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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Diverting, but undemanding, 17 Mar 2003
Anybody who has grown up gay in a small village will know how important it can suddenly become when you meet someone like you; someone who shares your secret. Greg Chaley, the hero of new novel The Sacrifice, finds out when he meets Kit, in his school choir. Two years older than he is, the androgynous older boy is immediately aware that Greg is different; not because he's gay, but because, like himself, he has supernatural abilities. At first, Greg is sceptical. It is only after wishing a dreadful fate on his homophobic music teacher, who subsequently suffers a horrific car crash, that he begins to believe that Kit may have a point and that he really is not like other men. Gordon Linton's debut as a novelist follows the path of Greg's dalliance with black arts through school and on into university. Whenever dark magic is used in fiction, there's often a strong link with sex (Buffy The Vampire Slayer's lesbian couple of Tara and Willow, concocting powerful spells together in their bedroom, being just one recent example). T's the same case here: as Greg's powers begin to grow, he meets and falls in love with the handsome Phillipe, only to find that their passionate lovemaking is channelling his powers into performing acts of criminal - and fatal - evil. If the whole premise sounds hokey, it's redeemed by the absolute seriousness with which it's taken within the framework of the novel itself. When the plot dips into pure melodrama, the fact that the reader's own scepticism is echoed by Greg's own thoughts helps to propel the story onwards. As the story is moves on to its inevitable climax, Linton for the most part manages to keep on the right side of the line that divides the fantastic from the faintly ridiculous. One of the least believable elements, though, is the manner in which the villain of the piece is despatched. While the method is just about plausible within the framework of the book, the fact that it needs to be explained a few pages later on is maybe a sign that its execution is weaker than it should be. All in all, The Sacrifice is a satisfying, if at times undemanding, read.
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by Bart Yates
