X

A Novel

De: Davey Davis

Narrado por: Kai Rubio

A thrilling portrait of political terror and the violent pleasures found in warehouses, bathrooms, and dungeons across New York City, X is a novel that delves into the psyches of characters on the margins

The world is ending, and down-and-out sadist Lee spends their days working for a big corporation and their nights wandering the streets of Brooklyn listening to true crime podcasts. But everything changes when Lee is dragged to a warehouse party by their best friend, where they find themself in the clutches of the seductive and bloodthirsty X. When Lee seeks her out again, she's nowhere to be found.

Amid the steady constriction of civil rights and the purging of migrants and refugees, the US government has recently begun encouraging the semi-voluntary "exporting" of undesirable citizens—the radicalized, the dissident, and the ungovernable. Word has it that X may be among those leaving. If Lee doesn't track her down soon, she may be gone forever.

©2022 Davey Davis (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

I need a cigarette

Incredible, nasty writing. Davis takes a shot against the current vogue of relatability and sympathetic protagonists and hits right on target. I can't wait to read more of their work.

Interesting concept, but meandering and pointless. Lots of trigger warnings.

First, I had to take a several month break from this book when child abuse came up. Be warned. It doesn’t go on for a long time but it’s a very uncomfortable part of the book.

Very grungy queer and definitely written for people who are in both the queer and kink communities. It does not hold your hand or explain for those unacquainted, which I appreciated.

The adjectives that come to mind for the book are grungy, seedy, dark, shock-value, queer, dyke drama, trauma, fucked up, pointless/meandering.

The dystopian concept of anyone who isn’t a cishet white person being forced to leave the country is interesting but it stays a backdrop and never directly impacts the main character. It ends up just being a story about someone with a lot of trauma talking about their trauma and their dead end job, and obsessing over another character. Intermingled with all of this, you get a lot of BDSM (heavy on the sadism) with absolutely nonexistent kink/scene negotiation and a heavy helping of the stereotype that people who are into BDSM all have messed up traumatic pasts.

I kept waiting for something to change with the plot but it just meanders and naval gazes about all the messed up things. My most generous read is that the main character’s life was stagnant and going nowhere (perhaps because of the trauma) and the plot went nowhere to match this.