Kevin Hurley has a unique-some would call cynical-view of the world and the people in it. His childhood was something he survived, rather than celebrated, so it is not mystery why he is hesitant to return to his childhood haunts. After nearly twenty years of keeping skeletons in their closet, his visit drums up memories and the people who made them. Kevin's encounters with the people in his past prove puzzling until a rush of memory decides who, what and why Kevin is who he is. The mind of a child is a playground-simple and sincere; for Kevin, it is a dangerous place where trust and loyalty died young, and if he is to have a future he must make peace with all the horror that came before.
Excerpt
"When I cried, no running footsteps were ever heard outside my room, nor did a consoling mother appear to gather me in her arms or a concerned father offer to search my room for imagined monsters. It was just my tears, my wishful thinking and me. Maybe my parents had concluded that it was impossible for them to console a crying child, if they themselves were the monsters that had provoked the tears in the first place."
Professional Reviews
Crystal's Book Reviews
Guys Don’t Rat on Guys by Grey Baker
Kevin Hurley has not been back to visit his hometown in eighteen years. There were very few, if any good memories about his childhood, and the moment he sat down in the diner everything came flooding back to him.
Kevin as a child wanted, no he needed the love and attention that his family refused him. Kevin used to sit in his closet and hide from the screaming war his parents fought almost nightly, why couldn’t he just be a normal kid with a normal loving family? After a while his father and mother divorced, leaving Kevin even more alone. His only ally, Bobbi, even deserted him as time went on. And then the stranger came.
Kevin felt what was being done to him was wrong, but the man convinced him that these “lessons” were normal and guys don’t rat on guys because someone would get really mad. The last thing he wanted was to feel like even more of an outcast; so the lessons continued. As Kevin was sexually abused, he began to feel strange and even more unlike the other kids. The day the truth was told, was the last time he would ever see his mother.
The diner had very little charm, it was the man at the counter that held his attention. And the looks coming from the cook, could only be called looks of death. As the adult Kevin Hurley reflects on not only his past but himself, he makes a move that has been a long time coming.
Grey Baker’s, Guys Don’t Rat on Guys is phenomenal! Baker takes you through the life of an abused child so vividly my heart was breaking. The story is told through Kevin’s own words, ultimately drawing the reader in and keeping you there. The ending is what will get you, no matter how strong you are, your cheeks will be soaked by tears. Baker has an amazing novel that is guaranteed to touch a special place in your heart. 5 *****
Grey Baker's Myspace: www.myspace.com/greybakerbooks
Celts and Kings: The story behind the mystifying disappearance of the Celtic Earls in 1607. The story of a lost love and Celtic Spirituality.
The story of a forbidden love going back 400 years.
The story steeped in Irish history, Ce
I Made My Boy Out of Poetry is a powerful literary vision of rare scope, beauty and emotional intensity composed of stories and poems that flow in and out of each other like the most lucid and articulate of dreams. These are portraits and studies of
In this eccentric tale set in a small town in northern India, Pawan Mishra masterfully weaves ingenuity and sarcasm in a manner that’s simultaneously hilarious and tragic.
