A re-reading of Bonfire of the Vanities got me from LA to Tokyo. I had forgotten how good that novel is.

My next novel, though, took the cake for the lamest death scene ever. It's a gay novel recently out called Code of Conduct, by Rich Merritt. It's supposedly a novel about gays in the military, but these gays are all male models with hot bods.

Anyway, to the death scene. One gay soldier has taken home an undercover investigator. The gay guy leaves the room to feed his dog, who has been home alone all day, When he returns, he discovers that the guy he brought home has been snooping around, so he gets a loaded gun out of a desk drawer. In one section,the book says that the undercover guy passed out. But a few pages later, he instead tries to disarm the soldier, and, in the process, shoots him in the head.

"In the last seconds of his life, Eddie saw a horrified expression overcome the stranger's face as he stepped away from Eddies's dying body in terror. In the background, Eddie heard (his dog) bark, and he smiled because he knew his friends would take care of the little guy."

And they say gay fiction has come a long way.

Wow. That brings back such great memories. I read the book when I was a lot younger and I think I missed a great deal. I hadn't thought of the book in years until you brought this subject up. Thanks. I'll have to go back and give it a reread.