Tom Spanbauer's In the City of Shy Hunters

Peter Kurth in Salon: "A master narrator and stylist… In the City of Shy Hunters is so finely crafted, Spanbauer’s characters so true to life, the New York City he remembers from the early days of the plague so exactly captured in its ‘unrelenting’ mess and glory, you’ll think you’ve been reading a modernist classic."

The Baltimore Sun: "In the City of Shy Hunters has the earmarks of a literary landmark… Its importance and originality are unmistakable."

Dennis Cooper in The Village Voice: "A big ambitious stylefest of a novel, in the mode of… Edmund White’s The Farewell Symphony, Allan Gurganus’s Plays Well with Others, and Dale Peak’s Now It's Time to Say Goodbye… What distinguishes Spanbauer’s novel from the rest of the pack is his hellish, distinctive voice. Longtime fans will recognize its unusual sentences, at once choppy and strangely elegant, overtly informative but weirdly surreal, tender of phrase yet cleansed of overt emotion."

The Seattle Times: "Ambitious and compelling…a mixture of the ghastly, the hilarious and the curiously touching."

Library Journal: "Unlike other 'early aids' novels, this one acknowledges that aids touches all classes, races, religions, and sexual orientations. Excellent characters (real New Yorkers), great writing, and a new twist on an over-used plot recommend this book..."