[.ca] Testosterone: A Novel (ISBN 155583714X)

From Amazon.com:
Dean Seagrave is a crazed L.A. artist with a vendetta. His heart has been broken and his house burned down--all his books and art, even the only manuscript of his new graphic novel, Testosterone, destroyed, along with his good nature and his sense of restraint. Now he's careening through Los Angeles on the trail of his loser ex-boyfriend, Pablo Ortega, who had promised fidelity but turned out to be a "sleazy little scumbag beaner tearoom queen," an "emotional serial killer" who simply chose Dean as his latest victim. In one hand, Dean holds the tape recorder into which he recounts events as they occur, a sort of "living novel" of his search for vengeance. The final book from the author of Tim and Pete (Baker, who suffered from depression, killed himself in 1997), Testosterone is a wild ride--dark, funny, and satiric--and a testament to the savage side of love. --Regina Marler

I couldn't put it down:
Testosterone burns with a frantic energy that is difficult to explain. Told through a series of audio tapes instead of chapters, the story burns rubber from page one and skids to a frightening, abrupt stop at the end, the smoke still burning from my fingertips. The narrative, as told through the voice of Dean Seagrave as he drives through LA in search of Pablo Ortega, has a stream of consciousness feel as if I was reading a lunatic's rant, and I possibly may have. It's remains a bit unclear by the close of the novel. At first I started off sympathizing with Dean, I mean who hasn't been uncremoniously dumped? Then as event by disturbing event unfolds I began to question Dean's motives. Does he really have to kill Pablo? Is Pablo really involved in palo mayombe? Does Dean have to take such drastic actions to get answers? By the end I was unsure if should hate Dean, feel sorry for him or if everything that he told me was just an overactive fever dream of a drugged up obsessive mind. That's what makes this such a brilliant novel. I couldn't put it down. Other reviews have cited the narrative as told through audio tapes as a gimmick that wears thin which, at times, is difficult to follow. I found it compelling, as if Dean was telling me the story through his tapes. Every time he stops the tape and then continues his narrative minutes or sometimes hours after he left off, there was this edge of your seat sense of anticipation that I felt. I think expecting anything more than pure entertainment from Testosterone, like some underlying message about homosexuality or obsession or something like that, is a huge mistake. This is pure entertainment. Definitely one of the bleakest of Baker's novels,possibly influenced by Baker's state of mind when he wrote this but it 's also one of his best as well.