I don't know how this book hasn't become more famous or be on more lists of `books to be read'. I only discovered it purely by accident. I've read quite a lot of novels with gay men as the main protagonist but this book was in a class of its own. The topic itself is fairly unique - a simple country hick from the southern states gets used as a pawn in the wider plan of the FBI and Naval Intelligence to locate and arrest suspected German spies seeking to use confidential information on the comings and goings of American ships in the Atlantic. That's the wider background to the novel but the story works on a micro level as well. Hank, our happy go lucky farm boy is not a troubled soul, distressed about his sexuality. He quite enjoys it - which was why he was an ideal candidate to be ensnared by Naval Intelligence to work in the male bordello.I found it interesting that the internal dialogue we hear in the minds of the characters doesn't always connect with their behaviour. The author portrays this transition very well. Hank comes across as a very lovable man who grows up a lot quicker than he would have under normal peacetime conditions. The loss of his beloved Juke, a young black lad employed in the bordello, really shakes him up because, until the boy's murder he had no idea that he could love a `coloured' person, so strong were the prejudices of his childhood.Erich, the European Jewish man on conscription to Naval Intelligence is a rather more complicated and ambiguous character. He witnessed the round up of Jewish men by the Nazis and is shocked to see the same tactics used by the New York police on homosexuals. He assumed the rule of law would function completely differently in the US - much to his disappointment. At least his sense of betrayal by the legal system in America prompts him, against his better judgement to help Hank survive `deportation' to a mental hospital after his undercover work was finished - the plan the authorities had for him (with a possible lobotomy thrown in for good measure. He had no intention of remaining quiet and doing nothing this time.I would heartily recommend this book if you can get your hands on it. Very engrossing and enlightening.Update. In Tom Driberg's biography by Wheen there are a few pages of his visit to the US before the war in which he witnesses and comments on the activities of Nazi rallies and supporter meetings in New York.In a visit to Yorkville Driberg commented on the availability of newspapers from Stuttgart and Berlin along with pamphlets of Nazi propaganda so the wider story is based on fact - little known facts perhaps but facts none the less.Also in Summers' biography of J. Edgar Hoover chapters 12 to 15 give more detailed background insight into the thinking of the FBI following Pearl Harbour and spies.
Christopher Bram’s Hold Tight: A Novel is a curious thing. Most novels with gay themes that I’ve read have contemporary settings. They also deal with romantic relationship. Hold Tight, however, is set during WWII, and it is essentially a spy story. Yes, there is a romance, but it mostly propels the plot, rather than being the plot. Bram has taken an interesting premise—gay men in the Navy during the great war—and turned it into a tightly written, well-plotted story. Hank is a lanky enlisted man from Beaumont, Texas, who is naïve and very gay. I say “very” because in a time when being gay was a hidden thing, Hank is very open to his shipmates and to the world. Because of this, he is drawn into a government plot to snag German spies. Hank is placed undercover in a gay brothel with the hopes that some of his clients will be spies, and thus the government can apprehend them and their contacts. The rest of the intrigue is quite compelling. And the character development is wonderful. There is a love story, a friendship, a possible murder. And along the way, the US government’s dealing with the whole thing parallels Hitler’s treatment of the Jews and other “undesirables,” as Hitler termed them. Hold Tight makes us question the US government in that time. It also has a ton of sexual tension between Hank and his handler, Eric. And all is resolved in the end to satisfaction. This novel by Gods and Monsters author Bram is a good read.
What do You think about Hold Tight (1989)?
I really liked what this novel was trying to do, it had that bitter sweet feeling of being a member of an oppressed “deviant” group and yet there was still humor and sexiness mixed throughout it. There was a couple of problems I had with how it ended in that Hank is too masculine to fit in with the gay men he finds in his home town which I found to be a little bit ridiculous given what takes place throughout the novel. But all in all it had such a heartbreaking feel of realness even if the circumstances seemed somewhat fantastical.
—Rob
I was caught up in the thriller as much as I had such dislike for the people we trust to protect us. I couldn't put it down.I shudder to think that things like this might have happened in the 1940's but I have no doubt that gays were treated this way.
—Dee
I loved it and had to skim ahead for the second time, to make sure my new OTP get through the dangerous bit (the first time I got so involved, I checked Hank was still on the last page), only to see, black on white, that Juke was beaten to death, really killed. Just skimming made me nearly throw up. I loved those two, together and in their messed up humanity, CARED, and wondered why this novel was forgotten when crap like Vadriel Vale and The Lord Won't Mind are classics. At midnight, stuck at Page 200, just before the horror of chapter 16, I was shaking, tearing up, unsure whether to continue or not because DAMN that HURTS. I read the final 40 pages over the next day, still choked with emotion a few times.Fluent, cinematic, engaging writing as usual (although I wonder if he lets a couple get together in any of his books now). There are only 4 stars because the 5 it deserves would make it sound too enjoyable.
—_inbetween_
