ALL NIGHTS DIE YOUNG

In Luxxor’s novel, two broken souls in Manhattan—a fresh-faced newcomer and a jaded native New Yorker—get caught in a complex web of transgressions.

It’s a sparkling summer evening in the city when Lincoln Sorni notices Derrick Passeri for the first time. Lincoln, a 20-year-old transplant to New York from Mexico who escaped an abusive father, spends his days dressing up as Spider-Man in Times Square for tips and his evenings as a busboy in a Hell’s Kitchen nightclub. When he notices Derrick’s dazzling smile at the club one night, he believes that he’s found someone special; however, when they speak to each other for the first time a week later, Derrick is morose and wants nothing to do with him: “You can’t afford me” is his response when Lincoln asks if he’s a personal trainer (“It’s been known across ages that gay men would use this question as a way to get a man’s attention”). Despite this initial rebuff, Derrick invites Lincoln out one night, seemingly on a whim, which thrusts him into a new world where he’s judged for his looks, coerced into taking drugs, and having intense sexual encounters with strangers. Lincoln finds himself wanting to conform to Derrick’s standards, but he also become preoccupied with unraveling the mystery of the stranger’s bitter past. Luxxor’s novella is a tragedy turned up to the highest volume. It heavily focuses on elements of sexual assault, substance abuse, and emotional abuse throughout the narrative, and Lincoln, Derrick, and the supporting characters—including Derrick’s ambitious best friend, RedSaint,and Lincoln’s sexually repressed coworker, Santiago—all suffer greatly. Along the way, the author effectively scatters the backstories of various characters throughout the novella. However, certain revelations feel somewhat ill-timed, which makes it difficult to understand some characters’ motivations for much of the narrative. The book briefly touches on thought-provoking themes of identity and rebirth, as both Lincoln and Derrick decide to change their names to move up in the world, but this thread is ultimately left dangling.

A sometimes-perplexing tale of misery, despite extensive characterization.