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It's amazing to me that Hunter was able to so completely mask his true nature that Marcus never had an inkling. Okay, so now he's in a place where he won't let Hunter have any more power over him. To my mind, that remise Marcus to move back to Vancouver to be with his family and finally build the relationship with James that's been on hold for so long.

Exactly! Kitt's mother should have done that TWO DAYS after her self-righteous husband threw her son out into the cold. She has made no effort at all to find her missing child. But Matt could have done it. Matt's parents could have done it. Kitt just disappears from school and nobody there questions huscabsence? Have I missed something in one of the chapters-- how was that explained? And for the sake of all that is holy, can Kitt not send a card to Matt saying that he is alright? I understand he doesn't want to suck Matt down into his mess, but that shouldn't prevent him from letting Matt know that he's alive and (relatively) safe.

And why if she doesn't agree with or support her hus and,has Kitr's mother other alerted the police to a missing runaway minor? She accuses her husband of driving her child away into the cold. Why has she not lifted a finger to look for him?

Pastor Greene's truly 'Christian' counseling of Stephen made it clear that Stephen's extreme bigotry and toxic self-righteousness does not come from the church he attends. It has another source. I would love to see the good Pastor cloned 500 000 times and dispatched to every church in America, to underscore to every congregation that this kind of hatred DOE NOT come from the Word of God, and that the Scriptures are being misused to "God"- wash something that is nothing more than baseless, and utterly non-Christian hatred of that which is different and that which the haters do not understand.

I agree-i understand Tim's paralyzing terror of his father But, does his mother share his sperm donor's bigotry or is she totally subjugated and traumatized. Tim's grandparents? If not, if he can count on his mom, or grandparents, or some uncle or aunt to take him in, then he should just tell the Gamers to take a hike and throw the whole bag of shit in his father's face---"look at the shit I had to go through because of how you have terrorized and intimidated me my whole life. Well, Im done being terrorized by you". Justin was afraid of how his team would react to seeing that unguarded photo. And then he is PUBLICLY with Tim and doesn't get ostracized. The idiot needs is to wake up and realize he is inflicting the Gamers' torture ON HIMSELF. Like Weinerdog says, put everything out there. There is no way their life in school can get any worse, and with the threats about planting the weed and other contraband in the kid's locker me memorialized in dated texts the will predate the discovery ,there is plausible deniability. Blackmail only can work when the blackmail victim is trying to keep some secret hidden. At thuis stage, what else does any if our victims have to lose (maybe Tim excepted)?

"Father's like Kitts dad justify kicking their gay son out based on religious beliefs. If they thought about just for a minute to consider what they might have to do to survive and then ask themselves "Would God approve of this?"" Unfortunately, "Their" God likely would approve, at least that's what Kit's father and his like would tell themselves deep in their shriveled bitter souls.

I agree--I can understand why he ran away without telling Matt, and without his phone, contacting him is harder. But he DOES know Matt's address. Drop him a card Kitt, to let him know you're OK. Let's hope the Professor learns his story and encourage shim to reach out to Matt.

Julian's reaction is not the reaction of a friend. Shocked and surprised, fine. But so angry that he slaps Dean? I hope he comes to his senses, and if he doesn't, we'll, I do hope that, as punishment, Aiden succeeds in seducing Matteo.

I'm pleased and thrilled and very relieved, but I confess to a wee bit of disappointment--I was sorta hoping for a last glimpse of Trump, realizing that his public life as a powerful politician is over while his public life as a corrupt and criminal private citizen is about to begin, whining and ranting and roaring about the steal of 'his' election and maybe, just maybe, beginning to contemplate the fact that he won't be able to escape his fate.

I truly don't understand this enforced 'break' between Willl and Andrew. I get why they broke up originally. Will was drowning in his obligation to support Andrew through school, surrendering himself in the process, and they both raise that could only change and Will digit only pursue his ambitions if they broke up. It worked. But they obviously are still deeply in love. It's it the physical distance between the two cities where they live and work, or something else that is preventing them from trying again?

Beautifully written. You capture perfectly the unexplained tension that remains unresolved and hardens into a wordless distance. You make the reader inhabit these two young boys. It's wonderful. Thank you

I love how you unfurl their evolving friendship--unrushed, built on time spent together in trust and safe companionship, true, with each one quietly dispensing the other's teenage insecurities. It's wonderful to observe.

Yes, oh yes!!!!! Please, @Topher Lydon, pretty please!!!! I've really missed her.

Oliver seems quite incapable seeing how he is being manipulated by Tarquin. He immediately understood why his father had set things up the way he did. He sees that Orel is competent, building a life for himself away from the Manor. And yet he falls right into exactly the mode of thinking g that Tarquin proposes, and totally accepts it. For the SECOND time- let's not forget how he reacted when Tarquin noticed Oliver's unrequited affection for Finn (a bit contrived, that, but it served the purpose of giving Tarquin the means to twist Oliver back to his side). Where is Lydia? She needs to observe this constant inconstancy of her erstwhile ally and realize he can't be counted on. Then maybe she can sorting into action.

Now that he's admitted to himself and to Adrian what he's afraid of, maybe Liam might think about talking it through with a counselor to try to get comfortable with the idea of living with that fear.

That a sweet but senescent octogenarian should be succeeded by a vile and cancerous octogenarian speaks reams about the catastrophic failure of our political party system in the US. I can't wait to see how Will is going to hake that system up. He or someone just like him, m capable of independent and strategic thought is just what we need in our US politics and what our system prevents us from getting.

Now, I'm really keen to find out what Sophia is up to with that strange man Julian saw her with. She didn't seem to have part of Arthur's fiasco with Julian's collection, so she's scheming towards something else.

I thought it was beautiful how Finn and Orel rediscover their bond, and how it begins helping each of them find a safe place. They seem to be getting closer with each passing day. But what about Lydia? She was so interested in Orel. I don't think she will react badly that Orel chooses/needs Finn for his healing, and vice versa. I was sort of looking forward to seeing if a relationship could develop between her and Orel, and bring out some of the tenderness smothered in her gruff exterior that she gave us a glimpse of when talking to Finn about Orel. I guess all this will make her extra unforgiving in dealing with Tarquin. That promises to be epic!

You (and by extension, Adrian) have paced this beautifully, @ChromedOutCortex. You've allowed the relationship to deepen gradually within a routine of casual camaradeship to the point where Liam began to feel comfortable in accepting that he enjoyed Adrian's presence in his life and that this enjoyment of his company neither threatened nor betrayed his memories of his life with Kevin. And then that beautiful, sensitive conversation with Rod and Sean allowed Liam to consciously admit this to himself and to recognize that he was holding back not because of the age difference, but because he feared inadvertently putting Adrian through the same suffering he himself had suffered, watching impotently as Kevin lost his battle for life. You could just feel the trepidation slipping and ceding its place in Liam's heart to a hopeful optimism. Beautifully done! You've struck the perfect balance. I am really looking forward to the rest of this wonderful tale, and I thank you for it.

I have been wondering...why did Andrew wait more than 3 years to let Will know he is still alive? And I seem to recall that Will envisaged exactly the desperate move, running for the US Presidency, already near the end of the previous book, explaining to Lisa the error Trump made in the treaty in giving full citizenship to all Canadians, the 54 electoral votes Lisa referred to in this chapter. Why does Will make it seem that this isnow the last- ditch 'Hail-Mary' play? Was he hoping for some kind of fundamental change of the equation under Biden?

Because she knows that Hudson has obliterated her control over her asset, and if she can't control it, no one else will. Scorched earth.

Hunter seems to recognize that something is off within him, this darkness. If he does not like that darkness, if he regrets how it makes him behave, if he is truly contrite about how he treated Rory and how he himself expects he will soon be treating Yeison, then he should reach out and try to get some help. The first step is accepting you have a problem. He's done that. Time to take the next step.

Liam is already a mega star. Surely there are other agents in Hollywood.

This chapter PLEASED me so much I read it over three times. It pleased me to see Garrett decide to turn his back on the chaos and negativity, on the poisonous nature of his destructive interactions with Finn, and consciously embrace his relationship with Kyle. "Garrett thought about Finn. The comparison was involuntary and stark. Finn in this place would be a sculpture of cold contempt. He would see only the escape from reality, the childishness. He would hate it, and his silence would be a vacuum, sucking the joy out of the air until Garrett felt ashamed for feeling any. Finn's love was a demand: Join me in the dark. Kyle's love was an invitation: Let me show you the stars." Garrett now really SEES Kyle, sees that Kyle builds safety and he realizes that he can be happy, can "stop running." Beautiful. I sense that Finn's journey to any kind of eace, much less happiness, will be a lot more complex and convoluted, a lot more wrenching. It won't be like with it was for Garrett, for whom finding Kyle was enough to lead him out of his pain. But I'm glad you promised us that Finn will get there, @Topher Lydon.

I agree!!!!! The "relationship" between Finn and Garrett (for want of a better word) is so seeped in negativity that it really seems impossible that anything positive could ever result from it, for either of the antagonists, and I use that word deliberately. Whenever they are together, before they fall to rutting, their verbal exchanges are utterly vicious, each knowing enough about the weaknesses of the other that they can actually cause each other emotional harm, and by God, that is exactly what they are each trying to do. “And you think that’s healthy?” he gasped, finally finding an opening to shove Finn back with a two-handed push. “You think being someone’s reason to scream is a relationship goal? That’s not a relationship, Finn. That’s a hostage situation. You’re both holding each other at emotional gunpoint.” No, it is NOT healthy! Finn and Garrett together are like two alcoholics meeting in a bar and daring each other to take another shot of tequila. There is no way either of them can provide to the other the emotional support needed to exorcize their respective demons. “He doesn’t need more adrenaline!” Kyle shouted,... “He’s marinating in it! He needs to come up for air! I give him air! I give him a place where the world isn’t trying to break him every five minutes!” Somehow, against all odds, Garrett has found a little island of stability and peace where he rest and be comfortable and maybe find the strength to confront his demons. Finn instinctively recognizes that, I think, which is why he so desperately derides what Kyle offers to Garrett. Finn uses that viciousness to fill the void in his life, and doesn't get that he is just deepening and perpetuating his own misery. Maybe, like @Okiegrad says, he should instead be on the lookout for his own "Kyle" or at least open up to let his cousin Lydia guide him out of his little hell, though he surely can't count on any sympathy from her!