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Henry Rios #1
Lay Your Sleeping Head
Thirty years ago, The Little Death introduced Henry Rios, a gay, Latino criminal defense lawyer who became the central figure in a celebrated seven novel series. In a brilliant reimagination of The Little Death, Lay Your Sleeping Head retains all the complexity and elegance of the plot of the original novel but deepens the themes of personal alienation and erotic obsession that both honored the traditions of the American crime novel and turned them on their head. Henry Rios, a gifted and humane lawyer driven to drink by professional failure and personal demons, meets a charming junky struggling to stay clean. He tells Rios an improbable tale of long-ago murders in his wealthy family. Rios is skeptical, but the erotic spark between them ignites an obsessive affair that ends only when the man’s body is discovered with a needle in his arm on the campus of a great California university. Rios refuses to believe his lover’s death was an accidental overdose. His hunt for the killer takes him down San Francisco’s mean streets and into Nob Hill mansions where he uncovers the secrets behind a legendary California fortune and the reason the man he loved had to die.
276 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2016
123 people are currently reading
1264 people want to read
About the author
Michael Nava
33 books339 followersMichael 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
July 4, 2022
Buddy reread - July 2022
still heart-breakingly good.
*********************************************
Being gay had become more a principle than a practice, a political stand like being a socialist or in favor of legalizing pot. In my day to day life, it hardly figured at all.
4.5 stars
Great start to what I am hoping will be a great series.
First of all, this is not MM Romance, it is Gay mystery. The story of Henry Rios a Latino criminal defense lawyer, who is an out gay man in San Fransisco during the 80s, just trying to do good to his community by taking on cases that most people wouldn’t. After reading Nick Nowak series, and loving it, I find myself fascinated with the gay mystery stories set in the 80s. This one did not disappoint at all.
Henry Rios our protagonist is an amazing character, flawed, intelligent, fun at times when he wants to be and just a good guy trying to navigate through this crazy world. We follow him as he tries to solve some past and recent murders. The mysteries were so engaging and very well written, It is an actual mystery, I was able to follow along and help Henry out, by the end of the book, I was still left with some questions. That makes me happy. The high is like no other.
The writing is excellent, the flow and the prose magnificent, it is like poetry on crack. I was transported to another place.
This one should be taken in small doses. It is emotional and touches the soul in a certain way. Sinks in deep.
I was a lawyer and, like Mike said, a good one. I gave a hundred and ten percent to my clients. For a long time, that was enough to keep me out of my head. At some point, though, after I turned thirty, the disturbing feelings and intrusive memories I had avoided since I’d left home for college had begun to emerge in my mind like bloated corpses rising to the surface of a lake. Flashes of anger, moments of heart-pounding anxiety, a loneliness that clawed at my chest accompanied memories of my raging father, of a childhood that felt like imprisonment.
Looking forward to more of Henry Rios Mystery stories, this is definitely going to my favourite list.
still heart-breakingly good.
*********************************************
Being gay had become more a principle than a practice, a political stand like being a socialist or in favor of legalizing pot. In my day to day life, it hardly figured at all.
4.5 stars
Great start to what I am hoping will be a great series.
First of all, this is not MM Romance, it is Gay mystery. The story of Henry Rios a Latino criminal defense lawyer, who is an out gay man in San Fransisco during the 80s, just trying to do good to his community by taking on cases that most people wouldn’t. After reading Nick Nowak series, and loving it, I find myself fascinated with the gay mystery stories set in the 80s. This one did not disappoint at all.
Henry Rios our protagonist is an amazing character, flawed, intelligent, fun at times when he wants to be and just a good guy trying to navigate through this crazy world. We follow him as he tries to solve some past and recent murders. The mysteries were so engaging and very well written, It is an actual mystery, I was able to follow along and help Henry out, by the end of the book, I was still left with some questions. That makes me happy. The high is like no other.
The writing is excellent, the flow and the prose magnificent, it is like poetry on crack. I was transported to another place.
This one should be taken in small doses. It is emotional and touches the soul in a certain way. Sinks in deep.
I was a lawyer and, like Mike said, a good one. I gave a hundred and ten percent to my clients. For a long time, that was enough to keep me out of my head. At some point, though, after I turned thirty, the disturbing feelings and intrusive memories I had avoided since I’d left home for college had begun to emerge in my mind like bloated corpses rising to the surface of a lake. Flashes of anger, moments of heart-pounding anxiety, a loneliness that clawed at my chest accompanied memories of my raging father, of a childhood that felt like imprisonment.
Looking forward to more of Henry Rios Mystery stories, this is definitely going to my favourite list.
February 25, 2020
4.5
I am smitten by this authors' writing style. It's gorgeous and lush and infinitely readable. I found myself having read multiple chapters without even realizing I'd read that much, had a hard time putting it down and I was locked into the mystery plot line from the beginning.
Henry is a complex character that is so incredibly relatable. His inner monologues reveal his vulnerability and turmoil but also point to how principled he is as well as loyal. I'm halfway convinced it's these very principles that contribute to the pervasive loneliness he struggles with but I think his inner optimism will prevent him from giving up on his quest to find love.
This is not a romance, though Henry is a romantic. Probably a bit fickle but I think that's part of his charm. The other part of his charm is his ability to deconstruct his environment and the people in it and truly experience life. True, he experiences it through his own unique prism and maybe that's not always absolutely accurate but I loved being on the journey with him.
Not many authors can elicit feelings, make me reflect AND construct a mystery that I find compelling so needless to say I highly recommend this novel and I will be continuing on with the series.
My only quibble is the editing errors. They pulled me out of the story far too many times for a book of this caliber.
I am smitten by this authors' writing style. It's gorgeous and lush and infinitely readable. I found myself having read multiple chapters without even realizing I'd read that much, had a hard time putting it down and I was locked into the mystery plot line from the beginning.
Henry is a complex character that is so incredibly relatable. His inner monologues reveal his vulnerability and turmoil but also point to how principled he is as well as loyal. I'm halfway convinced it's these very principles that contribute to the pervasive loneliness he struggles with but I think his inner optimism will prevent him from giving up on his quest to find love.
I told myself, you need to get laid, but that was a lie. Hugh had stirred up more in me than the ache of sexual loneliness. I tossed the feeling on the pile of feelings that had accumulated inside me like a tower of unread books that would someday come crashing down and bury me.
This is not a romance, though Henry is a romantic. Probably a bit fickle but I think that's part of his charm. The other part of his charm is his ability to deconstruct his environment and the people in it and truly experience life. True, he experiences it through his own unique prism and maybe that's not always absolutely accurate but I loved being on the journey with him.
"Then maybe you understand when I say I've never felt like I belonged anywhere because there's never been anywhere I didn't feel forced into one lie or another. My life feels like it's been a struggle to tell the truth. Like I've been swimming up from deep water, my lungs about to burst, trying to reach the surface and breathe."
Not many authors can elicit feelings, make me reflect AND construct a mystery that I find compelling so needless to say I highly recommend this novel and I will be continuing on with the series.
My only quibble is the editing errors. They pulled me out of the story far too many times for a book of this caliber.
March 9, 2020
Audio 5 stars
Story 4 stars
Story 4 stars
January 5, 2018
Okay I've taken couple of days to think about what to write about this book and I'm still awash in emotion.
First off you can read this book with no reference at all to The Little Death by the same author. Though nominally a reworking of that book it is in fact completely different. Concerned with different aspects of life. It retains the basic bones of the first book in the same fashion that we are all humans.
This is a book about isolation and awakening. About unbearable otherness. About loneliness of the soul and finding recognition in another:
"I recognized that tone; it was a signal from one lonely traveler to another. We moved through a world so inescapably and aggressively straight that coming across another gay man in an unexpected circumstance was like stumbling into a refuge where, for a moment, it was possible to lower our shields and breathe."
The story takes place at the cusp of ATM machines, cell phones and AIDS; specifically 1982.
Henry Rios is a Public Defender who is already burned out by the age of 32. His awakening comes in the form of Hugh Paris, a "wastrel" from one of the most powerful families in the area who is also their black sheep. Hugh and Henry connect immediately upon meeting on a visceral level:
"We caught each other's eyes again and then he said, "You think when you come out, your life will be less lonely, but it isn't. You can find guys for sex. That's easy. Sex is how gay guys shake hands. Don't get me wrong, Henry, I'm not knocking sex. But it costs so much to come out, you'd think there'd be something more at the end of it than another guy's dick. My problem is, I never figured out what that something more is."
"To be loved?" I suggested.
I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that the physical Hugh is not long in the book but his presence is the catalyst for Henry's dark knight of the soul and towards the end a sort of rebirth. If well the original book was a standard murder mystery, though very well done and with a gay lead to boot, the murder mystery aspect this time around is less who and more of a why or how. The previous book had its roots in Raymond Chandler and this story is more Chinatown. The previous book lacked sex scenes but this one has a couple that rather than titillate inform and amplify the level of feeling between Henry & Hugh. Beautifully done.
What drew me into this story is the almost trance-like meditation going on in Henry's mind. His separateness from society. He's a gay man in a straight world. He's brown skinned. He's Latino. He's the first person in his family with a higher education moving among the wealthiest blue bloods of California. And so he's looking for a place to belong and has maybe found it in Hugh:
"What was love anyway? Could two men love each other? The world said anything we called love was a travesty of the real thing. That was a poison fed to us from the moment we became aware we were different and none of us was entirely immune. All of us wrestled with the fear that maybe the world was right, that two men could never be more than their parts and that together they still added up to nothing. What I felt for Hugh told a different story. When we were together, we made something that was more than either had ever been on his own."
The meeting and falling in love/lust for these two is fast and hard and absolutely believable which explains Henry's dogged pursuit of Hugh's killer.
For those keeping track of the differences with the previous incarnation of the book I'll say that the character of Hugh is different too. He's harder, more opaque and entirely true to his life experiences. In fact all of the characters are: Terry Ormes is more prominent and Grant Hancock really breaks your heart. I think that is because this iteration of the story of Henry Rios and Hugh Paris is the version told by an older man, one who has lived and is wiser perhaps. If you read both books it's almost as if the first book is a young man telling you a war tale and how in spite of the awful odds he finally prevailed. It reminds you of that other Henry and the St. Crispin Day speech whereas the current telling of the story is from the distance of time passed, sorrow, loss and the knowledge that love alone won't save us. Nonetheless the telling remains hopeful. There's a gauze of mist over this story as it presages all of the shattered dreams, lives of young men lost and love that couldn't be.
What I loved about the character of Henry is that in spite of everything he never doubts his right to be happy and love whom he will:
"You grow up and everyone around you tells you how it's supposed to be, how it's gonna be, but then, for you, it's different. The question is, how different? And now I know. It isn't different at all. People fall in love. … Men with women, women with women, men with men. People."
***I recommend this wholeheartedly and that cover is swoon worthy.***
First off you can read this book with no reference at all to The Little Death by the same author. Though nominally a reworking of that book it is in fact completely different. Concerned with different aspects of life. It retains the basic bones of the first book in the same fashion that we are all humans.
This is a book about isolation and awakening. About unbearable otherness. About loneliness of the soul and finding recognition in another:
"I recognized that tone; it was a signal from one lonely traveler to another. We moved through a world so inescapably and aggressively straight that coming across another gay man in an unexpected circumstance was like stumbling into a refuge where, for a moment, it was possible to lower our shields and breathe."
The story takes place at the cusp of ATM machines, cell phones and AIDS; specifically 1982.
Henry Rios is a Public Defender who is already burned out by the age of 32. His awakening comes in the form of Hugh Paris, a "wastrel" from one of the most powerful families in the area who is also their black sheep. Hugh and Henry connect immediately upon meeting on a visceral level:
"We caught each other's eyes again and then he said, "You think when you come out, your life will be less lonely, but it isn't. You can find guys for sex. That's easy. Sex is how gay guys shake hands. Don't get me wrong, Henry, I'm not knocking sex. But it costs so much to come out, you'd think there'd be something more at the end of it than another guy's dick. My problem is, I never figured out what that something more is."
"To be loved?" I suggested.
I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that the physical Hugh is not long in the book but his presence is the catalyst for Henry's dark knight of the soul and towards the end a sort of rebirth. If well the original book was a standard murder mystery, though very well done and with a gay lead to boot, the murder mystery aspect this time around is less who and more of a why or how. The previous book had its roots in Raymond Chandler and this story is more Chinatown. The previous book lacked sex scenes but this one has a couple that rather than titillate inform and amplify the level of feeling between Henry & Hugh. Beautifully done.
What drew me into this story is the almost trance-like meditation going on in Henry's mind. His separateness from society. He's a gay man in a straight world. He's brown skinned. He's Latino. He's the first person in his family with a higher education moving among the wealthiest blue bloods of California. And so he's looking for a place to belong and has maybe found it in Hugh:
"What was love anyway? Could two men love each other? The world said anything we called love was a travesty of the real thing. That was a poison fed to us from the moment we became aware we were different and none of us was entirely immune. All of us wrestled with the fear that maybe the world was right, that two men could never be more than their parts and that together they still added up to nothing. What I felt for Hugh told a different story. When we were together, we made something that was more than either had ever been on his own."
The meeting and falling in love/lust for these two is fast and hard and absolutely believable which explains Henry's dogged pursuit of Hugh's killer.
For those keeping track of the differences with the previous incarnation of the book I'll say that the character of Hugh is different too. He's harder, more opaque and entirely true to his life experiences. In fact all of the characters are: Terry Ormes is more prominent and Grant Hancock really breaks your heart. I think that is because this iteration of the story of Henry Rios and Hugh Paris is the version told by an older man, one who has lived and is wiser perhaps. If you read both books it's almost as if the first book is a young man telling you a war tale and how in spite of the awful odds he finally prevailed. It reminds you of that other Henry and the St. Crispin Day speech whereas the current telling of the story is from the distance of time passed, sorrow, loss and the knowledge that love alone won't save us. Nonetheless the telling remains hopeful. There's a gauze of mist over this story as it presages all of the shattered dreams, lives of young men lost and love that couldn't be.
What I loved about the character of Henry is that in spite of everything he never doubts his right to be happy and love whom he will:
"You grow up and everyone around you tells you how it's supposed to be, how it's gonna be, but then, for you, it's different. The question is, how different? And now I know. It isn't different at all. People fall in love. … Men with women, women with women, men with men. People."
***I recommend this wholeheartedly and that cover is swoon worthy.***
May 10, 2024
Lay Your Sleeping Head (newer version of Little Death, published in 1986) is the first book of gay mystery series set in San Francisco in the 80s.
The main character is Henry Rios, a very talented Latino criminal defense lawyer with a heart made of gold. After losing a case where his innocent client was sentenced to death, Henry’s struggling to see the point of his work when handsome Hugh Paris bursts into his life. Hugh is a mystery, a rich boy who's also a liar and a drug addict. Despite the different backgrounds, there is something in Hugh's eyes that Henry can’t stop thinking about. Soon, Henry is investigating a murder he only half believes in and is putting everyone around him in danger.
This is one of those books that start good only to get better and better.I wasn’t expecting so many things that happened here, I’m still in awe about how this ended-the author did us so dirty, I liked that character!! Henry is the type of person you can’t help but love. He always thinks the best of people without being too naïve and I can’t help but admire his sense of justice. You’ll spend half the time cheering on him and the other half worrying about him because he trusts people way too easily for my poor heart-but somehow he often chooses the good ones.
There is something about books set around the 80s that speaks to me. The fact that the original version was published during that time only makes it more genuine. You can’t help but feel along with the characters because that was the reality for queer people when the book was written. Michael Nava’s narrative is bold and in the face and I knew I wanted to read this series just because of that. I’ve said before that I’m tired of generic writing styles so this book and Two is a Pattern (set in the 90s, maybe that’s the trick) were both like breathing fresh air.
Overall, Henry Rios has the potential to be a new favorite gay thriller and you couldn’t imagine how excited that makes me feel. It’s not a mm romance or a romance-thriller, even if there is mm romance inside, so don't pick it up expecting a romance! I would highly recommend it if you like the genre and the historical period, it was very solid even if I wished the ending was a bit more romantic.
Thank you so much Shile for your amazing reviews that made me want to give this series a try!💛 You can check her review here.
‘The thing you have to ask yourself is this. If you’re in the business of saving people, are you going to let the next one die because you weren’t able to save the last one?’
The main character is Henry Rios, a very talented Latino criminal defense lawyer with a heart made of gold. After losing a case where his innocent client was sentenced to death, Henry’s struggling to see the point of his work when handsome Hugh Paris bursts into his life. Hugh is a mystery, a rich boy who's also a liar and a drug addict. Despite the different backgrounds, there is something in Hugh's eyes that Henry can’t stop thinking about. Soon, Henry is investigating a murder he only half believes in and is putting everyone around him in danger.
This is one of those books that start good only to get better and better.I wasn’t expecting so many things that happened here, I’m still in awe about how this ended-the author did us so dirty, I liked that character!! Henry is the type of person you can’t help but love. He always thinks the best of people without being too naïve and I can’t help but admire his sense of justice. You’ll spend half the time cheering on him and the other half worrying about him because he trusts people way too easily for my poor heart-but somehow he often chooses the good ones.
‘No guy has ever not wanted something from me.’
‘I didn’t say I didn’t want something from you,’ I said. ‘It’s just isn’t sex.’
There is something about books set around the 80s that speaks to me. The fact that the original version was published during that time only makes it more genuine. You can’t help but feel along with the characters because that was the reality for queer people when the book was written. Michael Nava’s narrative is bold and in the face and I knew I wanted to read this series just because of that. I’ve said before that I’m tired of generic writing styles so this book and Two is a Pattern (set in the 90s, maybe that’s the trick) were both like breathing fresh air.
Overall, Henry Rios has the potential to be a new favorite gay thriller and you couldn’t imagine how excited that makes me feel. It’s not a mm romance or a romance-thriller, even if there is mm romance inside, so don't pick it up expecting a romance! I would highly recommend it if you like the genre and the historical period, it was very solid even if I wished the ending was a bit more romantic.
Thank you so much Shile for your amazing reviews that made me want to give this series a try!💛 You can check her review here.
May 9, 2020
GODDAMMIT!!!!
(Throws book against the wall.)
NO.
(Picks it up and throws it against the other wall.)
JUST NO.
(Stomps on it.)
(Spits on it.)
(Kicks it.)
FUCK THIS FUCKING BOOK.
(Kicks it again.)
(Cries.)
I LOVED IT!
(Throws book against the wall.)
NO.
(Picks it up and throws it against the other wall.)
JUST NO.
(Stomps on it.)
(Spits on it.)
(Kicks it.)
FUCK THIS FUCKING BOOK.
(Kicks it again.)
(Cries.)
I LOVED IT!
February 10, 2021
4.5 stars
This book was definitely not what I was expecting. Yes, it's M/M, but I would consider more of a murder mystery and I simply loved it!
This book was definitely not what I was expecting. Yes, it's M/M, but I would consider more of a murder mystery and I simply loved it!
August 26, 2019
*4,5*
Great writing! Good plot. Quite good mystery. A realistic and touching romance. I will definitely put the whole series on my tbr list, but...
but can I complain? A bit?
- there are typos and I'm not even native "reader" ;) I usually don't notice typos.
- there are mistakes, switched names (Nick/Hugh), one mistake in describing the relatedness - this is a mystery, so this kind of mistakes are particularly undesirable
- don't read the blurb if you hate spoilers as much as I do
- don't read the afterword if this your first attempt to this series, there is a spoiler to the Goldenboy! I'm so angry right now I can't even tell :/
- the mobi content list is not complete, one chapter is missing and the table of contents ends with an epilogue, not with the afterword. Maybe it sounds silly, but yesterday I finished the last chapter (84% of the book), there was only the epilogue left, or so I thought!!! :DDD so I decided to postpone it, assuming that this might take some time. So, today I came from work happy to have some more time with this story and it was like one minute ;) because at 86% starts the afterword ;) with spoilers to The Goldenboy XDDD
Great writing! Good plot. Quite good mystery. A realistic and touching romance. I will definitely put the whole series on my tbr list, but...
but can I complain? A bit?
- there are typos and I'm not even native "reader" ;) I usually don't notice typos.
- there are mistakes, switched names (Nick/Hugh), one mistake in describing the relatedness - this is a mystery, so this kind of mistakes are particularly undesirable
- don't read the blurb if you hate spoilers as much as I do
- don't read the afterword if this your first attempt to this series, there is a spoiler to the Goldenboy! I'm so angry right now I can't even tell :/
- the mobi content list is not complete, one chapter is missing and the table of contents ends with an epilogue, not with the afterword. Maybe it sounds silly, but yesterday I finished the last chapter (84% of the book), there was only the epilogue left, or so I thought!!! :DDD so I decided to postpone it, assuming that this might take some time. So, today I came from work happy to have some more time with this story and it was like one minute ;) because at 86% starts the afterword ;) with spoilers to The Goldenboy XDDD
April 7, 2017
My first Nava
There is a certain 'openness' in Nava's writing style which matches his Henry Rios to perfection. So in a world full of obfuscations and shades of grey, where wrong blends in with pragmatic right, both Henry and the writing stand out just like Don Quixote did when he went to fight the windmills.
Because like any noir hero worthy of the name Rios has the making of that idealist fighting for justice (without tights and cape), doomed for disappointment because he looses as much as he wins.
Looking forward to more Rios - 6 more to go.
29th Lambda finalist - gay mystery
There is a certain 'openness' in Nava's writing style which matches his Henry Rios to perfection. So in a world full of obfuscations and shades of grey, where wrong blends in with pragmatic right, both Henry and the writing stand out just like Don Quixote did when he went to fight the windmills.
Because like any noir hero worthy of the name Rios has the making of that idealist fighting for justice (without tights and cape), doomed for disappointment because he looses as much as he wins.
Looking forward to more Rios - 6 more to go.
29th Lambda finalist - gay mystery
June 4, 2022
I was reluctant to start this series because, between being set in the 1980’s and not being a romance, I knew there was no guarantee the MC wouldn’t go through bad things and depressing times. Real life and the news are depressing enough at the moment, I didn’t feel like adding to it with my reading choices, so I chickened out when my BR group read this last week. Then I realized that if I didn’t feel like reading it with my support group friends, chances were low that I would ever read it alone. Long story short, here I am: I read it, I liked it a lot and it wasn’t as depressing as I feared. That’s not to say that it’s a light read or that the time the story is set in isn’t realistically portrayed, I only mean that I’d made it in a much bigger and depressing thing in my head. Sometimes expectations work in my favor, and this was one of those times.
I really liked the MC, Henry, and his voice; I also appreciated the chance to get to know him and his past better when . The mystery was very good, complex enough to not be predictable and the twists were surprising without coming completely out of nowhere, even though a couple of passages and circumstances could’ve been explained better.
I did find a bit unrealistic how It seemed a bit of an overkill for one book, but since this is first and foremost a mystery and not a romance, I’m not holding it against it.
I liked the writing style, it flows so easily that I didn’t even realize I’d read the whole book in one day until I finished it. It could’ve done with another round of proofreading to get rid of some typos and other minor details, but that’s my only real complaint.
Overall, a great start to the series, I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
----------------------------------
Thanks to mytherapists Linda, Rosa, and Shile for holding my hand even after I bailed on them. I promise I’ll stop for a while. 😂
I really liked the MC, Henry, and his voice; I also appreciated the chance to get to know him and his past better when . The mystery was very good, complex enough to not be predictable and the twists were surprising without coming completely out of nowhere, even though a couple of passages and circumstances could’ve been explained better.
I did find a bit unrealistic how It seemed a bit of an overkill for one book, but since this is first and foremost a mystery and not a romance, I’m not holding it against it.
I liked the writing style, it flows so easily that I didn’t even realize I’d read the whole book in one day until I finished it. It could’ve done with another round of proofreading to get rid of some typos and other minor details, but that’s my only real complaint.
Overall, a great start to the series, I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
----------------------------------
Thanks to my
August 5, 2017
Lay Your Sleeping Head
Michael Nava
Kórima Press, 2016 (originally published 2013)
Five stars
This book is gay noir fiction at its very best. Not since I started reading Marshall Thornton’s Nick Nowack series, set in Chicago in the early 1980s, have I come across a writer who so vividly captures the feeling of a moment in our history as it was experienced by gay men. Interestingly, Michael Nava’s “Lay Your Sleeping Head” takes place in the same time period, but in San Francisco and its adjacent peninsula. This in turn brings to mind Frank W. Butterfield’s wonderful series of Nick Williams mystery novels set San Francisco in the 1950s. But whereas Butterfield is full of light and love, Nava is all shadows and sadness.
But what shadows they are.
“The city was filled with such shadows, as if it were a living thing with secrets and troubled memories.”
Of course I hesitated, because I’m a romance kind of guy, and this book has been sitting on my Kindle for a while as I steeled myself to read it. I’m the same age as the author, and I’ve become very leery of unhappy endings. However, what I had read about Michael Nava’s Henry Rios books, particularly the re-edited first volume in the series, “Lay Your Sleeping Head,” made it too tempting. When I finished the book I was sad, but I wasn’t sorry.
“Lay Your Sleeping Head” is a love story that veers into tragedy that turns into a detective story about murder, madness and the dark underbelly of American capitalism. In its way, Nava’s perspective is as biased as Frank Butterfield’s evocation of Gilded Age San Franciscan wealth; but his elegant grittiness makes it very real.
“The windows, separated by pilasters, were heavily draped, apparently to block out the view of the twentieth century.”
Michael Nava’s writing is beautiful. Anyone who thinks mysteries can’t be literary needs to pay attention to his prose. Henry Rios is a remarkable character, a heroic anti-hero. Idealistic, romantic, a poster-boy for pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps, Henry is a Mexican boy from the Central Valley who found his way to Linden University (a thinly veiled avatar for Stanford) and set out to save the world as a public defender. He fled a hateful family and found salvation, ironically, at a university founded by wealth tainted with blood.
Hugh Paris (“he looked like a trust fund baby and sounded like a street queen”) is a self-defined “wastrel,” a term that, to me, manages to invoke all the Victorian literature I devoured in the 1970s and 80s; but which for Nava is used to trigger images of San Francisco’s Gilded Age, when robber barons’ mansions crowned Nob Hill. His family is horrific as well, but in a different way, and their badness is wrapped in the self-justification of wealth and power. There is a tragic quality to Hugh, a young man struggling to climb out of the pit of his own errors. He is no wounded innocent; unlike Henry he has done terrible things But we love him (or I did, anyway) as much as Henry does.
Every ancillary character, from San Francisco cops to members of Hugh’s family, are intensely drawn to achieve a purpose. There are small roles, but there are no walk-ons here. I particularly liked Grant Hancock. A childhood friend of Hugh’s, his role is complex and important. Part of his job in this book is to prove that not all rich people are bad. But Hancock becomes profoundly involved in the unravelling of the story, shedding light and casting shadows in equal parts.
I’m not sure I’ll be able to read the other Henry Rios books. There is one mention of “gay cancer” in this volume, and I can see where history will take Henry as he moves on into the 1980s. Having, like Michael Nava, survived the 1980s, and having relived them in Marshall Thornton’s “Boys Town” books, I’m not sure I can do it again. We’ll see. This was a remarkable novel. I suspect the others are as well.
Michael Nava
Kórima Press, 2016 (originally published 2013)
Five stars
This book is gay noir fiction at its very best. Not since I started reading Marshall Thornton’s Nick Nowack series, set in Chicago in the early 1980s, have I come across a writer who so vividly captures the feeling of a moment in our history as it was experienced by gay men. Interestingly, Michael Nava’s “Lay Your Sleeping Head” takes place in the same time period, but in San Francisco and its adjacent peninsula. This in turn brings to mind Frank W. Butterfield’s wonderful series of Nick Williams mystery novels set San Francisco in the 1950s. But whereas Butterfield is full of light and love, Nava is all shadows and sadness.
But what shadows they are.
“The city was filled with such shadows, as if it were a living thing with secrets and troubled memories.”
Of course I hesitated, because I’m a romance kind of guy, and this book has been sitting on my Kindle for a while as I steeled myself to read it. I’m the same age as the author, and I’ve become very leery of unhappy endings. However, what I had read about Michael Nava’s Henry Rios books, particularly the re-edited first volume in the series, “Lay Your Sleeping Head,” made it too tempting. When I finished the book I was sad, but I wasn’t sorry.
“Lay Your Sleeping Head” is a love story that veers into tragedy that turns into a detective story about murder, madness and the dark underbelly of American capitalism. In its way, Nava’s perspective is as biased as Frank Butterfield’s evocation of Gilded Age San Franciscan wealth; but his elegant grittiness makes it very real.
“The windows, separated by pilasters, were heavily draped, apparently to block out the view of the twentieth century.”
Michael Nava’s writing is beautiful. Anyone who thinks mysteries can’t be literary needs to pay attention to his prose. Henry Rios is a remarkable character, a heroic anti-hero. Idealistic, romantic, a poster-boy for pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps, Henry is a Mexican boy from the Central Valley who found his way to Linden University (a thinly veiled avatar for Stanford) and set out to save the world as a public defender. He fled a hateful family and found salvation, ironically, at a university founded by wealth tainted with blood.
Hugh Paris (“he looked like a trust fund baby and sounded like a street queen”) is a self-defined “wastrel,” a term that, to me, manages to invoke all the Victorian literature I devoured in the 1970s and 80s; but which for Nava is used to trigger images of San Francisco’s Gilded Age, when robber barons’ mansions crowned Nob Hill. His family is horrific as well, but in a different way, and their badness is wrapped in the self-justification of wealth and power. There is a tragic quality to Hugh, a young man struggling to climb out of the pit of his own errors. He is no wounded innocent; unlike Henry he has done terrible things But we love him (or I did, anyway) as much as Henry does.
Every ancillary character, from San Francisco cops to members of Hugh’s family, are intensely drawn to achieve a purpose. There are small roles, but there are no walk-ons here. I particularly liked Grant Hancock. A childhood friend of Hugh’s, his role is complex and important. Part of his job in this book is to prove that not all rich people are bad. But Hancock becomes profoundly involved in the unravelling of the story, shedding light and casting shadows in equal parts.
I’m not sure I’ll be able to read the other Henry Rios books. There is one mention of “gay cancer” in this volume, and I can see where history will take Henry as he moves on into the 1980s. Having, like Michael Nava, survived the 1980s, and having relived them in Marshall Thornton’s “Boys Town” books, I’m not sure I can do it again. We’ll see. This was a remarkable novel. I suspect the others are as well.
May 31, 2022
4.5 stars
Wow. What Nava did with this story was pretty impressive and extensive. He kept the core of the original plot in The Little Death and all the same characters, but he really expanded on it to a great deal. We get a lot more background on Henry, Hugh, even Grant and some of other side and bit characters. We get a lot more of the relationship between Henry and Hugh as well, much of it sweet, so it makes more sense why
The end result is that while the case and plot are essentially the same, the story is much more layered and extensive, and the ending less wrapped in a bow and more realistic. Some characters come out of this much more sympathetic than in the original; others less so. And while I understand why Henry That felt a little unnecessary, so I'm knocking off a half-star for that. LOL.
I'm glad I finally read this and kicking myself that I waited so long. But the original cover for this screamed "contemporary romance," which is the very last thing this series is, so assumptions were made about the direction he was taking these revisions. I'm glad he didn't change that aspect, at least, though I was very surprised to read on-page sex scenes. I could have done without the
Thom Rivera, aka Gomez Pugh, does a great job as Henry. I know one person can only do so many voices, but it was weird to hear the PsyCop voices recast here, lol. That's an inevitable weirdness you just can't avoid, but he does a stellar job here nonetheless despite all that.
Wow. What Nava did with this story was pretty impressive and extensive. He kept the core of the original plot in The Little Death and all the same characters, but he really expanded on it to a great deal. We get a lot more background on Henry, Hugh, even Grant and some of other side and bit characters. We get a lot more of the relationship between Henry and Hugh as well, much of it sweet, so it makes more sense why
The end result is that while the case and plot are essentially the same, the story is much more layered and extensive, and the ending less wrapped in a bow and more realistic. Some characters come out of this much more sympathetic than in the original; others less so. And while I understand why Henry That felt a little unnecessary, so I'm knocking off a half-star for that. LOL.
I'm glad I finally read this and kicking myself that I waited so long. But the original cover for this screamed "contemporary romance," which is the very last thing this series is, so assumptions were made about the direction he was taking these revisions. I'm glad he didn't change that aspect, at least, though I was very surprised to read on-page sex scenes. I could have done without the
Thom Rivera, aka Gomez Pugh, does a great job as Henry. I know one person can only do so many voices, but it was weird to hear the PsyCop voices recast here, lol. That's an inevitable weirdness you just can't avoid, but he does a stellar job here nonetheless despite all that.
July 6, 2024
4.5 ⭐️
This was so good! I was utterly amazed how this story sucked me in.
The story telling, the time setting, the main character, the mystery - a loved all of it.
And yes, it’s very sad, so don’t read this if you expect a typical romance.
Also, great narration (audiobook).
I’m excited to continue reading this series!
This was so good! I was utterly amazed how this story sucked me in.
The story telling, the time setting, the main character, the mystery - a loved all of it.
And yes, it’s very sad, so don’t read this if you expect a typical romance.
Also, great narration (audiobook).
I’m excited to continue reading this series!
April 11, 2024
Other readers were right-this book leaves me with a sad, melancholy feeling. Maybe a bit mad too, because that ending!
But it was so, so good! Superb writing and a very interesting, engaging crime story. Hard to put this one down and I’m certain I will read more in this series!
I loved Henry from the first moment. I loved his approach to his work, how he viewed the world surrounding him. How he could not work when justice wasn’t served but prejudice was. Yes, he was sceptical, specially about the rich men’s lives, but being of Mexican descent, he had every right to be in the San Francisco area in the early 80’s. But he was a bright defence lawyer who tried to shake off his past, and when he meets Hugh Paris, a former drugs addict and boy from the street, but heir to one of the richest families in town, he recognises something. They fall fast and hard for each other, and it surprised me how much I didn’t care, since I usually really hate Insta love. The way they connected though, their feelings of loneliness that they saw in one another, the knowing of not belonging. Rejected by the people who should love you unconditionally. That’s what they found with each other. Was there trust between them? No. But certainly hope. Hope for a future together. I loved their scenes together, their fast falling in love felt very natural.
But unfortunately their romance doesn’t last long, and when Hugh is found dead by what seemed was an overdose, Henry just refuses to believe Hugh did that to himself and he goes to search for answers.
It’s the early 80’s, and homophobia is still all around, and about to get worse when there is talk about ‘gay cancer’ killing the homosexuals. Henry’s best friend, Adam, is a good example of how life was back then, how gay men were looked at and treated. Grant (one of Hugh’s former friends) came out and got fired. I’d like to think things have improved since then, but I’m not so naive as to think these things aren’t happening anymore.
I believe the overall sad feeling had to do with Hugh’s and Henry’s past. With how deeply Henry grieved for Hugh, how I would have wished for them to have a chance. I was left feeling sad because of that ending, where I would have wished for a second chance at love for Henry. I mean, seriously?! There’s moments in books I feel like throwing my e-reader against the wall, well, this was one of those.
But it was so, so good! Superb writing and a very interesting, engaging crime story. Hard to put this one down and I’m certain I will read more in this series!
I loved Henry from the first moment. I loved his approach to his work, how he viewed the world surrounding him. How he could not work when justice wasn’t served but prejudice was. Yes, he was sceptical, specially about the rich men’s lives, but being of Mexican descent, he had every right to be in the San Francisco area in the early 80’s. But he was a bright defence lawyer who tried to shake off his past, and when he meets Hugh Paris, a former drugs addict and boy from the street, but heir to one of the richest families in town, he recognises something. They fall fast and hard for each other, and it surprised me how much I didn’t care, since I usually really hate Insta love. The way they connected though, their feelings of loneliness that they saw in one another, the knowing of not belonging. Rejected by the people who should love you unconditionally. That’s what they found with each other. Was there trust between them? No. But certainly hope. Hope for a future together. I loved their scenes together, their fast falling in love felt very natural.
But unfortunately their romance doesn’t last long, and when Hugh is found dead by what seemed was an overdose, Henry just refuses to believe Hugh did that to himself and he goes to search for answers.
It’s the early 80’s, and homophobia is still all around, and about to get worse when there is talk about ‘gay cancer’ killing the homosexuals. Henry’s best friend, Adam, is a good example of how life was back then, how gay men were looked at and treated. Grant (one of Hugh’s former friends) came out and got fired. I’d like to think things have improved since then, but I’m not so naive as to think these things aren’t happening anymore.
I believe the overall sad feeling had to do with Hugh’s and Henry’s past. With how deeply Henry grieved for Hugh, how I would have wished for them to have a chance. I was left feeling sad because of that ending, where I would have wished for a second chance at love for Henry. I mean, seriously?! There’s moments in books I feel like throwing my e-reader against the wall, well, this was one of those.
March 15, 2020
I enjoyed this mystery. When I first started reading I thought it was going in a different direction and I was pleasantly surprised when it didn't. As I read on I thought I might have to read book 2 for its continuation because I didn't think there was enough time to tie it all together.
After finishing I still feel that way. Everything was resolved but I still feel as though it was really rushed. Maybe they give us some more information about what went on after he confronted the killer, I'd hate if it was left in limbo like that.
After finishing I still feel that way. Everything was resolved but I still feel as though it was really rushed. Maybe they give us some more information about what went on after he confronted the killer, I'd hate if it was left in limbo like that.
May 20, 2020
I have a thing for this certain style of book. “Gritty” seems too simplistic and pedestrian to describe them. “Noir” sort of gives you an idea, but it’s not completely accurate either. “Manly” entirely misses the point.
But these books - like the hamburger book and the entire series about sandwiches - are a sort of mini-obsession. They’re difficult to find, easily done poorly, and a sort of odd subset of the mystery/detective novel not widely circulated within my reading community.
Thankfully, I have suanne. She got me started - with the hamburger book - and then she had me read the sandwich series. And now here.
And this was bold. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a lawyer. I spent fifteen years as an assistant public defender. There are few things I loathe as I loathe lawyer fiction. Lawyer romances tend to make me throw up in my mouth. I cannot watch an episode of any of the fictionalized crime shows or courtroom dramas my husband used to enjoy without objecting out loud and explaining to him how the illegally obtained evidence would be suppressed/there’d be a mistrial/literally everything on the show was stupid and wrong. It is, in general, excruciating to experience some hamfisted author who doesn’t know a not guilty from a no contest trample through all that I hold sacred with their “and then I called the judge and told him....” bullshit.
So when I got to about page five of this book I texted to suanne. I’m an asshole. This isn’t news to y’all. It isn’t news to her. And she recommends a book to me (already living dangerously) and the protagonist is a lawyer (maybe we’d be okay if he did contracts or estates and trusts) and then he’s an APD working death penalty cases. The likelihood of error was nearly the size of the Grand Canyon. I googled the author. I made sure he knew his stuff. And I congratulated suanne for unimaginable bravery.
And then suddenly I was at 37% and 64%, and I couldn’t put it down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I bought book two. I whispered aloud to myself (amongst the ultimate signs I’m in book heaven) - little filthy swear words and snickers.
The appeal in this form of story is the stripped down writing that tells a story without “tricks.” I guess it feels “easier” to evoke emotion with flowery prose and enormous detail. I get resentful quickly when I feel the author used embellishment to create the illusion of emotion or of a story or of reader connection. So to find those rare authors who weave a spell without the smoke and mirrors? That is, for me, authentic story-telling in its purest form.
I wish i knew the right words to describe this kind of book. Perhaps I’ll say “immensely cleanly satisfying” and leave it at that.
But these books - like the hamburger book and the entire series about sandwiches - are a sort of mini-obsession. They’re difficult to find, easily done poorly, and a sort of odd subset of the mystery/detective novel not widely circulated within my reading community.
Thankfully, I have suanne. She got me started - with the hamburger book - and then she had me read the sandwich series. And now here.
And this was bold. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a lawyer. I spent fifteen years as an assistant public defender. There are few things I loathe as I loathe lawyer fiction. Lawyer romances tend to make me throw up in my mouth. I cannot watch an episode of any of the fictionalized crime shows or courtroom dramas my husband used to enjoy without objecting out loud and explaining to him how the illegally obtained evidence would be suppressed/there’d be a mistrial/literally everything on the show was stupid and wrong. It is, in general, excruciating to experience some hamfisted author who doesn’t know a not guilty from a no contest trample through all that I hold sacred with their “and then I called the judge and told him....” bullshit.
So when I got to about page five of this book I texted to suanne. I’m an asshole. This isn’t news to y’all. It isn’t news to her. And she recommends a book to me (already living dangerously) and the protagonist is a lawyer (maybe we’d be okay if he did contracts or estates and trusts) and then he’s an APD working death penalty cases. The likelihood of error was nearly the size of the Grand Canyon. I googled the author. I made sure he knew his stuff. And I congratulated suanne for unimaginable bravery.
And then suddenly I was at 37% and 64%, and I couldn’t put it down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I bought book two. I whispered aloud to myself (amongst the ultimate signs I’m in book heaven) - little filthy swear words and snickers.
The appeal in this form of story is the stripped down writing that tells a story without “tricks.” I guess it feels “easier” to evoke emotion with flowery prose and enormous detail. I get resentful quickly when I feel the author used embellishment to create the illusion of emotion or of a story or of reader connection. So to find those rare authors who weave a spell without the smoke and mirrors? That is, for me, authentic story-telling in its purest form.
I wish i knew the right words to describe this kind of book. Perhaps I’ll say “immensely cleanly satisfying” and leave it at that.
April 8, 2020
Audiobook reviewI have so many feelings. This book utterly enraptured me. I loved everything about it, the gentle pacing, the plot and characters and I loved the narration. Do not be fooled by this book. It might start out and masquerading as a sweet romance novel, but it’s anything but. There are many twists and turns that will play with your emotions in the best and worst way, and in the end you are left as an emotionally wrung out puddle, desperate for more.
This book is set in the early 80’s where Henry Rios was a criminal defence lawyer who just lost a death penalty case where his client was innocent. It was the last straw that broke his proverbial back and he realised he needed a change. That change came in the form of a beautiful white boy (figuratively speaking, the man was 26) in a great deal of trouble legal and otherwise. The sparks fly between them from that first meeting in an interrogation cell, and with every meeting they get more and more involved. But Hugh is troubled, he has a lot of secrets and lies and a fantastic tale about abuse and murder, addiction and solicitation. He’s on a mission to bring the man who’s responsible for his family’s deaths down.
The romance between Henry and Hugh had all the hallmarks of insta-love. They had an instant connection and recognition, they were quick to fall for each other. But at the same time it didn’t feel like it. It felt like they belonged together, they complimented each other. Neither man perfect, both haunted in different ways – but they had this inherent understanding of the other. They quieted each other’s ghosts.
Henry was flawed, human. We meet him when he’s down, watch him stumble, fall and rise again – only to start the cycle over again. There was no rose coloured shine near this book. It was gritty, emotional without being dramatic. It’s a book everyone loving gay mysteries should give a try, because I don’t think it gets better than this.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to read the blurb before jumping into a book, and sometimes it’s better not to in order to get the full impact of the story. This time I both I didn’t read the blurb, and I did. I saw recommendations and raving reviews and ratings and figured I needed to know what the hype was about, as for the blurb I figured I would know what the book was about soon enough and to jump into it with an open mind. By pure chance, when I was about a third into the book I did read the blurb. And I’m both sad and glad that I did. Glad to know what to expect so that it wouldn’t utterly destroy me (especially since I’m listening to the book at work and people might wonder why I’m sobbing away rivalling a crying baby), at the same time the events didn’t have the same shock-value as it might have had, had I not read it.
Thom Rivera was the perfect choice of narrator for this book. He was absolutely fantastic in every way imaginable – and I’m not exaggerating even a little bit. The pacing, enunciation was spot on, not to mention he had a wonderful and pleasant voice, one I’d happily listen to for days on end. Rivera captured Hugh’s sassiness and flirty nature, just as he captured Henry’s beaten down demeanour and fascination with Hugh. He has many different voices to distinguish between the characters, they are consistent and match with the character’s personality. I also have to say his female voices are also very credible and well done. He’s a narrator I want to listen to many, many times more.
After listening to this book I am sure of one thing; I definitely need to listen to the next book as soon as possible. I might be slightly addicted. Highly recommended.
A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
August 15, 2023
I loved this first Henry Rios book. I knew I was going to suffer with this one due to the time period, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I like Henry character a lot and the book is very well written. I suspected who was behind the whole thing from early on, but I don't mind, the mystery, though enjoyable, isn't what kept me reading. Henry did. Despite that, I need a break before reading the next one, I closed the book with a sad feeling and I need time to recover.
May 17, 2022
Love and sex pre-AIDS
shouldn’t be this sad. Gorgeous,
tender mystery.
shouldn’t be this sad. Gorgeous,
tender mystery.
March 28, 2017
Michael Nava wrote the Henry Rios mysteries from 1986 - 2001. They continue to be one of my favorite murder mystery series. Rios is an attorney, Latino, and an out gay man - a unique combination for mysteries today much less in the 80's and 90's. Nava is an attorney by trade which enabled him to infuse a reality in Rios that mixes well with his smooth writing style. Lay Your Sleeping Head is not an 8th book. Rather Nava took his first book, The Little Death and reimagined it - 30 years later. If you're new to Nava's Henry Rios, you might want to read The Little Death first and then read Lay Your Sleeping Head. If you're a purist. Or you just might want to dive right into Lay Your Sleeping Head. I loved it. I missed Henry and appreciated the "deepening of themes" as stated in the book description. Now I want to re-read the series again. A brilliant idea from one of my favorite authors. 5 out of 5.
February 13, 2024
This book made me feel lonely. It was sad in a way I'm not used to. It was intelligent without making me feel dumb. It was a love story, a history lesson, a murder mystery and a legal drama all rolled into one thought provoking story. With 8 books in this series, it looks like I'll be hanging out with Henry Rios for a while.
November 26, 2021
4,5*
Libro incredibile
https://www.letturesalepepe.com/recen...
Libro incredibile
https://www.letturesalepepe.com/recen...
May 28, 2022
This book is so good.
This book is so sad.
This book is taut, twisty, turny, terrible, terrific.
I don't want to go much beyond what is contained in the blurb, since it's both convoluted and we quickly get into spoiler territory. I will say that I appreciate that Henry Rios is a (burned out, disenchanted) lawyer rather than a detective, and that the key to the mystery lies in a rather obscure legal point rather than, as is so often the case, rogue detectiving or good cop, bad cop antics. The resolution is both satisfying and unsatisfying -- the truth mostly revealed but justice more denied than done -- in a way that feels very real.
Without going into plot, then, what can I say about Lay Your Sleeping Head?
It is a time capsule: a revised version of The Little Death, first published in 1986 but set in the summer of 1982. Lay Your Sleeping Head captures a time on the precipice, a very "the long summer" feeling. My blood ran cold at the descriptions of unprotected penetrative sex between the two MCs, one of whom was a heroin addict and sex worker before getting clean a few months before. The summer of 1982 was exactly one year after the CDC's first reporting of a rare lung infection among a handful of previously healthy gay men; six months after the term "gay cancer" started entering the lexicon; the same summer that the first pamphlet on "safer sex" was published by a gay activist organization in San Francisco; and two months before the term AIDs was first officially used.* There is only a peripheral mention of the "gay cancer" in the text, but it is hovering like a dark cloud on the horizon and, for me at least, inextricably colored the reading experience.
Also dating Lay Your Sleeping Head is the fact that Henry Rios's best friend is an unapologetic homophobe. An out gay character being best friends with a man who gives voice to his repulsion over all things gay definitely feels very 1980s to me. (In the worst way, it should go without saying.) There is the sense that homophobia is the default setting, and that expecting your best friend not to tune in to that setting is expecting too much. I'm not naive; I realize this is the case for far too many gay and queer people even today. But it's jarring. And as much as anything else, this detail situates us both temporally and in terms of how Henry Rios understands and navigates the world.
At the same time, in some ways Lay Your Sleeping Head feels very ahead of its time. The cynical, disillusioned take on the legal system and the prison-industrial complex, on the ways the rich and powerful evade accountability and reproduce their own advantages and untouchability, on the way being a brown gay man is not the same as being a white gay man -- all of this feels very current. I haven't read The Little Death, so I don't know what was revised and updated between that and Lay Your Sleeping Head. But none of this feels shoehorned in: it all reads as integral to Henry Rios, rather than something added in after-the-fact. It feels necessary to and constitutive of his character, and it makes him one of the most interesting crime/suspense protagonists I've come across.
But what really hit me hardest about Lay Your Sleeping Head is how beautifully it captures the instant, ephemeral, yet deep and real connection between Henry and Hugh. The chapters in which these two damaged, lonely men meet and fall in love are incredibly moving. They do not fully know or trust each other, yet they are helpless to resist -- they don't want to resist. It is headlong, gorgeous and, knowing what we know, heartbreaking.
I will definitely read on in this series, but this is not going to be one I rush through. There's a bumpy road ahead.
Ugh, I need a hug. 😪
* Source here: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overvi...
This book is so sad.
This book is taut, twisty, turny, terrible, terrific.
I don't want to go much beyond what is contained in the blurb, since it's both convoluted and we quickly get into spoiler territory. I will say that I appreciate that Henry Rios is a (burned out, disenchanted) lawyer rather than a detective, and that the key to the mystery lies in a rather obscure legal point rather than, as is so often the case, rogue detectiving or good cop, bad cop antics. The resolution is both satisfying and unsatisfying -- the truth mostly revealed but justice more denied than done -- in a way that feels very real.
Without going into plot, then, what can I say about Lay Your Sleeping Head?
It is a time capsule: a revised version of The Little Death, first published in 1986 but set in the summer of 1982. Lay Your Sleeping Head captures a time on the precipice, a very "the long summer" feeling. My blood ran cold at the descriptions of unprotected penetrative sex between the two MCs, one of whom was a heroin addict and sex worker before getting clean a few months before. The summer of 1982 was exactly one year after the CDC's first reporting of a rare lung infection among a handful of previously healthy gay men; six months after the term "gay cancer" started entering the lexicon; the same summer that the first pamphlet on "safer sex" was published by a gay activist organization in San Francisco; and two months before the term AIDs was first officially used.* There is only a peripheral mention of the "gay cancer" in the text, but it is hovering like a dark cloud on the horizon and, for me at least, inextricably colored the reading experience.
Also dating Lay Your Sleeping Head is the fact that Henry Rios's best friend is an unapologetic homophobe. An out gay character being best friends with a man who gives voice to his repulsion over all things gay definitely feels very 1980s to me. (In the worst way, it should go without saying.) There is the sense that homophobia is the default setting, and that expecting your best friend not to tune in to that setting is expecting too much. I'm not naive; I realize this is the case for far too many gay and queer people even today. But it's jarring. And as much as anything else, this detail situates us both temporally and in terms of how Henry Rios understands and navigates the world.
At the same time, in some ways Lay Your Sleeping Head feels very ahead of its time. The cynical, disillusioned take on the legal system and the prison-industrial complex, on the ways the rich and powerful evade accountability and reproduce their own advantages and untouchability, on the way being a brown gay man is not the same as being a white gay man -- all of this feels very current. I haven't read The Little Death, so I don't know what was revised and updated between that and Lay Your Sleeping Head. But none of this feels shoehorned in: it all reads as integral to Henry Rios, rather than something added in after-the-fact. It feels necessary to and constitutive of his character, and it makes him one of the most interesting crime/suspense protagonists I've come across.
But what really hit me hardest about Lay Your Sleeping Head is how beautifully it captures the instant, ephemeral, yet deep and real connection between Henry and Hugh. The chapters in which these two damaged, lonely men meet and fall in love are incredibly moving. They do not fully know or trust each other, yet they are helpless to resist -- they don't want to resist. It is headlong, gorgeous and, knowing what we know, heartbreaking.
I will definitely read on in this series, but this is not going to be one I rush through. There's a bumpy road ahead.
Ugh, I need a hug. 😪
* Source here: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overvi...
January 15, 2023
Voto: 4,5/5
Ammetto che mi aspettavo che mi piacesse di più, che mi tenesse incollata alla lettura tanto da finirlo in un attimo e invece mi ha coinvolto meno di quanto sperato, più per colpa della parte iniziale.
Sarà che a me Hugh Paris stava sul ca**o. XD
Ma passando lo scoglio del 30% poi la storia inizia a entrare nel vivo e ci sono un sacco di cose che in realtà mi sono piaciute.
1) il fatto che Henry sia messicano (ragà, in sta cosa ci sguazzo da morì).
2) tutta la parte di avvocatura (si sente proprio che Nava ha fatto questo di mestiere)
3) l'ambientazione (1982, l'anno mio. AMO... e odio, al tempo stesso, perché qui si parla della parte cupa degli '80s).
Nava sa benissimo di che cosa parla, le sue digressioni - anche storiche - su ciò che è accaduto in quegli anni lo dicono chiaramente e sono, penso, uno dei punti forza della sua scrittura. L'altro è di certo tutta la parte che riguarda l'avvocatura, che viene spiegata benissimo e in maniera chiara anche per una come me che in Diritto ed Economia aveva 6 per pietà del prof XD
Interessante e doloroso tutto il percorso che Henry fa nell'essere gay e messicano in quegli anni, in cui discriminazione e razzismo sono davvero molto, molto forti e ci sono nette distinzioni tra ricchi e poveri.
Però penso che la cosa che più mi abbia fatto male sia stato un certo passaggio, durante un dialogo tra Henry e Grant, in cui si parla di questo "nuovo cancro gay che viene da New York e si trasmette per via sessuale".
Ragazzi, è il 1982 e noi sappiamo benissimo di cosa stanno parlando, ma loro non lo sanno ancora. E questa cosa mi ha trasmesso un'angoscia che non potete immaginare. :/
Tanto che prima di arrivare a quella frase, a un certo punto ho pensato: "Mh... questi non usano i preservativi, e come fanno con l'A... AH. Già."
Da lettrice/appassionata di genere crime, ci sono state delle cose che avevo sospetto e altre no, ma ciò non toglie che ci sono rimasta malissimo per il finale. Malissimo proprio. So che la serie di Rios è lunga otto libri, ma a me il presonaggio di Grant piaceva un sacchissimo ç_ç era un cucciolo, con Henry ce lo vedevo un sacco bene...
E niente.
Never a joy.
Dopotutto, è un noir.
E nei noir la joy al protagonista te la puoi anche sognare XD
Però mi ha lasciato addosso una grande curiosità di scoprire quali saranno i prossimi casi di Rios.
Ammetto che mi aspettavo che mi piacesse di più, che mi tenesse incollata alla lettura tanto da finirlo in un attimo e invece mi ha coinvolto meno di quanto sperato, più per colpa della parte iniziale.
Sarà che a me Hugh Paris stava sul ca**o. XD
Ma passando lo scoglio del 30% poi la storia inizia a entrare nel vivo e ci sono un sacco di cose che in realtà mi sono piaciute.
1) il fatto che Henry sia messicano (ragà, in sta cosa ci sguazzo da morì).
2) tutta la parte di avvocatura (si sente proprio che Nava ha fatto questo di mestiere)
3) l'ambientazione (1982, l'anno mio. AMO... e odio, al tempo stesso, perché qui si parla della parte cupa degli '80s).
Nava sa benissimo di che cosa parla, le sue digressioni - anche storiche - su ciò che è accaduto in quegli anni lo dicono chiaramente e sono, penso, uno dei punti forza della sua scrittura. L'altro è di certo tutta la parte che riguarda l'avvocatura, che viene spiegata benissimo e in maniera chiara anche per una come me che in Diritto ed Economia aveva 6 per pietà del prof XD
Interessante e doloroso tutto il percorso che Henry fa nell'essere gay e messicano in quegli anni, in cui discriminazione e razzismo sono davvero molto, molto forti e ci sono nette distinzioni tra ricchi e poveri.
Però penso che la cosa che più mi abbia fatto male sia stato un certo passaggio, durante un dialogo tra Henry e Grant, in cui si parla di questo "nuovo cancro gay che viene da New York e si trasmette per via sessuale".
Ragazzi, è il 1982 e noi sappiamo benissimo di cosa stanno parlando, ma loro non lo sanno ancora. E questa cosa mi ha trasmesso un'angoscia che non potete immaginare. :/
Tanto che prima di arrivare a quella frase, a un certo punto ho pensato: "Mh... questi non usano i preservativi, e come fanno con l'A... AH. Già."
Da lettrice/appassionata di genere crime, ci sono state delle cose che avevo sospetto e altre no, ma ciò non toglie che ci sono rimasta malissimo per il finale. Malissimo proprio. So che la serie di Rios è lunga otto libri, ma a me il presonaggio di Grant piaceva un sacchissimo ç_ç era un cucciolo, con Henry ce lo vedevo un sacco bene...
E niente.
Never a joy.
Dopotutto, è un noir.
E nei noir la joy al protagonista te la puoi anche sognare XD
Però mi ha lasciato addosso una grande curiosità di scoprire quali saranno i prossimi casi di Rios.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2020
So, for this one, I have to provide a bit of context first.
For starters, I'm someone who rarely (as in once in a looooooooooooooooong while) rereads novels. There are exceptions and this book (as well as the entire series) happens to be one of them.
Originally published in 1986 with the title The Little Death, I didn't get around to reading and falling in love with it until late 2005. Which then prompted my sojourn through the entire Henry Rios series. Rinse and repeat in early 2016.
Sometime last year, I heard that Michael Nava had decided to revise all of the Henry Rios books and re-release them. So I got this one and the new (!) second book (Carved in Bone), but ended up putting them to the side because I wasn't quite ready to go back into the series.
Fast-forward to this month when my curiosity finally pushed me to start a-readin'...
Let me be clear: Lay Your Sleeping Head and The Little Death are the same book. In the sense that the main plot points are identical. So, yes, if you've read one, you've already read the other version. HOWEVUH, it didn't bother me because of the key differences in the details of the two books. Diving back into this series felt wonderful. Nava's writing is so rich that readers have no other choice but to yield to it.
IMO, the Henry in this novel is softer or, at the v. least, he allows himself to be more vulnerable. Especially with Hugh. Their relationship might be brief, but both men get so emotionally involved that it's obvious why Henry was so determined to find out the truth no matter the cost.
Since the book is set in 1982 San Francisco, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the dark specter of AIDS in the queer community has begun to make itself known. My heart broke a few times as some things come to light regarding some of Henry's acquaintances.
One thing I must point out is that, despite the queer themes and even Henry/Hugh, this is not an M/M romance. Instead, it's a mystery centered around gay men. Like each of the Henry Rios books, this one explores an aspect of gay life in the 1980s. And I'm going to leave it at that since it'd be a huge spoiler to discuss it any further.
TL;DR: A fantastic revision to an already great book. I found myself liking the Henry in this book vs. the original version. Perhaps it's because, to me, this book felt more attuned to 21st century sensibilities. The gorgeous writing (even while discussing v. dry topics such as laws about inheritance) enhances both Henry's personal life as well as the larger mystery.
Once again, I must mention that this isn't an M/M romance, but an inky black noir with a gay protagonist. So this is less a book to pick up if you want some intense romance and more a novel to get lost in if you're rarin' for a good mystery.
August 21, 2022
WOAH. This book.
This book is just stunning. Quality writing. It's a shame honestly that a novel such as this should be confined to the niche of MM when a) this is not a romance b) this should very much be a mainstream mystery. Henry Rios is as great a character as many (straight) ones.
I had many things to say while I was thinking about this review, but now I can't think of anything. In short, this is a great novel. The prose is amazing, and there are passages that I've read so many times over, just because.
Henry Rios is an amazing character, and I can't wait to get to know him even better. But what's most incredible about this novel, is that I believe deep down this is a reflection on the criminal justice system, on justice in general, or, more likely, on injustice, and what it means. That's why I believe I prefer the Italian title chosen by Triskell Edizioni, "Il cielo protegga gli innocenti" (Heaven protects the innocents), taken from Hugh's tattoo, and incredibly poignant, even more than the new English title, imho. Well played, Triskell. I have read the book in the original but I can only assume the translation is good.
This novel is incredibly hard as well. It's also a reflection on a broken life, a life that's only going to get a semblance of justice (and if, at that) after it's ended. Hugh broke my heart, and his death, although seems unavoidable, it pretty much was, and it seemed so... realistic, as well. The verisimilitude of the plot made it all more difficult to digest.
Also, an incredible testimony of how it was to live as an out gay man of colour in the pre-AIDS era, before the world and the queer community changed as drastically as they have, and took the shape they have today.
Stunning, stunning, stunning.
(My only qualm would be concerning
This book is just stunning. Quality writing. It's a shame honestly that a novel such as this should be confined to the niche of MM when a) this is not a romance b) this should very much be a mainstream mystery. Henry Rios is as great a character as many (straight) ones.
I had many things to say while I was thinking about this review, but now I can't think of anything. In short, this is a great novel. The prose is amazing, and there are passages that I've read so many times over, just because.
Henry Rios is an amazing character, and I can't wait to get to know him even better. But what's most incredible about this novel, is that I believe deep down this is a reflection on the criminal justice system, on justice in general, or, more likely, on injustice, and what it means. That's why I believe I prefer the Italian title chosen by Triskell Edizioni, "Il cielo protegga gli innocenti" (Heaven protects the innocents), taken from Hugh's tattoo, and incredibly poignant, even more than the new English title, imho. Well played, Triskell. I have read the book in the original but I can only assume the translation is good.
This novel is incredibly hard as well. It's also a reflection on a broken life, a life that's only going to get a semblance of justice (and if, at that) after it's ended. Hugh broke my heart, and his death, although seems unavoidable, it pretty much was, and it seemed so... realistic, as well. The verisimilitude of the plot made it all more difficult to digest.
Also, an incredible testimony of how it was to live as an out gay man of colour in the pre-AIDS era, before the world and the queer community changed as drastically as they have, and took the shape they have today.
Stunning, stunning, stunning.
(My only qualm would be concerning
July 15, 2021
This is a "re-imagination" of Michael Nava's 1986 "The Little Death" the first of the novels featuring his gay Latino lawyer Henry Rios.
Although I have read most in the series, this one is new to me. Can't judge what the original novel was like but in this revamped version, it stands as a fine addition alongside all the others.
Henry falls in love with a young drug addicted hustler with a very complicated past and a family history which reaches to fame and fortune and the murky past and present of the city of Linden, where Rios lives and practices.
And when this new found love (Hugh Paris) is discovered dead (supposedly from an overdose), Rios becomes obsessed in uncovering the real facts behind Hugh's demise and the truth about the startling accusations he made about his wealthy grandfather.
As usual Nava provides an exciting plotline with fine writing and well developed characters. Plenty of surprises and never a dull moment in this crisp tale of intrigue. Perhaps a bit more sex than usual but why not as Henry gets the chance to explore his sexual side for a change with his brief but passionate affair with the sexy young Hugh. And as the setting is the mid-1980s, Henry is still battling the homophobia and bias in the professional ranks and in society.
Note to the publisher. Would be nice to get a more efficient proofreader as my copy pissed me off with the amount of grammar errors - far too many misspellings and words missing in sentences. Didn't spoil the overall enjoyment of an excellent novel but sloppiness like this is really annoying.
Although I have read most in the series, this one is new to me. Can't judge what the original novel was like but in this revamped version, it stands as a fine addition alongside all the others.
Henry falls in love with a young drug addicted hustler with a very complicated past and a family history which reaches to fame and fortune and the murky past and present of the city of Linden, where Rios lives and practices.
And when this new found love (Hugh Paris) is discovered dead (supposedly from an overdose), Rios becomes obsessed in uncovering the real facts behind Hugh's demise and the truth about the startling accusations he made about his wealthy grandfather.
As usual Nava provides an exciting plotline with fine writing and well developed characters. Plenty of surprises and never a dull moment in this crisp tale of intrigue. Perhaps a bit more sex than usual but why not as Henry gets the chance to explore his sexual side for a change with his brief but passionate affair with the sexy young Hugh. And as the setting is the mid-1980s, Henry is still battling the homophobia and bias in the professional ranks and in society.
Note to the publisher. Would be nice to get a more efficient proofreader as my copy pissed me off with the amount of grammar errors - far too many misspellings and words missing in sentences. Didn't spoil the overall enjoyment of an excellent novel but sloppiness like this is really annoying.
November 20, 2023
Thoughts to come
March 24, 2025
3.75 stars 🌟
This was surprisingly good and very underrated. We need to hype it up more. Would recommend.
Reviewed in March 2025.
DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.
How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite
This was surprisingly good and very underrated. We need to hype it up more. Would recommend.
Reviewed in March 2025.
DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.
How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite
March 26, 2018
When I first heard that M. Nava wrote a new version of The Little Death I was hesitant to read it.
I'm glad I didn't listen to my skeptic inner voice, because Lay Your Sleeping Head is a better version of a wonderful book
I'm glad I didn't listen to my skeptic inner voice, because Lay Your Sleeping Head is a better version of a wonderful book
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