Boy Caesar

Fusing classical and modern times, dissolving past into present and present into past, Jeremy Reed's latest novel takes as its dual theme the life of the decadent Roman emperor Heliogabalus and that of Jim, who is writing a dissertation on him. The emperor's brief, extravagant, and shocking reign of only three years, ending with his brutal murder at the age of seventeen, is mirrored in Jim's relations with his duplicitous partner Danny and their contemporary London. Events take a weird twist when Jim discovers that his partner is living a double life as a member of a Soho cult involving bizarre sex rites. Threatened by the cult and their leader, Slut, Jim takes refuge with a female friend, Masako. She introduces Jim to Antonio, a wealthy young Roman, who claims to be the emperor reincarnated. Antonio's London visit with all of them leads to a conclusion every bit as dramatic as Heliogabalus's murder.