The intriguing title of Keith McDermott’s 2004 novel suggests a mysterious story, so I picked it up.  The main character, Gerald, quickly became important to me, even though it was difficult accepting that he had been recently close to death from AIDS.  The new drug cocktails seemed to be giving Gerald a new lease on life, however, so he grabbed the chance to go to Italy to act in a new avant-garde play directed by his former mentor, the brilliant and eccentric William Weiss.

Gerald’s sojourn to Italy is intense, beautiful, frustrating, and fascinating. The story ends with the reader not knowing if Gerald will make it through the opening of the play or succumb to a recurrence of his illness.  This ending is curious—it is extremely disconcerting and yet satisfying because the reader himself must decide how Gerald’s life will progress.  It is by no means clear that illness will overtake him, because with the new drug cocktails, the chance of recovery is a strong possibility. Gerald has a chance of a life in Italy with new friends and even a new love, but his confused outlook concerning his health could just as easily lead to a tragic ending. He stupidly stopped taking his drug cocktail after an Italian doctor told him they were giving him a bad rash from sun exposure.  

I have never been more frustrated with an author’s plot.  And yet, I also have never enjoyed such an obtuse ending so much as in this novel.  Masterful storytelling and character work put the reader right into the small Italian town with the actors working on the play.  The title Acqua Calda refers to a rejuvenating hot springs that the actors flock to one evening.  Love trysts abound in the warm, refreshing water, including an unexpected one for Gerald. 

The author Keith McDermott is an actor turned writer.  His Broadway debut was in the first production of Equus opposite Richard Burton in the role lately made famous by Daniel Radcliffe.  Radcliffe will also make his Broadway debut in a revival of Equus premiering September 25, 2008.

Unfortunately, McDermott has not yet published another novel, but he does have short stories in these collections: Men on Men 7, Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction, and Out magazine.