What do you think?
Rate this book
Distortion
Mick Harris is disillusioned and disconnected from the world. Having come out after his glory days as the songwriter/bass player for metal act, Palace, he's all but given up on his dream of having a meaningful relationship, of leading a ''normal'' life. When a stranger calls to inform him that an old flame has died, leaving Mick's daughter alone in a hostile small Southern town, he sees an opportunity to build a meaningful connection with the girl. Of course, she is resistant to meeting her father. In fact, she hates him for having been absent her entire life, but the people close to her are dying horribly.
280 pages, Paperback
Published May 12, 2018
3 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Lee Thomas
166 books87 followersLEE THOMAS is the Bram Stoker Award and the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of
STAINED
,
ASH STREET
,
THE DUST OF WONDERLAND
, and
THE GERMAN
. Recent and forthcoming titles include
LIKE LIGHT FOR FLIES
, and
BUTCHER’S ROAD
. Forthcoming titles include DOWN ON YOUR KNEES (Oct 2016), and DISTORTION (May 2017).
ADDITIONAL TITLES:
TORN
IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED
FOCUS
THE BLACK SUN SET
CRISIS
PARISH DAMNED
ADDITIONAL TITLES:
TORN
IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED
FOCUS
THE BLACK SUN SET
CRISIS
PARISH DAMNED
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 17, 2018
Lee Thomas has been one of my favorite discoveries in 2018. Distortion is the third book I have read by the author this year. Thomas does an amazing job developing characters and weaving the supernatural into noirish narratives. If you are a fan of his other work then you will appreciate Distortion.
Mick Harris, the lead character in this story is living a more mundane existence than his previous life as the bassist for a successful rock band named Palace. Palace had a good run but have since fizzled out and that came with its fair share of drama. The drama includes the suicide of the lead singer and Harris’ knocking up a woman and never really being able to be a father to his child. Also, Mick has come out as gay which also hurt his rock and roll image. Dabbling in Denver real estate, and minding his own business, Mick gets a call from a stranger claiming that his daughter’s mother is dead and his daughter, Isley, is in danger. Mick decides to leave his comfortable life and head to Arkansas to investigate what happened. Upon arriving Mick finds out that locals are suspicious of him, not only because of his sexuality but the belief that his daughter is evil. Mick soon finds out there is real supernatural evil in this town and it is planning to come down hard on him.
I don’t know if all of Thomas’ main characters are gay, but in all three excellent novels I have read by him, he has used that to add depth to characters like Mick. Thomas is adept at blending noir and horror. This story doesn’t contain a ton of violence but the suspense is there and the twists keep your attention. I look forward to reading more work by Thomas as he is becoming a staple in my library.
Mick Harris, the lead character in this story is living a more mundane existence than his previous life as the bassist for a successful rock band named Palace. Palace had a good run but have since fizzled out and that came with its fair share of drama. The drama includes the suicide of the lead singer and Harris’ knocking up a woman and never really being able to be a father to his child. Also, Mick has come out as gay which also hurt his rock and roll image. Dabbling in Denver real estate, and minding his own business, Mick gets a call from a stranger claiming that his daughter’s mother is dead and his daughter, Isley, is in danger. Mick decides to leave his comfortable life and head to Arkansas to investigate what happened. Upon arriving Mick finds out that locals are suspicious of him, not only because of his sexuality but the belief that his daughter is evil. Mick soon finds out there is real supernatural evil in this town and it is planning to come down hard on him.
I don’t know if all of Thomas’ main characters are gay, but in all three excellent novels I have read by him, he has used that to add depth to characters like Mick. Thomas is adept at blending noir and horror. This story doesn’t contain a ton of violence but the suspense is there and the twists keep your attention. I look forward to reading more work by Thomas as he is becoming a staple in my library.
July 2, 2018
Lee Thomas has been one of my favorite discoveries in 2018. Distortion is the third book I have read by the author this year. Thomas does an amazing job developing characters and weaving the supernatural into noirish narratives. If you are a fan of his other work then you will appreciate Distortion.
Mick Harris, the lead character in this story is living a more mundane existence than his previous life as the bassist for a successful rock band named Palace. Palace had a good run but have since fizzled out and that came with its fair share of drama. The drama includes the suicide of the lead singer and Harris’ knocking up a woman and never really being able to be a father to his child. Also, Mick has come out as gay which also hurt his rock and roll image. Dabbling in Denver real estate, and minding his own business, Mick gets a call from a stranger claiming that his daughter’s mother is dead and his daughter, Isley, is in danger. Mick decides to leave his comfortable life and head to Arkansas to investigate what happened. Upon arriving Mick finds out that locals are suspicious of him, not only because of his sexuality but the belief that his daughter is evil. Mick soon finds out there is real supernatural evil in this town and it is planning to come down hard on him.
I don’t know if all of Thomas’ main characters are gay, but in all three excellent novels I have read by him, he has used that to add depth to characters like Mick. Thomas is adept at blending noir and horror. This story doesn’t contain a ton of violence but the suspense is there and the twists keep your attention. I look forward to reading more work by Thomas as he is becoming a staple in my library.
Mick Harris, the lead character in this story is living a more mundane existence than his previous life as the bassist for a successful rock band named Palace. Palace had a good run but have since fizzled out and that came with its fair share of drama. The drama includes the suicide of the lead singer and Harris’ knocking up a woman and never really being able to be a father to his child. Also, Mick has come out as gay which also hurt his rock and roll image. Dabbling in Denver real estate, and minding his own business, Mick gets a call from a stranger claiming that his daughter’s mother is dead and his daughter, Isley, is in danger. Mick decides to leave his comfortable life and head to Arkansas to investigate what happened. Upon arriving Mick finds out that locals are suspicious of him, not only because of his sexuality but the belief that his daughter is evil. Mick soon finds out there is real supernatural evil in this town and it is planning to come down hard on him.
I don’t know if all of Thomas’ main characters are gay, but in all three excellent novels I have read by him, he has used that to add depth to characters like Mick. Thomas is adept at blending noir and horror. This story doesn’t contain a ton of violence but the suspense is there and the twists keep your attention. I look forward to reading more work by Thomas as he is becoming a staple in my library.
January 14, 2019
This book definitely leans towards the horror or thriller genre but it’s also a tale of family & loneliness. Very well written. I’m looking forward to more work from this author.
March 22, 2019
Thomas never disappoints - with original stories, chills and fears, romance, and enough to keep you from wanting to put the book down until you finish!
January 2, 2019
This book was provided for free by the publisher and Love Bytes in exchange for an honest review.
This review was first posted to Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews. It has been slightly edited here for content.
Though this book isn’t a wholly coherent mystery, it certainly takes you on one wild ride. Abandon all of your expectations going in, because it will be much darker, much scarier, and much weirder than the blurb leads us to believe.
Mick Harris is leading a pretty normal, albeit solitary, post-rock-god life. Unlike some less fortunate band members, he escaped the hair metal lifestyle relatively unscathed, though the demons of his past continue to haunt him. When he gets word that the mother of his estranged daughter, Isley, has passed, he decides to do the right thing and go down to the backwoods Southern town of Celebration, Alabama to make amends. But Celebration has its own demons, and before Mick can make good with Isley, he has to get past whatever weirdness the town throws his way.
The tone and scope of this book changes so often that the plot-twist whiplash had me reeling between chapters. In one moment, it’s a sad lament of a man past his prime; in another moment, it’s a paranormal tale of trapped souls and ancient curses. It mixes the stifling setting of a Southern Gothic with the contemporary bitterness of family drama. Many of these elements made for some excellent storytelling, but when combined, they turned into something far less palatable.
The strongest parts of the book are the non-horror elements, which is surprising, since it seems like Thomas is primarily a horror genre writer. The horror isn’t bad—in fact, some of it downright chilled me, making it hard to read this book past midnight as a snowstorm raged outside. But Mick’s journey into unfamiliar territory to try his hand at being a father is just much more compelling than a small-town curse that really doesn’t have anything to do with him in the end.
Though Mick is a gay main character, there isn’t much in the way of romance here, so don’t go in expecting much more than a subplot flirtation with a sweet local handyman. I didn’t mind the lack of romance, though—I think it’s important to have more genre fiction besides romance with gay protagonists. Mick is a good main character, and though his sexuality is an important aspect of his life, it’s only a small detail in the grand scheme.
The lack of cohesion at the end is what prevents me from really recommending this book. Thomas seems like a savvy author, so the fraying plot threads and silly red herrings are frustrating within what seemed, at first, to be a pretty complex mystery. But I’m definitely interested in reading more of Thomas’ works to get a better feeling for his type of storytelling.
This review was first posted to Love Bytes: LGBTQ Book Reviews. It has been slightly edited here for content.
Though this book isn’t a wholly coherent mystery, it certainly takes you on one wild ride. Abandon all of your expectations going in, because it will be much darker, much scarier, and much weirder than the blurb leads us to believe.
Mick Harris is leading a pretty normal, albeit solitary, post-rock-god life. Unlike some less fortunate band members, he escaped the hair metal lifestyle relatively unscathed, though the demons of his past continue to haunt him. When he gets word that the mother of his estranged daughter, Isley, has passed, he decides to do the right thing and go down to the backwoods Southern town of Celebration, Alabama to make amends. But Celebration has its own demons, and before Mick can make good with Isley, he has to get past whatever weirdness the town throws his way.
The tone and scope of this book changes so often that the plot-twist whiplash had me reeling between chapters. In one moment, it’s a sad lament of a man past his prime; in another moment, it’s a paranormal tale of trapped souls and ancient curses. It mixes the stifling setting of a Southern Gothic with the contemporary bitterness of family drama. Many of these elements made for some excellent storytelling, but when combined, they turned into something far less palatable.
The strongest parts of the book are the non-horror elements, which is surprising, since it seems like Thomas is primarily a horror genre writer. The horror isn’t bad—in fact, some of it downright chilled me, making it hard to read this book past midnight as a snowstorm raged outside. But Mick’s journey into unfamiliar territory to try his hand at being a father is just much more compelling than a small-town curse that really doesn’t have anything to do with him in the end.
Though Mick is a gay main character, there isn’t much in the way of romance here, so don’t go in expecting much more than a subplot flirtation with a sweet local handyman. I didn’t mind the lack of romance, though—I think it’s important to have more genre fiction besides romance with gay protagonists. Mick is a good main character, and though his sexuality is an important aspect of his life, it’s only a small detail in the grand scheme.
The lack of cohesion at the end is what prevents me from really recommending this book. Thomas seems like a savvy author, so the fraying plot threads and silly red herrings are frustrating within what seemed, at first, to be a pretty complex mystery. But I’m definitely interested in reading more of Thomas’ works to get a better feeling for his type of storytelling.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews