Si tratta di un racconto molto carino. Alla fine dispiace solo che sia finito e che, data la brevità, non ci sia la possibilità di avere più scene in cui Danni e Taylor interagiscono.
Si parla di suicidio e di prevenzione del suicidio, del quale si occupano la padrona di casa invalida di Danni e Danni stesso. Sarà proprio per evitare un possibile suicidio che Danni avrà la possibilità di incontrare Taylor... solo che questa volta niente andrà come al solito.
I personaggi sono ben delineati e, nonostante le vicende coprano solo poche ore, c'è spazio per alcuni momenti molto intensi conditi con un pizzico di umorismo.
Il fatto poi che Danni sia di origini asiatiche dà al racconto un tocco di originalità in più, mostrando anche come un ragazzo gay incontri difficoltà a farsi accettare da una famiglia tradizionalista di una cultura diversa da quella occidentale. ( )

This was a very nice short story. Daniel and Taylor are two individuals who find a great, unexpected connection in each other. At times, the story felt like there was just too much jammed into the pages, like a much bigger story concentrated in less pages. Considering the story takes place in only one day, it makes sense, but it felt like I needed just a little bit more about the future for these guys. Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. ( )

As I wrote this book. I really shouldn't rate or review it. I do however want to say how indebted I am to my beta-readers Kei Chan for helping me find the right cover image and Don and Kate for steering me away from the cliff edge, keeping me to the path. Thanks guys. Finally to Dreamspinner Press for publishing it and being so supportive along the way.

I know Author's aren't supposed to "explain" their books, but a number of people have commented about the unrealistic element of the short time frame, so I'll explain why I did that.

When I wrote "Caught" I had in mind something I witnessed as a child: A family friend was fishing on the beach with a light (5lb) breaking strain line when he hooked a massive fish. He spent half an hour "playing it", allowing it to run and then when tired reeling it in. In an early draft of "Caught" near the beginning I had Connie tell this story to Daniel, saying sometimes achieving a difficult "Catch" he has to be prepared for a long battle. As time went on during edits, more and more of this story got cut until it disappeared completely. But I did see the whole encounter between the two men as an echo of this.

In other words from the time the story started to the time it ended was one long "fishing duel". If the action had stopped at any one point and Daniel had gone home, I couldn't see their paths ever crossing again. The "fish wouldn't have been landed"

The interesting thing is that these criticisms have actually given me the meat, as it were, for the sequel. Can a relationship that started out so quickly, intensely last? Does Danny feel trapped?

Even if the matter is everything other than light, suicide, the story is not so heavy as it could have been.

Danny is an Asian man (Chinese) leaving in Sidney, Australia. This is probably the only point I actually didn’t understand, why a man who was raised in the US and studied there, and had also a job he liked, when his parents moved back to Hong Kong decided to live in Australia? All right Sidney-Hong Kong is probably shorter than Los Angeles-Honk Kong, but it’s not that he is in so good relationship with his parents (one of the main points of the story) so sincerely this side of the story was a mystery for me.

Anyway Danny is living with a nice old lady who is on a wheelchair; she lives near a cliff and she was shocked when she saw a young man committing suicide and she couldn’t do anything to prevent it. She decided to rent a room at a discounted rate to someone who was willing to be her legs and trying to prevent such event again. Danny is that man.

Due to his bad relationship with his own parents, who practically disowned him, Danny has big self-esteem issues. Other than growing his hair long, to rebel against traditions, Danny is trying to live the life his parents wanted for him, i.e. to be as much a wallpaper flower as he can. And so Danny avoid strong colours, he is very good to mix with the background, and for this reason, he is also very good to approach people without them noticing it’s not a casual meeting but something that was planned.

With Taylor it was his usual method: approaching him, talking, and trying to understand what is the reason why he is so near the cliff and almost ready to jump. Only that Danny’s excuse to approach him, “can you take a picture of me”, awakens in Taylor something Danny was not expecting: from a simple photo to almost a complete shot, it’s Danny that is forced “out” from his apathy. Apparently to help Taylor, Danny has to stay in center stage, having all eyes, Taylor’s eyes, fixed on him instead than on the cliff.

This is a novella that span one day and one night, and at the end, not Danny or Taylor’s issues will be completed solved. And in any case I don’t think that was the final purpose of the author, but more giving you the proof that sometime a little coincidence, a feeble reason, can save a life.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046H9ZJ0/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

BOOK BLURB:
When Daniel's invalid landlady asks for his help preventing a possible suicide from the clifftop near their home, he doesn't want to disappoint her. So he grits his teeth, picks up his camera, and goes out to play the Chinese tourist. He's done it before: befriended the lonely, lured them away from the danger zone, acted as a safety net.

This time, the figure staring out to sea is way out of his league, his complete opposite, the sort of man Daniel's always admired from afar. Then the attractive Taylor turns the tables and lures Daniel out from behind the safety of his camera, and as Daniel finds himself fighting off an attraction he can't deny, he realizes he's in danger of being caught. Will the camera expose truths about himself that he wants to keep hidden?

BOOK REVIEW:
"Caught" has a really unusual premise, and the relationship between Taylor and Daniel is almost too intense to be believed, but is at the same time entirely convincing. So often, life is stranger than fiction, and there's an incredibly strong internal consistency to this story, which carried the 'day for me. Although the story sticks to Daniel's point of view, Taylor's internal world becomes almost as clear. This is masterful work ~ not a redundant phrase or a dud line to be found.

The starting point of the story ~ the initial tension ~ isn't left to carry the story alone, as various strands of both men's pasts, as well as the consequences of their unusual meeting, are teased out and explored. This isn't 'wounded man, and the saviour of the healing love', rather two very human characters, both with flaws and strengths and scars, finding a fit that helps both of them.

The blurb told me to expect the photography angle, but not only do the photos the two men take of each other play an integral and extended part in the story, but so does Daniel's desire to dress, and the personas that both men construct and de-construct. Overall, a really memorable and enjoyable read.

(Originally reviewed for Rainbow Reviews : http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/?p=7683) ( )