I hated this book. It's ugly, filled with graphic depictions of the kind of sex I'd rather not know about. It's filthy. For a few pages, I debated whether it should go in the pages of the DLJ at all. Worse, it looked (at first) like it was going to be another one of those anti-male diatribes I often get in my e-mail as submissions to cyberMan, from people who really hadn't done their homework. I put it down at least a dozen times during the afternoon I'd decided I was going to sit down and finally read the thing.
But, I knew the author, sort of. Gregory Lions is one of the original group of guys whose work on Themestream I helped promote. I knew him to be a decent human being, and besides, I'd promised to review his book in the DLJ. So I bit the bullet and kept on reading, despite the fact I had to fight a strong desire for a nice, hot bath and maybe a prayer or two from my local minister.
I hated this book. I had to read it. You have to read it, too. In fact, every man who has ever contemplated sex in the real world with an online contact, every woman who has ever toyed with the idea of crying rape just to get back at somebody needs to read this book.
Once you get through the nasty, trashy scenes, you realize that Oleg Johannsen, the main character, was misguided and stupid, but certainly doesn't deserve what this insane chick has planned for him. The main character is a little geeky, a little deficient in the usual social situations of meeting a nice girl and falling in love. He's a PhD candidate, and if he's really serious about becoming a doctor in order to help people, then he's got a funny way of showing it. He cruises the chatrooms looking for women to go along with him in his bizarre fetishes. Of course, he finds one. There's plenty of weirdness to go around online, as we well know.
Unfortunately for him, he is not prepared for the reality. He finds he doesn't really want to engage in sadomasochistic sex, unprotected sadomasochistic sex, at that. By then he's met Emily Rose, the girl with the homespun name and the vicious ulterior motives. By then, it's too late, and the damage is done. You will be stunned by the horrible sense of falling into a pit full of excrement and garbage, in a world where even the judge -- a hate-filled neofeminist with a hidden agenda, seems bent on the destruction of the accused, for no other reason than because he's a man.
You have to read this book. The reality is right there, no matter how hard it is for some people to take. Greg Lions does an excellent job of painting the picture of the 'fallout,' the emotional and physical anguish, not to mention the financial ruin, of the MC's parents and sister, as well.
I almost had myself comforted by the fact that it is after all, only a story. But wait! After the horror of the story ends, there is an Afterword. This page states that the same sort of thing happened -- to a real person.
It could happen to you.
Read this book!
"A Tangled Web" is now available from iuniverse.com.
browse before you buy:
For something to clear your mental palate and restore your faith in the world, check out "Sweethearts and Monsters," by Trudy W. Schuett, published by cyberManbooks.
