Muscle Bound

David Marlow
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595447398
Reviewed by Tyler R. Tichelaar for Reader Views (2/09)

I initially thought the love story of two bodybuilders obsessed with building muscle would be somewhat comical, although comedy is not frequently found in gay fiction. I found little comedy in “Muscle Bound,” and lots of descriptive gay sex, but I also found the characters, while not always likeable, wholly engrossing.

The novel begins with Chase Hyde, a Californian muscle hunk in his late forties who lives by writing novels and renting out property; but most of Chase’s life is obsessed with bodybuilding and bodybuilders. Chase loves muscles, on himself and other men. He loves to work out and he loves when other men admire him. He is a self-described “roamosexual” who finds other men to have muscle sex with while refusing to be involved in a long-term relationship with a man. Enter Hunter Rowe, a twenty-something bodybuilder and New York corporate executive. Hunter discovers Chase’s online profile and instantly believes Chase is the muscle daddy he has been looking for, his coach whom he can worship and who can give him the exciting, brutal, frightening muscle sex for which he longs.

The two bodybuilders meet and hit it off. Hunter becomes needy, sappy, and annoying to the reader, but Chase puts up with the affection, while deciding whether he wants to become more involved with Hunter. The reader is then taken into the story of Christian Falconer, the only man Chase previously had a relationship with, to understand why Chase has difficulty becoming emotionally intimate with Hunter. At this point, I found the novel disjointed because the author starts out with the birth of Christian and tells his life story through the entire middle third of the novel, some 120 or so pages, without even referencing Chase. I kept wondering why all this character background was needed, but at the same time, I was interested in Christian’s own bodybuilder story, his denial of his latent homosexuality and the messy situations he got himself into. Once Christian’s story is told, including the brief time he spent with Chase, the novel returns to Hunter and Chase’s romantic story, although Christian will show up again later.

As I said above, I found the characters, except for Chase, not very likeable. I also thought the gay sex was overdone in parts. Throughout the novel, I kept waiting for some twist in the plot beyond just watching two men making out. The twist comes at the end, but this book is very long; the 350-pages of small print made it feel nearly twice that long. That said, I kept reading. I would have a hard time defining “Muscle Bound” as a well-plotted and crafted novel, but David Marlow is a good writer who keeps his reader’s interest. At times, I thought the characters very shallow, and often stupid, their obsession with bodybuilding making them take steroids they know will hurt them, and their addiction to muscle sex putting them in potentially dangerous situations. In some ways, I found the book sad because of the characters’ insecurities. Christian, especially, had his demons to battle, being in denial of his homosexuality, wanting to pretend he was straight, and struggling with his muscle obsession and its contradictions with his Christian beliefs.

Despite the characters’ flaws, and the book’s disjointed organization, I wanted to know what would happen, and I give Marlow much credit for keeping me interested. Nor was I disappointed. I found the ending immensely satisfying. “Muscle Bound” by David Marlow is an interesting look into the mixed motivations of bodybuilders, revealing the dark side of the sport and ultimately affirming one must be true to himself.


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