tee's Reviews > My Policeman

3.5/5 ish

"i could almost feel him listening, he was so eager to hear what i had to say. of course, that’s the greatest flattery: a willing ear."

the plot is laid bare in the description and while we know of the psychosocial consequences of the bury your gays trope, the book makes it very clear in the very first few pages that our queer characters have suffered all their lives. this could have been shorter, for there is an almost constant, lingering dullness, but it is also fairly well-written and is definitely one of the much better ones in the historical fiction genre. the setting is vivid and so well done, as are the dual narratives of marion and patrick, set forty years apart — very interesting (and heartbreaking) given their different motivations, expectations and experiences about their shared lover tom, whose point of view is never shared, sidelining him in his own story. and one might even extend that to the reality of a straight person authoring a book about a tragic gay relationship hmm?!!