THE MAN WITH HORN

"...layers of classical or esoteric references and gorgeously rich vocabulary make this worth reading just for itself. Something to read in one greedy go and think about later." JJ Marsh, author of The Years Between series. London in the late 80s, heat and dust and diesel fumes. Sal Pinksy, unemployed jazz trumpeter thinks he's in love. >Kid McLean, former child popstar, wants - no, needs - punishment for his perceived crimes. Passionaria, green-eyed goddess, is at the centre of both men's fantasies. Ecstatic, epiphanic, Dionysiac, The Man with the Horn combines passion and cruelty, eroticism and abuse, self-delusion and awareness, and results in a kind of enlightenment. When Jezebel and Magdalena, a couple of whores of indeterminate sexuality, try to persuade her to host a sex party - 'not an orgy, that sounds so vulgar' - high-class call girl, Passionaria, is none too keen. But when trumpeter Sal Pinksy puts her in touch with Kid McLean, a former child popstar, and Kid becomes her client, the party takes on a greater significance. Passionaria is a devotee of the pagan god Dionysos and the god needs a sacrifice. Kid McLean needs to atone for what he believes are his sins. Perhaps all these events can be combined?