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| Looker: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Stanley Bennett Clay
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy New: $7.47
You Save: $5.53 (43%)
New (26) Used (7) from $5.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 55643
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0743291026
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780743291026
ASIN: 0743291026
Publication Date: June 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 600,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
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Product Description
SOMETIMES LOVE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINKBrando Haywood is a handsome, popular, and successful entertainment lawyer who seems to have everything but passion. Two years celibate and a prisoner of his routine, he goes through life quietly on the sidelines while his promiscuous best friend, Omar Stevens, thrashes through life and love with all the ups and downs Brando barely realizes he longs for. Brando's life takes a dramatic turn when he is asked to defend a female friend who has killed her rapist. The sensational and controversial trial that follows not only ignites Brando's fervor for his career but also helps him discover his passion and a true love that had been staring him in the face all along. Looker firmly establishes Stanley Bennett Clay's reputation as a writer who spins brilliant erotic entertainment even as he challenges his readers' sensibilities.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 LOOKER: The Title Suggests a Kaleidoscope of Meanings in this Enthralling Novel April 12, 2007
23 out of 26 found this review helpful
Stanley Bennett Clay takes chances: he knows he takes them and unlike Captain Scott's diaries from 1912 as he lay dying in the Antarctic in which he admits the chances turned out against him, the chances Clay takes work very much in his favor. Now with this third novel Stanley Bennett Clay shows a maturity of style and focus without a loss of the chancy topics he embraces. LOOKER simply works!
Clay introduces a huge cast of characters so rapidly yet so well defined that for a few chapters the novel seems as though it will be a series of short stories; we meet Brando, an entertainment lawyer whose celibacy is linked to his past lost love Collier; Selma Fant, the alcoholic wife of a councilman whose only child Earl-Anthony responded to his misunderstood childhood by transforming into a popular transgender singer Miss Zara; successful writer Omar who despite his longing for a relationship with Brando after his leaving the demanding Shane is a lothario `chickenhawk' unable to forego his desires despite his nearing middle age; Jeanette Bell and her lesbian lover, highly successful novelist Clymenthia Teager; Vanessa Ellerbee and her downlow husband William who craves Brando; recently divorced Dee Dempsey whose bruised heart embraces those in need; Ramon Alexander and his abused wife Charlene; and Senior Father Lacey Cannon who holds court for all the pretty gay men in his community. And yes, there are more!
The story is too fine to condense in a review. Suffice it to say that Clay connects all the dots by a central story of a murder trial over a heinous event that occurred between Ramon and Jeanette, a climactic situation steered by Brando that alters the lives of each of the characters and brings about closure to the many open wounds and secrets and lusts and stories of each of the novel's cast.
Clay has the ability to write some of the most sensuous prose about lovemaking and just plain sex between men as anyone out there: his situations and recreations of scenes are erotic and electrically charged. At the same time he is able to enter the courtroom with some of the better banter between lawyers and some pungent political and social commentary that is eloquent and deeply moving. Clay again explores the `on the downlow' particles that pepper the wealthy black community of Los Angeles (his setting for his novel), but he also dips deeply into the crises of relationships in the 21st century - finding that the concept of monogamy still rings clearly and preferably, the goal of the struggling of wandering eyes of the lookers.
And so Stanley Bennett Clay's title LOOKER could mean `handsome looking men', `stunning women', voyeurs, or those searching for that nebulous lifelong love - it all depends on the part of this kaleidoscopic novel the reader wishes to emphasize. But in the end Clay once again proves that he is capable of spinning tales both bizarre and tender, and he succeeds in every direction. This is yet another tasty novel from a writer of distinction. Grady Harp, May 07
Looker June 12, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful story about old loves, lost loves and forgiveness. It is a great read from the beginning to the end. Stanley takes you in several different directions with the characters in this book and each has a interesting story to tell. I loved it from the beginning to the end. In the end true love conquered all! Great story Stanley!
 Searching For Passion July 2, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Brando Heywood is a handsome, forty-something year old entertainment lawyer that has everything but passion and a love of his own. After the break-up of a ten year relationship, Brando is now two years celibate and lives vicariously through his promiscuous best friend Omar. Brando's professional career gets a jolt when he is asked to defend a good friend who has killed her rapist. Brando is going to have to dig deep to keep his friend out of prison, especially when the rapist is also a decorated war veteran. Omar is a writer that is constantly trying to relive his youth by messing around with twenty-year old boy-toys. He's trying to find a love that will replace the love and passion that he has for his best friend Brando. But will Omar stop playing around and profess his undying love to Brando, even if he gets rejected?
Looker is an enthralling novel by Stanley Bennett Clay. Clay skillfully brings readers into the sometimes complex world of the African-American and Latino gay and lesbian life. Brando and Omar are the two main characters but there are also several supporting characters that are an integral part to this story. This author did a wonderful job of connecting these characters to Brando and Omar which made this a widely entertaining storyline. Most of the characters in this novel were upwardly mobile professionals and didn't have the usual gay and lesbian stereotypes that are found in a lot of today's contemporary fiction storylines which was a breath of fresh air. Readers will find that there is a lot of raw emotion in this novel, especially surrounding Brando and the murder trial. You'll be rooting for Brando to win the case and for him to finally find the love and happiness that he's longed for. Looker is engaging, and thought provoking. Stanley Bennett Clay is a true master of writing.
Reviewed by Radiah Hubbert
for Urban Reviews
Very enjoyable! July 8, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Passion, loss and regrets, anguished lovers, the elusive significant other, redemption, this story on African American gay/lesbian relationships is one absorbing read. This really reads like an anthology of short stories as the dramas of the lives of the myriad characters enfold around Brando, a 40 year old gay man living an almost perfect life except he is alone. But the story flows so smoothly that you never notice it. The characters are interesting and well flushed out, the writer wrapping up each of his/her heart-felt story neatly. And Brando and "Miss Zara" finding love and release respectively certainly works for "sappy" me.
Mr. Clay makes me love the english language! July 24, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have been going through a period of discovering [...] black authors, and for the most part have been pretty happy with my finds. Stanley Bennett Clay is in a league of his own. His prose is one of the most beautiful that I have ever experienced in reading. He makes me love the english language. His descriptives paint a scene, and the principle characters I found myself rooting for. I don't think there was a single character that I disliked, aside from Ramon Alexander. Mr. Clay brings you into the fictional world, and makes it hard for you to want to leave!
I strongly recommend this book!
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