Saving Valencia

by Steven Cooper

 

Saving Valencia

Steven Cooper

Alyson Publications

 

When we received Steven Cooper’s first book, With You In Spirit, for review I admit it wasn’t one of the ones I chose to read. Looking back, I’m not sure why other than, perhaps, it had something to do with a) it was billed as a murder mystery (which I’m not a big fan of) and b) the cartoon-like cover. Neither of which actually justify passing it up, especially since I’ve read Cooper’s second effort from Alyson Publications, Saving Valencia.

The fact that I’m now reading With You in Spirit is a testament to Cooper’s writing style. If I had not so completely enjoyed Saving Valencia, I would not have spent an hour combing through the countless books we receive to locate his debut novel.

And, for those who might think that since the author is a gay man, the book is about gay men, think again. Yes, the main character in Saving Valencia, Rico, is a very outwardly gay man, but Cooper’s ability to build his other characters, ie. Rico’s parents, sister, brother and best friend, truly make this book about so much more that just being a gay man. In fact, Cooper is nothing short of genius when it comes to being able to place someone’s sexuality in the background, while still painting a vivid portrait of its importance to the plot.

Cooper, an Emmy award-winning television journalist who presently serves as the anchor for the “Problem Solver” and “On Your Side” daily segments for WKMG-TV in Orlando, Fla., mines the fertile ground of wealth and privilege for his novels. In Saving Valencia, the Brandywine hotel fortune is threatened when heiress Valencia Brandywine is kidnapped by a group of religious fanatics, much like those who started Love in Action.

Coming to her rescue is her brother, Rico, who has some experience in this area. Seems kidnapping Rico and Valencia was the favorite fundraising technique of terrorists and underground political organizations for years, until it was decided that it was passé.

As Rico recalls it, “No kidnapper with a cause would get world attention any more by kidnapping a Brandywine. People Magazine , ‘Entertainment Tonight,’ even 'Regis and Kathie-fucking-Lee,’ who were then following the antics of my globe-trotting parents and their celebrity friends, were casually dismissing any attempts at kidnapping the Brandywine children as social climbing.”

But, Walk Away With Jesus has something special in mind: openly gay Rico must denounce his homosexuality. Well, that and pay $7 million for the return of his sister. Walking Away With Jesus is apparently a very expensive proposition.

So begins the globe-hopping adventure that forms the heart of Cooper’s marvelously, funny second novel, which brings lots of issues of today, such as terrorists and the unrest in the Middle East, front and center as Rico and his band of sleuths set out on their journey to save Valencia.

And, while many of the issues are serious, Cooper finds a way to weave humor among the pages (of which I turned all in one-sitting) by giving Rico a different kind of gaydar. To tell anymore about Rico’s method of defining those men who are gay would certainly spoil the out-loud laughter. Saving Valencia is a definite must.

(as published in Family & Friends Magazine, August 2004)