Unraveling

What I love best about Rick R. Reed's stories is that his characters are real. They have real flaws that ordinary people can relate to. They don't have the perfect bodies, they sometimes make silly decisions that we all know in hindsight are mistakes, and they find themselves in situations that can be all too familiar.

The same goes for Unraveling.

Randy finds himself living a life that is far from authentic. His journey to this point has been paved with good intentions, the current social and political atmosphere, outsider expectations, and his own misguided attempts to fit in. While not everyone may be able to relate specifically to Randy's turmoil of being a gay man tangled in a straight marriage to a woman and with a son, most of us can relate to being in a situation at some point during our lives that we know, deep down, doesn't feel right. His inner turmoil comes through perfectly across the page, the reader can't help but ache for Randy to get to a better place.

His story starts off emotionally raw (TW for suicide) and continues with highs and lows. The few chapters from his wife Violet's point of view adds an extra layer to Randy's story. I appreciated getting a glimpse of her thoughts and her turmoil directly from her and not colored by Randy's perspective.

John is Randy's opposite.: he out and proud, hooking up and clubbing, but he just can't seem to find his true love. He wants to settle down, and while he does feel the mutual connection with Randy, he's hesitant about being used as a "baby gay" guide and then tossed to the side.

The romance between Randy and John isn't the main focus of the story. It's Randy's evolution from tortured, closeted gay man fighting for his son to a middle aged man in a committed relationship with another man and with a close, loving (if unconventional) family.