Lay Your Sleeping Head
The Henry Rios Mysteries, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Thom Rivera
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By:
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Michael Nava
About this listen
A completely revised edition of the first Henry Rios mystery, The Little Death, Lay Your Sleeping Head introduces Michael Nava’s singular protagonist, gay Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios. Rios, beset by personal and professional problems, begins a passionate affair with the black sheep heir to a great California fortune who tells Rios an improbable tale of murder and sexual predation in his wealthy family. When the young man is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, Rios begins an investigation that ultimately reveals much more than that his lover’s death was murder.
One reviewer said Lay Your Sleeping Head “retains all the complexity and elegance of the original novel but deepens the themes of personal alienation and erotic obsession that both honored the traditions of the American crime novel and turned them on their head.”
©2016 Michael Nava (P)2020 Audible, Inc.It seems like half of the audiobook was setting the scene for the murder. We know who the victim is going to be and we can guess how it’s going to happen; the question is when and by whom. And so for chapter after chapter we hear about Henry Rios’ infatuation with a handsome junkie/rentboy called Hugh Paris. Does he fall in love? Perhaps. Their “romance” was so short, it’s hard to tell. So that goes on and on, with some graphic descriptions. And then the murder happens. Shock, horror, whatever. And so Henry tries to solve it. Characters come and go (sometimes referred to as X, sometimes referred to as Y, so it makes it a bit confusing), and then literally in the last half hour, Henry solves it all. But we don’t get to see how it’s all worked out. All the clues suddenly come out thick and fast as Henry confronts the alleged perpetrator in a monologue. The alleged perpetrator eventually says “But how can you prove it?” And then the book ends.
I don’t recall being so disappointed by an ending. If the ending had been good, I would have said, “Skip the first four or five chapters and just dive into him solving the mystery.” But I was left so deflated. And then there’s the epilogue. More eye rolling and tutting from me.
Clearly this appealed to a lot of people as (1) this is a retelling of a previous story and (2) it’s the first in a series. But I won’t be going near the other books.
I didn’t get the relationship between Henry and Hugh or Henry and Grant, who appears later. Their only defining characteristic is that they’re exceptionally good looking. I couldn’t fathom why Henry was going after/falling for this junky prostitute, other than his good looks. Maybe he was just after good sex, which Hugh Provided -- although the whole “daddy” thing felt off as well. The explanation about it being about power just didn’t ring true. For the most part, I did like the writing. Michael Nava paints a good picture, although sometimes I felt details were added for no reason other to take up space on the page.
Finally, I wasn’t a fan of the narrator, Thom Rivera. He’s not particularly good at differentiating the characters, with the exception of Grant, who just sounds ridiculous. Overall, he’s not a bad narrator by any means, but there are better ones out there.
Would I listen to another audiobook written by Michael Nava? Probably not.
Would I listen to another audiobook in this series? Definitely not.
Would I listen to another audiobook narrated by Thom Rivera? Possibly.
I don't get the hype. The ending is a huge letdown
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