The Range Rules

by Darren Greer

When Ryan and Shawn Sullivan’s socially ambitious father enrolls them in the prestigious Novato Towne School for Boys, the brothers unwittingly uncover the strange legacy of Charles Steven Kaye, a student who, expelled two decades prior for “lewd and disgusting acts,” became the notorious and universally reviled queer pornographer John Dark. Obsessed with the enigmatic figure of Dark, Shawn rejects the stifling expectations of his upper-class upbringing, leaving his affluent family home and disappearing into the underground queer scene in California. Ryan follows his older brother into this hidden world, seeking to capture Shawn’s life on film and make sense of his unravelling.

Set against the backdrop of a parole house, to which Ryan was released after three years in jail, The Range Rules is a daring, defiant, and darkly wondrous exploration of transgressive queer pornography, prison culture, twelve-step recovery, and a search for redemption, connection, and compassion in spite of the invisible laws that govern our lives.

337 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2026

About the author

Darren Greer is the author of six award-winning, critically acclaimed novels and a book of essays. His novel Still Life With June was the winner of the 2004 Relit Award in Canada, a top three finalist for the Ferro-Grumley award in Manhattan, and was nominated for the Pearson Canada Readers’ Choice Award.

His novel, Just Beneath My Skin, was short-listed for the Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award, the 2015 ReLit award, and won the 2015 Thomas H Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. His novel Advocate was short-listed for the 2017 Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, the 2017 Ferro-Grumley Award and won the Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award. His latest novel The Range Rules was released September 2026.

Reviews

[Amina · Rating 3 out of 5]

✰ 3 stars ✰

“The only way to learn a range rule was to break it.”

The Range Rules read like a dra-mystery. One which had multiple plot lines that unfortunately made it difficult to be wholly immersed in any one of them. I knew tragedy was imminent for the infamously doomed Shawn Sullivan, but what compelled me to continue this heavy nonlinear narrative was the need to know how and why it would occur.

But, as much as I was engrossed, I also found myself a bit lost at how the time and setting would shift so suddenly. It was a bit disorienting, especially when it never offered a clear-cut indication of when Ryan was serving his prison sentence or his parole time, or even his school years - so I had to figure it out on my own. Some details also felt unnecessarily extra until they came about to explain a certain character's behaviors, which I also felt like a disservice to what he went through.

“You can’t shoot the world and apologize to it at the same time.”

The writing had a certain cinematic feel to it, which, in hindsight, makes sense, considering how photography and filming were their passions and what ultimately led to their relationship falling apart, as Shawn became further enthralled by the raptures of John Dark's seedy films, the seductive allure of something adventurous and euphoric, heightened by his own Obsessive Love Disorder.

I think it would have helped if there had been more scenes dedicated to showcasing the closeness of Ryan and Shawn's brotherly bond. I felt Ryan's grief over Shawn's loss; I did. But I did not feel the intensity of his Prolonged Grief Disorder, in which he was so drowned in sorrows over his regret at his failure for not being there for his older brother during the unfortunate years he was trapped with John Dark.

“I hate you,” I said.

“Everything,” Dark said calmly, as if I had not spoken at all, “is more beautiful because we are doomed.”

John Dark, a sadistic messiah, represented the heinous, vulgar side of the queer porn industry that was more shocking in the early 2000s than it is now. But I was not a fan of how the author portrayed the "villain" at the last stage. True, it was to rid him of the enigma he was, that daunting hunger. But it also carried a slight forgiving tone to him that left me with an unpleasant, and not entirely satisfied taste.

You really do have to have patience and tolerance to read Ryan's untold story. It's an uncomfortable, heartbreaking road of recovery and closure that he longs to heal from his untamed wounds. What helps is seeing how he grows and gains from what he learned and lost from Shawn's sad and broken self-sacrifice. It's retracing those forgotten steps that show just how heartbreaking a loss it is to see such a vibrant life, so sadly dimmed out.

[Ajwaan ꣑୧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story quietly pulls you in and leaves you emotionally wrecked.

I appreciated how layered and emotionally complex this story was. At its core, the story follows two brothers, Ryan and Shawn, and their complicated bond, shifting between affection and distance, with so much left unsaid.

Shawn was the character who broke my heart the most. There was something so haunting about the way he kept reaching for things that were slowly destroying him, and I couldn’t help but feel deeply for him.

I also found the book’s exploration of queer pornography and the harsh realities surrounding the industry really compelling, especially in the way it portrayed what Shawn experienced within that world. Meanwhile, Ryan’s struggle with alcoholism and his denial that he needed recovery was another part of his story that felt painfully real.

I appreciated how nearly every character had their own depth and backstory, especially the people Ryan meets in prison. It felt like little stories woven into the main narrative. However, halfway through, I was desperate to get back to Ryan and Shawn and finally understand what had happened to them. The slow reveals definitely added to the suspense, but I was on the edge of my seat, desperate to find out.

And John Dark. I genuinely don’t think I’ve hated a character this much in a while. Absolutely vile.

This was such a unique, dark, and tragic story. It left me feeling grief-stricken, frustrated, and genuinely angry at the world these characters lived in.

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss⁺ for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

[Alastair Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book demands things from it's readers emotionally and intellectually, and it does so because it's a fantastic book. It manages to do that while being, as the trope goes, "wildly entertaining."
Perhaps the most fully realized expression of some of Greer's perennial themes - the intense pulls of our relationships, the long afterlives of violence, gayness, and hidden meanings, to name a few - this book has several things to say, and it says them in a way you're unlikely to hear anywhere else. It's worth paying attention.

[Jack Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of reading this novel and sat, transfixed in coffee shops by its searingly honest and majestic voice.

What precipitates when the burden of trauma and existential angst are left to grow in the dark? How does our inexorable desire for belonging determine our trajectory in life? Greer demands we stare straight into the abyss to be confronted with the true cost.

The Range Rules is a haunting masterpiece that considers the mechanics of spiritual initiation and illuminates the tapestry of suffering and joy that is prerequisite to acceptance - and ultimately, freedom.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the ARC in exchange for a review.
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Review to come

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subject matter is dark and unconventional and in as such, gripping.

The author has you held in the first moments.

Brutally, beautifully honest and full.

[Enid Wray]

Let's just leave it at that I am not the reader for this title.

Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.

DNF