care what anyone else says. This is a brilliant novel. The subject matter is appalling and gut-wrenching ... but a brilliant novel, nonetheless. I feel confident in saying that most of the lower ratings are due to that subject matter. However, I give Christopher Rice kudos ... the guy obviously has huevos grande to even write and publish this novel.
I listened to this 3 years ago as an audiobook when I was just browsing the slim pickens on KU. I'm not really an audiobook kinda guy, but the blurb sounded interesting, so I gave it a try. It blew my mind! 🤯 This time I read it with my 👀 and, if anything, it was even more mind-blowing because I got all the details that I missed when listening to it the first time. My mind does tend to wander with audiobooks and I miss out on much. With those new details, I was even more awed at the brilliance of this novel.
This is a brilliant novel.
I do not care what anyone else says. This is a brilliant novel. The subject matter is appalling and gut-wrenching ... but a brilliant novel, nonetheless. I feel confident in saying that most of the lower ratings are due to that subject matter. However, I give Christopher Rice kudos ... the guy obviously has huevos grande to even write and publish this novel.
I listened to this 3 years ago as an audiobook when I was just browsing the slim pickens on KU. I'm not really an audiobook kinda guy, but the blurb sounded interesting, so I gave it a try. It blew my mind! 🤯 This time I read it with my 👀 and, if anything, it was even more mind-blowing because I got all the details that I missed when listening to it the first time. My mind does tend to wander with audiobooks and I miss out on much. With those new details, I was even more awed at the brilliance of this novel.
This is a brilliant novel.
November 3, 2018
If a semi-good whodunnit had a stomach-churning noir feel with all characters gay guys... well, you'd have "Light Before Day."
Christopher Rice exercises his writing muscles more than his mother- but he is not a better writer. He seems intent on writing mysteries with sprawling narratives... he is courageous in that aspect.
I did not appreciate the main character: an alcoholic gay guy with nothing but intuition. Yes-- this thing is what is loveable in characters like Sookie Stackhouse, but here it's not at all an attractive feature. Shouldn't we find him attractive?
This novel deals with meth labs, meth kids, kiddie porn rings, gay porn rings, sugar daddies, bitchy betrayals, murders, murderers... the atmosphere is heavy like syrup... and not in a good way. Yes, I admire a young writer with intuition, but does homosexual psychology ever evolve? Or is every gay guy the same heartless materialistic Frankenstein's monster*? Little innovation, diminished light.
* That is: assembled of only the parts a Modern Man (c. 2000) should have: or, the musings and ravings of a gay man on HIS ideal Modern Man)
Christopher Rice exercises his writing muscles more than his mother- but he is not a better writer. He seems intent on writing mysteries with sprawling narratives... he is courageous in that aspect.
I did not appreciate the main character: an alcoholic gay guy with nothing but intuition. Yes-- this thing is what is loveable in characters like Sookie Stackhouse, but here it's not at all an attractive feature. Shouldn't we find him attractive?
This novel deals with meth labs, meth kids, kiddie porn rings, gay porn rings, sugar daddies, bitchy betrayals, murders, murderers... the atmosphere is heavy like syrup... and not in a good way. Yes, I admire a young writer with intuition, but does homosexual psychology ever evolve? Or is every gay guy the same heartless materialistic Frankenstein's monster*? Little innovation, diminished light.
* That is: assembled of only the parts a Modern Man (c. 2000) should have: or, the musings and ravings of a gay man on HIS ideal Modern Man)
August 10, 2013
Christopher Rice may be the son of ultra-famous Anne Rice, reigning queen of the Gothic novel whose lush, supernatural tales have changed forever how readers look at vampires, witches and ghosts, but he's inherited more than his share of her talent, plus his unique voice to boot.
This is the third novel of his I've read so far, following "Density of Souls" and "The Snow Garden", and thus far, it is my favorite. In Adam Murphy, a young reporter whose emotional baggage is compounded by an irascible temper and severe addiction, Rice has created his most rich, nuanced character to date. Adam is too smart, too jaded, too different to fit into his vacuous West Hollywood milieu, yet after he's fired from a meaningless magazine job, he finds himself thrust into a terrifying search for a missing ex-boyfriend whose disappearance may be linked to the mysterious death of a helicopter pilot, while contending with a new job as assistant to a reclusive true-crime author.
Rice spins out his multi-layered tale via breathtaking action, suspense, and moments of unexpected tenderness. The complexity in of itself is a feat; what seems like the hunt for a serial killer morphs into a dark plunge into the underworld of sex slavery, pornography and Central Valley meth trade. It's like "Breaking Bad" meets "Cruising" and then some. And Rice does it all without ever sacrificing character development or depth.
"Light Before Day" is the thinking person's thriller, from a writer who is at the top of his game.
This is the third novel of his I've read so far, following "Density of Souls" and "The Snow Garden", and thus far, it is my favorite. In Adam Murphy, a young reporter whose emotional baggage is compounded by an irascible temper and severe addiction, Rice has created his most rich, nuanced character to date. Adam is too smart, too jaded, too different to fit into his vacuous West Hollywood milieu, yet after he's fired from a meaningless magazine job, he finds himself thrust into a terrifying search for a missing ex-boyfriend whose disappearance may be linked to the mysterious death of a helicopter pilot, while contending with a new job as assistant to a reclusive true-crime author.
Rice spins out his multi-layered tale via breathtaking action, suspense, and moments of unexpected tenderness. The complexity in of itself is a feat; what seems like the hunt for a serial killer morphs into a dark plunge into the underworld of sex slavery, pornography and Central Valley meth trade. It's like "Breaking Bad" meets "Cruising" and then some. And Rice does it all without ever sacrificing character development or depth.
"Light Before Day" is the thinking person's thriller, from a writer who is at the top of his game.
January 16, 2019
3,5 stars
It was my first book by the author and I have to confess that I really ENJOYED the writing. Not so much the mystery here. It was way too complicated for my taste.
Adam Murphy, a talented journalist with alcohol problems, who is probably too good for this gay magazine he works for, gets some delicate information about the helicopter pilot who died with his four crew members in the tragic helicopter crash of one day ago. He starts to research on his own and to dig deeper into the crash, and soon it becomes clear that there are more to this story and that there are many people around who are not amused about his curiosity. Then he loses his job, his ex lover disappears under strange circumstances and a bestseller novelist hires him as a private assistant to work further on this story that is supposed to be his next bestseller (not sure about the order though).
Yes, A LOT happened in this book: a mysterious disappearance of gay young men, a dangerous disappearance of kids, expendable murders. You should be warned: there is child trafficking and abuse, a child-porn ring, rape, violence, drug and alcohol addiction.
I found that it was not always easy to follow the story, but not solely because of a sensitive topic but rather because it was difficult for me to understand the conclusions Adam came to after every piece of information he had got. It was very tiring and frustrating. When he was already on his way to his next step, I was still wondering how he could come to this idea. Either he was very smart or I am simply very stupid.
The ending was as unbelievable as illogical the whole story was.
Though REALLY good written.
Audio book
An excellent narrator. Cole Ferguson can give his voice to 100 different characters and every single one of them will have its own recognizable voice. Just great. One star extra for the audio book.
January 16, 2017
Gritty story with a plethora of twists and turns and a large cast of characters.
August 19, 2016
The following review was originally posted on my book blog The Book Challengers.
For a book that's supposed to keep me on the edge of my seat and intrigued the entire time, this one bored me way too much. I don't even know exactly why, but it wasn't possible for me to get into this book and therefore I didn't really care for the hero Adam and his quest. I read the story in random chunks and I somehow found quite a few other things to occupy my time with when instead I should have been engrossed by this mystery thriller.
I wouldn't say that the story was boring per se as it had quite a few things going on from drugs and a supposed fight with alcoholism to child pornography and abductions and murders, BUT I couldn't get into it. Where was the fight with alcohol if Adam supposedly had a huge problem with it? One moment he decides to say "I stop now" and that's basically everything we see about it. Also, I didn't really care for the solution and some connections Adam made left me rather baffled. Some connections came out of nowhere and I thought that it was more lucky guesses than good deductions based on good evidence.
All in all, a disappointment for me.
For a book that's supposed to keep me on the edge of my seat and intrigued the entire time, this one bored me way too much. I don't even know exactly why, but it wasn't possible for me to get into this book and therefore I didn't really care for the hero Adam and his quest. I read the story in random chunks and I somehow found quite a few other things to occupy my time with when instead I should have been engrossed by this mystery thriller.
I wouldn't say that the story was boring per se as it had quite a few things going on from drugs and a supposed fight with alcoholism to child pornography and abductions and murders, BUT I couldn't get into it. Where was the fight with alcohol if Adam supposedly had a huge problem with it? One moment he decides to say "I stop now" and that's basically everything we see about it. Also, I didn't really care for the solution and some connections Adam made left me rather baffled. Some connections came out of nowhere and I thought that it was more lucky guesses than good deductions based on good evidence.
All in all, a disappointment for me.
August 12, 2008
After several weeks of trying to get into this one, I did something I have not done since high school -- I gave up on a book with no intention of going back.
This one was poorly written, choppy, and full of puns that even made *me* cringe (I love a good pun). I think Chris Rice must have been trying to write a mystery in almost a "flim-noir" style. Dark protagonist, beautiful victim (his twist: victim and protagonist are both gay), dangerous mystery, and gag-worthy similes and other terrible metaphors.
I officially gave up on page 90: "Linda saw Jimmy standing next to me and her polite smile dropped from her face like a married father's pants in a rural rest stop." That was enough.
I think Chris Rice has more connections than he deserves. Don't get me wrong, I believe he deserves to be published. I think that he would have more editing and with more honesty, and he would be less likely to be so quickly published if not for his famous parents.
I enjoyed A Density of Souls and The Snow Garden too much to give up, though. I will read his next book without hesitation.
One star, never finished, recommending against it.
~~copied from my Book Lust Journal, written Jan. '06~~
This one was poorly written, choppy, and full of puns that even made *me* cringe (I love a good pun). I think Chris Rice must have been trying to write a mystery in almost a "flim-noir" style. Dark protagonist, beautiful victim (his twist: victim and protagonist are both gay), dangerous mystery, and gag-worthy similes and other terrible metaphors.
I officially gave up on page 90: "Linda saw Jimmy standing next to me and her polite smile dropped from her face like a married father's pants in a rural rest stop." That was enough.
I think Chris Rice has more connections than he deserves. Don't get me wrong, I believe he deserves to be published. I think that he would have more editing and with more honesty, and he would be less likely to be so quickly published if not for his famous parents.
I enjoyed A Density of Souls and The Snow Garden too much to give up, though. I will read his next book without hesitation.
One star, never finished, recommending against it.
~~copied from my Book Lust Journal, written Jan. '06~~
August 20, 2007
Fiction. Yes, Christopher, son of Anne, but don't worry, he doesn't use the word preternatural once, and even gets some great lines in, like: "Around six, I thought about getting some dinner the way some people think about buying a vacation home." Unfortunately, as much as Christopher loves using two or three metaphors a paragraph, his success rate is really only fifty percent. Some aren't very good, some I couldn't even decipher, but he tries hard. This is nominally a mystery. Our main character, Adam, starts out as a journalist and a junkie. He gets fired, gets sober, gets a job working for a true crime writer, and tries to fight crime. I don't know if it's me or Christopher, but I couldn't quite get a handle on the mystery plot. At times I even forgot what it was we were trying to figure out. His ex-boyfriend is missing, there's a lot of dead people, and some sort of meth side thingy plot. This book has a lot of characters and they're all named Jimmy and Billy and Corey, and despite Adam's near constant summarizing each time he learns a new detail, I still was totally lost. It was kind of funny really, exactly how little the mystery engaged me, but I didn't exactly mind. I still figured out at least two of the twists before the main characters did.
Two stars. The writing is sort of amateurish and the plot's kind of fumbling, but in an endearing way?
Two stars. The writing is sort of amateurish and the plot's kind of fumbling, but in an endearing way?
January 22, 2009
I couldn't wait for my sister's copy so I bought myself one! Biggest waste of &6.50 ever. I have liked the two other books I have read by Christopher Rice, I can't say that about this one. I don't even know where to start. There were to many characters, I couldn't keep up with who was who for the majority of the book. The book also had to many twist and turns that were so unbelievable! The other two books have been more charactered based with a plausible plot. This one was to far out there and his metophors were laughable! I teach writing and preach to my students to use descriptive language but he took it to the extreme! I hope his next one is closer to the first two or I mayy have to give up on his books!!!!!!! Hopefully my darling sister will let me read her christmas present copy when she finishes!
February 4, 2015
Christopher Rice's Light Before Day is a really good criminal mystery that keeps you on your toes through all the book.
It's a story about recovering alcoholic journalist, who stumbles on a story about lost boys, exploding meth labs, vigilante, pedophiles, old grudges, revenges and ex lovers. The story is filled with many different story lines, many different villains and through all the story I came up with many different outcomes, but at the end all those ideas of mine didn't hit the mark at all.
I'm romantic at heart and I was really hoping that the bad are not really as bad as they seem and love will conquer all, but the bad were really bad, even worse than I thought and love is just something that makes you blind.
I really enjoyed the story, loved the way it keeps you guessing and trying to figure out the next step ahead. Just all in all one very good read.
It's a story about recovering alcoholic journalist, who stumbles on a story about lost boys, exploding meth labs, vigilante, pedophiles, old grudges, revenges and ex lovers. The story is filled with many different story lines, many different villains and through all the story I came up with many different outcomes, but at the end all those ideas of mine didn't hit the mark at all.
I'm romantic at heart and I was really hoping that the bad are not really as bad as they seem and love will conquer all, but the bad were really bad, even worse than I thought and love is just something that makes you blind.
I really enjoyed the story, loved the way it keeps you guessing and trying to figure out the next step ahead. Just all in all one very good read.
February 17, 2008
I would have liked to be able to say that I loved this book, since Gay fic is pretty hard to come by here on the island, but alas I can not say that. It was cheesy in some parts (with lines like "his eyes were so blue he needed two pool boys just to maintain them")in other parts it was boring and I just couldn't get into it as well as I did with The Snow Garden which I loved. Will I give him another chance ? Most likley I will,like I said, it is hard to get good gay fic here. I can't wait to get back to Portland so I can peruse the ailses of Powell's once more!!!
December 31, 2011
An interesting look at the drug culture of young men and particularly gay men. A thriller that takes a little reading to get you interested and then you can't put it down. Lots of interesting twists and turns that keep you guessing what is going to happen next! Another winner from Christopher Rice. How do all these stories come together is not revealed until the very end....so this is great read.
January 13, 2024
when i say i want to read a gay romance what i really mean is i want a christopher rice thriller except in the end the main character and the sociopath who's obsessed with him drive off into the sunset together. is that too much to ask.
October 20, 2007
A lot of people don't care for this book much, but I thought it was pretty good. Sure, it's no Density of Souls or The Snow Garden, but hey, you can't write five-star books every single time!
February 24, 2012
Too many characters to keep straight, too many plot turns to keep straight as well. Still, I read it all the way through, wanting to know the mystery's end, and I don't regret it.
January 6, 2015
Gritty, raw and real with surprising moments of tenderness as well as gut-punching heartbreak. I lost sleep over this book--totally worth it.
January 13, 2017
Crisp prose, a suspenseful plot and intriguing characters make this book a great read.
March 27, 2015
I entered to win this via the Goodreads: First Reads giveaways. I didn't win it but my brother did. After borrowing it from him... boy, am I glad I didn't win.
As evident by my shelving, I did not finish this book. I made it to the end of the sentence that was started on page 256 and ended on 257. I don't even care enough to just skip to the end of the book to see how the story played out.
I have no problem that the main character, Adam, was gay. In fact this book was a lot less sexual than I thought it would be. My problem is the lack of a cohesive, linear plot that plays out with minimum confusion. This book reads as if Christopher Rice had no idea what was happening, any more than his readers would. There are way too many people, names and jumping around from conspiracy to conspiracy without giving the audience a break or anything solid to hold on to. The "twists" were there just to be shocking turns of events. And for all the hubris... nothing really happens.
I took this book with me on my road trip last week. I figured if I was stuck in a car for a 30 hour round trip drive that I would have to read it. No luck. I ended up reading short stories found on the internet and a couple of comics/graphics that I had stored away. I usually hate to leave any book unfinished as I like to know what it all meant in the end, but this book? I don't even care. I will not lose sleep over not reading this one through, at all. Like I said, I can't bring myself to care enough to even read the last few chapters just to see what the point of it all was.
The characters lack chemistry or any see-able ties. I couldn't keep up with all the comings and goings of Rice's creations as no one seemed like they mattered to the central plot and those that did were dead or missing.
I'm pretty sure if I ever attempt to read another of Rice's books, it is because it was a borrowed book that someone paid me to read.
As evident by my shelving, I did not finish this book. I made it to the end of the sentence that was started on page 256 and ended on 257. I don't even care enough to just skip to the end of the book to see how the story played out.
I have no problem that the main character, Adam, was gay. In fact this book was a lot less sexual than I thought it would be. My problem is the lack of a cohesive, linear plot that plays out with minimum confusion. This book reads as if Christopher Rice had no idea what was happening, any more than his readers would. There are way too many people, names and jumping around from conspiracy to conspiracy without giving the audience a break or anything solid to hold on to. The "twists" were there just to be shocking turns of events. And for all the hubris... nothing really happens.
I took this book with me on my road trip last week. I figured if I was stuck in a car for a 30 hour round trip drive that I would have to read it. No luck. I ended up reading short stories found on the internet and a couple of comics/graphics that I had stored away. I usually hate to leave any book unfinished as I like to know what it all meant in the end, but this book? I don't even care. I will not lose sleep over not reading this one through, at all. Like I said, I can't bring myself to care enough to even read the last few chapters just to see what the point of it all was.
The characters lack chemistry or any see-able ties. I couldn't keep up with all the comings and goings of Rice's creations as no one seemed like they mattered to the central plot and those that did were dead or missing.
I'm pretty sure if I ever attempt to read another of Rice's books, it is because it was a borrowed book that someone paid me to read.
November 19, 2008
In his third novel, Christopher Rice truly begins to bloom as a mystery-thriller novelist. His first two works involved high school and college age teenagers caught in various mysterious circumstances. This work expands his range to a more urban mystery.
His main character, Adam, finds himself struggling as a reporter for "Glitz" magazine, a gay men's rag in Los Angeles. Adam wants to bring "real stories" to the magazine but is thwarted by his editor who continually prefers to print light hearted trash. Finally, Adam is approached by a former one night stand with a wild story involving a Marine helicopter pilot who crashed his plane into the ocean after a wild night in West Hollywood.
Adam's attempt to cover the story is met with his dismissal from the magazine and he is plunged into an uneasy alliance with a famous mystery novelist and true-crime author as he tries to unravel mysterious disappearances in the gay community, child sex rings, and murder. In the end the finds himself a main player in the drama.
The work is nicely plotted and moves rapidly. The scathing indictment of the "gay youth" culture of Los Angeles adds a nice counterpoint to the work and the new plague of methamphetimine use provides much of the background for the story.
The characters are in turns intriguing and broadly drawn. However, Rice's main characters are more well developed than some of the supporting cast.
An intriguing read and certainly a nice validation of my initial impression that Rice would become an excellent novelist, giving the gay community an author on par with other top-selling writers.
His main character, Adam, finds himself struggling as a reporter for "Glitz" magazine, a gay men's rag in Los Angeles. Adam wants to bring "real stories" to the magazine but is thwarted by his editor who continually prefers to print light hearted trash. Finally, Adam is approached by a former one night stand with a wild story involving a Marine helicopter pilot who crashed his plane into the ocean after a wild night in West Hollywood.
Adam's attempt to cover the story is met with his dismissal from the magazine and he is plunged into an uneasy alliance with a famous mystery novelist and true-crime author as he tries to unravel mysterious disappearances in the gay community, child sex rings, and murder. In the end the finds himself a main player in the drama.
The work is nicely plotted and moves rapidly. The scathing indictment of the "gay youth" culture of Los Angeles adds a nice counterpoint to the work and the new plague of methamphetimine use provides much of the background for the story.
The characters are in turns intriguing and broadly drawn. However, Rice's main characters are more well developed than some of the supporting cast.
An intriguing read and certainly a nice validation of my initial impression that Rice would become an excellent novelist, giving the gay community an author on par with other top-selling writers.
October 10, 2011
This is a bit of an unusual review because it’s going to give little information about the story involved. Light Before Day is written by Christopher Rice, son of Anne Rice of Interview with the Vampire fame. Many will probably say he’s riding on his mother’s famous coat tails, but this novel will prove them wrong.
In an afterword to the book, the author has a dialogue with his mother in which he says he wants to write a novel a la Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. In Light Before Day, he’s done just that. The chronicle of a reporter’s search for his missing lover while he investigates the story behind a marine helicopter crash suddenly escalates into more than he expects with far-reaching implications in his own life as well as others’.
This is a hard-hitting story both realistic and gritty and has as many turns and twists as anything either of the afore-mentioned writers has written. Giving a synopsis is out of the question because of the convolution of the plot but that doesn’t mean it’s not an entertaining read. It definitely is. It’s merely too complicated to explain simply. I‘ve always considered myself good at guessing “whodunit” and ruining the plot of a story for myself because of that, but this time, I had no idea—right up until the moment the killer was revealed.
This is a book which needs to be read straight-through so don’t expect to put it down once you pick it up, because once it’s in your hand and that first page is turned, you won’t stop until you’ve finished it.
In an afterword to the book, the author has a dialogue with his mother in which he says he wants to write a novel a la Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. In Light Before Day, he’s done just that. The chronicle of a reporter’s search for his missing lover while he investigates the story behind a marine helicopter crash suddenly escalates into more than he expects with far-reaching implications in his own life as well as others’.
This is a hard-hitting story both realistic and gritty and has as many turns and twists as anything either of the afore-mentioned writers has written. Giving a synopsis is out of the question because of the convolution of the plot but that doesn’t mean it’s not an entertaining read. It definitely is. It’s merely too complicated to explain simply. I‘ve always considered myself good at guessing “whodunit” and ruining the plot of a story for myself because of that, but this time, I had no idea—right up until the moment the killer was revealed.
This is a book which needs to be read straight-through so don’t expect to put it down once you pick it up, because once it’s in your hand and that first page is turned, you won’t stop until you’ve finished it.
December 9, 2020
Twenty something and openly gay, Adam Murphy has hopes of being a serious investigative reporter, but any attempts in his present job are frustrated by his boss. But troublesome events in the Los Angeles gay community soon take over, events that cause him to loose his job but at the same time open the way to a new opportunity as assistant to best selling author James Wilton. Wilton wants Adam to investigate these events as potential material for his next novel. Adam soon finds himself not just investigating but directly involved in a complex web of murder, internet pornography, blackmail, drugs and child abduction.
I was a little wary of Christopher Rice, thinking maybe there was more hype than substance here, and when I started reading it seemed my impressions were confirmed, I could see no direction or reason, just dead ends. But then it all started to come together, and soon we were involved in an intricate and perplexing plot that gradually drew all these loose ends together. Adam proved to be a plucky, intrepid and likeable investigator, ready to reassess his interpretation of the facts as they unwound and at times proved his early deductions false - as they frequently did. So too I must reassess my view of the author, I really enjoyed this, finding it involving on more than one level; I definitely will be reading more of Christopher Rice.
I was a little wary of Christopher Rice, thinking maybe there was more hype than substance here, and when I started reading it seemed my impressions were confirmed, I could see no direction or reason, just dead ends. But then it all started to come together, and soon we were involved in an intricate and perplexing plot that gradually drew all these loose ends together. Adam proved to be a plucky, intrepid and likeable investigator, ready to reassess his interpretation of the facts as they unwound and at times proved his early deductions false - as they frequently did. So too I must reassess my view of the author, I really enjoyed this, finding it involving on more than one level; I definitely will be reading more of Christopher Rice.
March 3, 2019
Christopher Rice’s Light Before Day is a really fun thriller and a quick & easy read. The mystery is constantly evolving & thoroughly engaging, though some of the “twists” are telegraphed far ahead of time and the plot isn’t always terribly clear. However, the characters are each unique & interesting with well-designed motivations & fears and the story is deeply rooted in its gay roots, adding color, fresh air, and queerness that drew me into the novel. It’s so rare to find mysteries and thrillers with a gay protagonist, much less with an entire cast of gay characters, that I was completely enthralled from start to finish. I can’t wait to go pick up more of Christopher Rice’s LGBT thrillers!
May 16, 2015
Uneven and over the top, but I enjoyed it. Need to find another one by the author to try.
March 25, 2018
struggled bus through this... and the ending couldn't even save it...
October 3, 2017
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Adam Murphy wants to be a serious journalist. Unfortunately, he spends his days writing copy about underwear and abs for a gay lifestyle magazine. When a troubled young porn star brings him a tip about a recently deceased marine’s secret visit to an infamous pimp for underage boys, Adam is determined to break the story…until someone starts threatening his life.
Undeterred, Adam begins to unravel a deadly conspiracy involving runaway sugar daddies, salacious A-list parties, and three handsome young men who have vanished without a trace. Now he must enter the seedy underbelly of LA to find the truth behind their disappearance, as well as the disappearance of his ex-lover, Corey—who may have some deadly secrets of his own.
This was one of those books that it a little hard to pin down for a review. The parts that I enjoyed, I liked quite a lot...but the things that weren't great, really drove me nuts.
What's to like about this: well, it is, at its heart, a mystery novel and I am good with that. Mysteries are what I grew up with so I have read a LOT of them - and this one does pretty well in that aspect. I liked that Christopher never shied away from the bad stuff that happens in and around California at that time - sex, drugs, murder - by the poorest people and by the richest. It runs the gamut from child pornography to assassinations...sometimes uncomfortable, but that's what I want from time to time.
What bugged me: the constant metaphors - they ranged from "clever" to "just stop, already!" His editor needed to tell him that once a page is too much...Also particularly annoying was the constant plot twists which, I have to admit, caught me out once (I was probably crying in the corner from another failed metaphor) and threw me from the story. One good, solid plot twist can do the story wonders...multiple one (I think 3 or 4 easily), just becomes frustrating. Finally, the cast was huge - it just felt too heavily populated for the real mystery story to come through...
Overall? A pretty good mystery novel wrapped inside a frustrating writing style.
Paul
ARH
Adam Murphy wants to be a serious journalist. Unfortunately, he spends his days writing copy about underwear and abs for a gay lifestyle magazine. When a troubled young porn star brings him a tip about a recently deceased marine’s secret visit to an infamous pimp for underage boys, Adam is determined to break the story…until someone starts threatening his life.
Undeterred, Adam begins to unravel a deadly conspiracy involving runaway sugar daddies, salacious A-list parties, and three handsome young men who have vanished without a trace. Now he must enter the seedy underbelly of LA to find the truth behind their disappearance, as well as the disappearance of his ex-lover, Corey—who may have some deadly secrets of his own.
This was one of those books that it a little hard to pin down for a review. The parts that I enjoyed, I liked quite a lot...but the things that weren't great, really drove me nuts.
What's to like about this: well, it is, at its heart, a mystery novel and I am good with that. Mysteries are what I grew up with so I have read a LOT of them - and this one does pretty well in that aspect. I liked that Christopher never shied away from the bad stuff that happens in and around California at that time - sex, drugs, murder - by the poorest people and by the richest. It runs the gamut from child pornography to assassinations...sometimes uncomfortable, but that's what I want from time to time.
What bugged me: the constant metaphors - they ranged from "clever" to "just stop, already!" His editor needed to tell him that once a page is too much...Also particularly annoying was the constant plot twists which, I have to admit, caught me out once (I was probably crying in the corner from another failed metaphor) and threw me from the story. One good, solid plot twist can do the story wonders...multiple one (I think 3 or 4 easily), just becomes frustrating. Finally, the cast was huge - it just felt too heavily populated for the real mystery story to come through...
Overall? A pretty good mystery novel wrapped inside a frustrating writing style.
Paul
ARH
October 12, 2022
I found this book to be very affecting. It's a vivid, intense account of a young journalist who finds himself in the middle of (quoting from the goodreads summary) "a deadly conspiracy involving runaway sugar daddies, salacious A-list parties, and three handsome young men who have vanished without a trace."
Now, I would not normally ever read a book with a description like that, let alone love such a book, but Christopher Rice takes this material and makes it transformative. The most important way in which he accomplishes this is the clear-eyed way that he never glamorizes or sensationalizes or revels in the awfulness of the crimes depicted in this book. This is the opposite of pornography: whatever ugliness Rice makes us look at here is in service of a larger point.
And that point is the other important aspect of Light Before Day. Rice thrusts his hero and the reader into a bleak, sad, desolate world defined mostly by a cycle of drug abuse (crystal meth) and concomitant child abuse. We can't cure a social ill like this without understanding it, and without ever being either polemical or dogmatic, Rice lays bare a devastation that doesn't need to persist, if only we can get to its roots and make it stop.
Adam, the protagonist of the novel, is its saving grace; he's an alcoholic and sometime drug user with practically no self-esteem, but he knows he doesn't need to stay this way and we root for him to get through the hellish experiences he encounters in the story because, for all his flaws, he's a good guy and we like him.
As I read the book I was aware of its shortcomings: it's a complex narrative (actually for much of the book there are two narratives, and it's not always easy to parse or keep up with them), and it's possibly over-written. But I got so wrapped up in Light Before Day that these potential issues never got in my way. The final hundred pages or so are riveting--I literally could not put it down.
The author's note provides excellent information about the factual basis of the story; Rice did his homework well. I am grateful to have been exposed in such a visceral and powerful way to a crisis (epidemic?) that, thankfully, I have had little direct personal contact with in my own life.
Now, I would not normally ever read a book with a description like that, let alone love such a book, but Christopher Rice takes this material and makes it transformative. The most important way in which he accomplishes this is the clear-eyed way that he never glamorizes or sensationalizes or revels in the awfulness of the crimes depicted in this book. This is the opposite of pornography: whatever ugliness Rice makes us look at here is in service of a larger point.
And that point is the other important aspect of Light Before Day. Rice thrusts his hero and the reader into a bleak, sad, desolate world defined mostly by a cycle of drug abuse (crystal meth) and concomitant child abuse. We can't cure a social ill like this without understanding it, and without ever being either polemical or dogmatic, Rice lays bare a devastation that doesn't need to persist, if only we can get to its roots and make it stop.
Adam, the protagonist of the novel, is its saving grace; he's an alcoholic and sometime drug user with practically no self-esteem, but he knows he doesn't need to stay this way and we root for him to get through the hellish experiences he encounters in the story because, for all his flaws, he's a good guy and we like him.
As I read the book I was aware of its shortcomings: it's a complex narrative (actually for much of the book there are two narratives, and it's not always easy to parse or keep up with them), and it's possibly over-written. But I got so wrapped up in Light Before Day that these potential issues never got in my way. The final hundred pages or so are riveting--I literally could not put it down.
The author's note provides excellent information about the factual basis of the story; Rice did his homework well. I am grateful to have been exposed in such a visceral and powerful way to a crisis (epidemic?) that, thankfully, I have had little direct personal contact with in my own life.
August 3, 2010
What started as a really good and interesting read began to bore me near the end. The action never stopped, the suspense never stopped, but nor did the constant changes to the plot line and the constant conspiracy theories. Just when I'd get into the book, figure out who the bad guys were and cosy up for the hell ride, something dramatic would once again change events and the direction of the novel. I'm all up for a great 'who done it', but not one where all evidence points in one direction (e.g. the maid), to then be told it was actually her father's brother, who you'd only heard mention in one paragraph in the beginning, and then a moment later to be told he has actually been dead for 6 years and it was his former lover who hated the maid from primary school and therefore set her up! It just became a bit much.
February 26, 2018
Magazine writer turned investigative journalist?
Light Before Day is a story similar to what you expect from a crime/mystery novel, but Mr Rice throws his own twists and turns in and makes it even better. I try not to compare writers, but it reminds me a bit of Alexandra Sokoloff's Huntress books. That's high praise coming from me, as that's one of my top 3 favorite series. The characters have such depth, you can either personally identify with them, or someone you know reminds you of them. The story itself plays across the news daily in so many parts of the country, it's a matter of "it could happen here", and makes you wonder, does it go this far and we just don't see it, or do we sweep it under the proverbial rug?
Excellently written novel that makes you think.
Light Before Day is a story similar to what you expect from a crime/mystery novel, but Mr Rice throws his own twists and turns in and makes it even better. I try not to compare writers, but it reminds me a bit of Alexandra Sokoloff's Huntress books. That's high praise coming from me, as that's one of my top 3 favorite series. The characters have such depth, you can either personally identify with them, or someone you know reminds you of them. The story itself plays across the news daily in so many parts of the country, it's a matter of "it could happen here", and makes you wonder, does it go this far and we just don't see it, or do we sweep it under the proverbial rug?
Excellently written novel that makes you think.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews